Port Wentworth gets HAPIE about Wellness

Long before she became the plant nurse for Imperial Sugar’s Port Wentworth refinery, Norma Luten spent a year working night-shift hours … and gained 50 pounds. “I was trying to keep the same eating habits I had in the daytime — like, I’d eat a full meal at 1 a.m.,” she says. “Or I would eat a full breakfast when I got off my shift in the morning. I was eating the way I thought I should be.”

Norma Luten, Port Wentworth's nurse and wellness expert.

Unhealthy weight gain is not an uncommon side effect of working the night shift — nor is a range of other side effects. People who work night shifts — about 15 million people in the United States — are much more like to have heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity.

Having “been there,” Luten now brings wellness advice to Port Wentworth employees, many of whom work swing shifts — meaning they may work day shifts one week and night shifts the next week. In March, with support from managers Thomas Rathke and Chris Knezevich, she kicked off a new wellness program called HAPIE, or Health Awareness Program for Imperial Employees.

The new program aims to help employees create healthier lifestyles for themselves. “It’s a struggle when you’re working night shift,” says Luten, who is a registered nurse. “You can imagine how easy it is to get unhealthy real quickly. What we’re saying with this program is, You can work and you can stay healthy. We want to pinpoint problems and offer solutions. Here, safety is our top priority, and a healthy employee is a safe employee.”

HAPIE, or Health Awareness Program for Imperial Employees, encourages employees to eat heathier.

Each month, Luten rolls out a health-related theme, along with awareness-building programs and activities.

March, the program’s kick-off month, was National Nutrition Month. To build excitement, she invited employees to a “Build-a-Salad” event in the break room, where bowls of leafy lettuce, vegetables, fruits, meats and dressings were arranged on a long line of tables. Associates concocted their own salads, while Luten talked to them about making good choices when putting together a meal.

And to make trimming-down more of a group activity, Luten kicked off the “Imperial 500” program, in which employees take on the challenge of collectively losing 500 pounds by the end of March 2011. So far, 25 employees have signed up for the weekly weigh-ins, counseling and blood pressure monitoring.

This month is Cancer Control Month, and to raise awareness Luten is holding Thursday Lunch ‘n’ Learns to talk about cancer screening and treatment, and to share inspiring survivor stories.

At every Lunch ‘n’ Learn — and at other HAPIE events — Luten captures data on employees’ health. She seeks out information about their weight, age, health history and the health history of their family members. The data will paint a picture of current employee health and inform what she rolls out next.

For example, she says, “We have a large population of diabetic and hypertensive people. So I hope to gather more information about that segment, so we can find ways to control or prevent their problems, and so I can shape the information I’m giving them.”

When she’s not gathering data or setting up salad bars, Luten uses her occupational-health background to serve the healthcare needs of Port Wentworth employees, through annual physicals, injury treatment, and vision and hearing screenings. A colleague, Dr. David Carson, joins her two days a week to treat routine medical problems — a perk for time-strapped employees.

The HAPIE program is just one more way for employees to “take control of their own lives, she says. “I’m seeing a lot of people who already have concerns about their health and who are ready to get in there and make changes. This program is just an added boost for them.”