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For about 10 years a local hospital system has been partnering with employers in the central Pennsylvania region to bring screenings to their employees through the Healthy Partners program.
"Healthy partners is an employer wellness program where we offer free screenings and education -- lunch and learns -- to employers in the area no matter what size the business," said Michael A. Davis, business development liaison, business development and Healthy Partners at UPMC.
With health education based on the results of the screenings, the Healthy Partners team can go back to the employers with an aggregate report of how their employees who took part in the screening did. They will then do one-on-one health coaching and then an overall lunch and learn opportunity with the employer.
"That way, you can focus on the individual who may have a certain condition and you can focus on the entire workforce as well. But there are many different opportunities. It's however the employer wants to set up their program," Davis said.
Right now there are 32 clients in the area in the program. Some have a points-based program while others just do the screenings.
Screenings that are offered include a lipid panel, which tests cholesterol -- HDL, LDL, triglycerides -- and glucose. The group also does blood draws for about 27 other tests including the lipid panel and CBC (complete blood count). Males get a PSA (prostate specific antigen) done also.
Everything is complimentary. There's no cost to the employee or the employer, Davis said.
"We've done EKGs at no cost before. That's quite expensive to do. Even with the bloodwork, the cost associated with that compared to the finger stick is an astronomical difference," he said.
"But we're serving our community -- that's all that matters. When one person or community is healthier, I think that's a win for everybody," he added.
The reaction to the program from employers and employees has been mixed.
"The employers want more. Some employees are like yes, we want more and some employees are like, I've done enough. It depends on which market you're in," Davis said.
"If we're in blue collar, they all want more and their employers are like 'no, we did what we had to do because it was required, we're done.' When you get settings, such as UPMC, or Hope Enterprises and more office spaces, everybody wants to do more. So it really depends on, I guess, what workforce style they're in," he said.
The screenings have identified one of the most prevalent health issues in this area -- high blood pressure.
"High blood pressure is a huge one. We have found some hyperthyroidism. We have had other scenarios where we had to rush individuals to the hospital because they are at risk for a heart attack...it's an opportunity to then educate more and thoroughly dig in and get our grassroots and focus on the employees' health," Davis said.
For many in the workforce there is just not time in a workday to get these tests done. By having the Healthy Partners team come on site at work, do the tests and then clients can have the results sent to their primary care physicians.
The group from UPMC also has access to physician liaisons who can then help them get same day appointments if they're available with other physicians in the area where they can go for help.
Although there has been a lot of talk about a shortage of physicians, Davis said that what they're seeing more and more is a reluctance of people to go to a doctor.
"They don't want to have health care because they're afraid of what's going to happen from that. You could find something and then it could be a laundry list of things that you have to get done. That's what we've heard," he said.
"We've noticed, at least this year, since we've kind of ramped up post-COVID, again, a lot of individuals are like well, 'I don't have a doctor because I don't want to go and then I have my deductible and I have like 30 other tests that have to be run and go to the doctors every single week,'" Davis said.
Others may not have been to see a physician for many years, so working with a physician liaison can get them the help they need.
"When we initially get the data, we work with an individual and strategy and we put an aggregate report together so we can go back to the employer. This is what we noticed from your employees and this is how we can provide you moving forward. Now if we find critical values or anything that is high but not critical, we still reach out and say, hey, this is what we noticed. How can we help you?
"This way we can go back and say, this is what we had noticed, this is where we can help you, we'll schedule a time," Davis said.
"For instance, we do work with Hope Enterprises a lot. And we're there doing health coaching the second Tuesday of every month and we do have individuals sign up and there are some individuals who have signed up that we noticed they have a high or an elevated level and OK, I'm gonna come in and we're going to work on getting it down. And they're very receptive to it," he said.
The Healthy Partners team does the initial screening and then usually does a follow-up in six months. During the time in between visits, the clients are offered health education and health coaching in order to deal with any identified issues.
Rose Trevouledes, a certified nutritionist, conducts the program "Lose Weight with Eight," which many of Healthy Partners' clients choose to do.
"If we notice anybody has a high glucose or their A1C is elevated, we work with her to ensure that she's serving those clients," Davis said.
That way, Davis said, someone is working with them, "instead of just throwing the individuals to the wolves."
He stressed that the most important thing is the employees that they serve.
At a screening at Wolf Run Village Senior Living Community, a screening revealed that one employee's TSH or Thyroid Stimulating Hormone test indicated hypothyroidism or an underactive thyroid.
Trevouledes had been working with a group at the facility teaching employees about insulin resistance, making healthy food choices and healthy dieting with the goal of losing weight.
Because of her undiagnosed thyroid issue, Bekka Jordan, an employee at the facility, was having difficulty with weight loss.
Once the results of the Healthy Partners' screening were obtained, she was able to work with her primary care physician in obtaining the necessary medication for her condition and her weight began to go down.
"I almost didn't do the bloodwork because I was like 'what are they going to tell me that I already don't know,'" Jordan said with a laugh.
Jordan has been taking medication to correct her thyroid condition and attending Trevouledes' weight loss classes and the weight is coming off, she said.
The one-on-one coaching that Trevouledes does in her program really helps, Jordan said.
"She has texted me almost every day, just checking in. What did you eat today? How are you feeling? You don't really get a lot of that when you do these diets with other dietitians. It's been a really good experience," Jordan said.