Creative step challenges lead to healthier community culture and lower insurance rates.

Overview

Shenandoah Medical Center makes community the centerpiece of their employee wellness program. Nicknamed HEART (Healthy Employees Are Really Terrific), employees earn points for completing a variety of activities throughout the year, such as getting a flu shot, visiting the dentist, or competing in step challenges. Points can be cashed in for “Chamber Bucks,” or dollars to be redeemed at local businesses. SMC even invites these local businesses to participate in the HEART hospital wellness program. “The more we can give back, the better off we’re going to be,” says admin Nikki Carlson.

Keeping community and inclusion as a central theme of their wellness program, SMC was seeking a new step challenge platform that allowed for more than just Fitbit devices. They also needed more flexibility to accommodate their program’s creative needs as well as detailed reporting for calculating HEART points.

Key Features & Services Used

group target with a twist

SMC’s wellness committee got creative and adapted the Group Target challenge into a custom virtual race experience. In their Thanksgiving-themed Turkey Trot challenge, they simulated a walk to Plymouth, Massachusetts and back. The Group Target goal equaled the distance from Shenandoah, Iowa to Plymouth. As the participants made progress, the admins plotted their location on a physical map that they had hanging in the office. When they reached a new state in their trip, participants were encouraged to bring in food native to that state (EX: corn for Iowa). The food would then be donated to a local food bank at the end of the challenge.

In their North Pole Stroll challenge, the Group Target goal equaled the distance to the North Pole and back. Similarly, progress was tracked on a physical map in the office and also included a charitable component. Every year, the hospital partners with Adopt-a-family. Each participant would pick a family and corresponding gift they had to provide by the time the group returned from the North Pole. Additionally, the top steppers of the challenge were able to give a separate charitable donation in their name.

admin center

The SMC admins were big fans of our easy-to-use Admin Center. Their favorite feature? The ability to add all users to a challenge in one click. “I love being able to add everyone to a challenge. That way we guarantee everyone gets at least one point for joining.” SMC also relied heavily on our reporting feature to calculate the distance moved in their Group Target challenges and to award HEART points.

content

The SMC admins turned our content feature into a virtual lunch-n-learn. They uploaded content that corresponded to their overall monthly wellness theme (ex: financial wellness or nutrition 101). Employees could earn points for “attending a lunch-n-learn” by reading the content posted in the challenge.

client success team

Although the SMC admins are challenge pros, they were not afraid to reach out to our Client Success team to get feedback on challenge ideas or figure out the best way to use our product to achieve their creative goals. “If I reach out to her, she is there. She gives me feedback and asks, ‘Have you thought about this?’ Having support is really nice. Christina has saved my life when I was trying to get things done!”

Results

The SMC admins worked closely with the MoveSpring Client Success team to make their creative challenge ideas come to life. The SMC wellness committee came up with new challenge ideas every quarter. The MoveSpring Success team would provide feedback on things like challenge set up, challenge duration, how to best use content, and more.

The SMC wellness committee’s investment in creativity helped spur continued participation in quarterly step challenges. They worked hard to closely tie the MoveSpring step challenge with their overarching monthly wellness theme. MoveSpring’s flexibility was key to making the step challenge a seamless part of their broader wellness program.

Additionally, the wellness committee tapped into the core values of the Shenandoah Medical Center: community and volunteerism. They brought these values to their step challenges by incorporating charitable components, such as food donations in their Turkey Trot to Plymouth, MA and partnering with Adopt-a-family in their North Pole Stroll. SMC even invited other businesses in the community to join the step challenge with them.

The simple points-based program included many ways to earn rewards, ensuring participants of all activity levels stayed motivated and incentivized.

The SMC’s comprehensive and creative wellness program helped them reduce their insurance rates, a big win for the hospital. The inclusion of MoveSpring helped create a new, healthier culture in the hospital and throughout the community.