Health and wellness is everybody’s business. On Thursday, April 7, 2022, Sandals Emerald Bay in Exuma hosted a health symposium aimed at educating team members on the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and managing chronic illnesses. The resort collaborated with a number of the island’s health professionals and insurance agencies to educate the team on how to take better care of themselves and on budgeting for health care. Nurses from the Exuma Medical Clinic provided displays and gave short presentations on topics that included mental health, abuse, hypertension, diabetes, and sexually transmitted infections (STI’s). Also present were native entrepreneurs who gave information on their all-natural products, which also include natural hair and skin care products.
Sandals Emerald Bay was not just the event host, but through the resident nurse provided services such as, glucose-screening, blood pressure screening and cholesterol checks There was also a special bar set-up offering fresh fruit smoothies to participants while the Red Lane® Spa offered fitness sessions and massage teasers.
The resort’s Environment, Health and Safety Manager, Sonovia Bowe in discussing the reason for the health fair shared that it was to bring awareness to the team and to help them adopt a healthier lifestyle.
“Since the pandemic, many of our team members have lost family members and friends which affected their mental and physical health to some degree. The aim is to get our team reconnected to what we all consider a healthy lifestyle,” she explained.
She added that a health fair has long-term benefits to companies as well. “Research shows that having a health fair at work can help reduce employee absenteeism, improve work performance, increase job satisfaction and achieve a positive return on investment.”
Bowe commended the community stakeholders whose presence she said, made for a successful event. “It was amazing to have the community involved in our health expo. It speaks to the type of partnership we have forged with them over the years. Last month the focus was kidney health and we had one of the local nurses from Exuma Medical Clinic hosting a presentation on resort to sensitize the team on the importance of a healthy kidney. We have a few more health-focused initiatives lined up and will be rolling them out as the month progresses as we take health and wellness seriously at Sandals Emerald Bay,” declared Bowe.
Scores of team members have also expressed gratitude to the team for putting together what they dub, a very worthwhile event. “I really appreciate the health fair. It was very beneficial and I learnt a lot from the presenters who gave us some very useful health tips. I also got a few sample items. Overall, it was a very valuable event and we are thankful to the team for making it happen,” shared Damari Williams Entertainment.
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