IBEW Local 103 Hosts Fifth Annual Blood Drive and Wellness Event
According to the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, and the Centers for Disease Control, $2.2 trillion is spent on health care in the United States each year. At the same time, businesses in the U.S. are losing $61 billion each year due to preventable employee illness.
For these reasons and more, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 103, is leading the way with an organized, comprehensive, and proactive approach to building a healthier workforce. Along with providing yearlong access to wellness resources, Local 103 recently held its fifth annual Blood Drive and Wellness Event.
On April 12, 2016, more than 200 members and families of Local 103 donated blood and over 250 attended the annual Wellness Event, where they were provided with numerous interactive and educational opportunities, including oral mouth cancer exams, diabetes education, tobacco cessation information, smoothie demonstrations, individualized nutrition sessions, physical therapy evaluations, blood pressure/glucose/cholesterol/body mass index screening, carotid ultrasounds, echocardiograms, and facial skin screens. Cardiologist Dr. Ken Rice oversaw 84 carotid scans and 37 echocardiograms, provided to detect occlusions in the carotid artery and abnormalities in the heart. Many abnormalities were found and participants were educated to make an appointment with their primary care provider. There were also providers accepting new patients for those without an established primary care doctor.
Over the past five years, the Blood Drive and Wellness Event has helped many participants detect hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol) and hyperglycemia (high blood sugar), and provided the opportunity to work one-on-one with a nurse, the same day, on ways to improve their results. The echocardiograms and carotid scans over the past five years have uncovered immediate and potentially life-threatening issues for up to a half-dozen members who were able to seek immediate professional help to prevent an otherwise imminent tragic health event.
In addition to the stable of professional health care providers made available to members, the annual Local 103 health and wellness event also combines with an aggressive blood drive to highlight for members the importance of blood donations and the union’s ongoing commitment to the community. Thanks to members and their families, Local 103 this year was able to donate 203 units of blood to the Red Cross, with the potential to save up to 600 lives! The need for blood donation is always critical and it is impossible to know when that need may escalate. In 2013, for example, just six days prior to the tragic Boston Marathon bombing, the IBEW Local 103 Blood Drive and Wellness Event donated 170 units of blood, much of which was used by Boston hospitals to treat victims of that terrible attack.
IBEW Local 103 and their partners at the National Electrical Contractors Association of Greater Boston are committed to this aggressive year-round wellness program for many reasons. Construction is a high-impact profession and it is critical that the tradesmen and women remain in peak mental and physical condition for the sake of their careers and their families. A healthier workforce also means a more efficient job performance and a more efficient health care coverage program, with prevention and better overall health supporting a stronger health and welfare fund. Additionally, Local 103 and NECA honestly believe that caring about their workers transcends just paying livable wages and quality benefits. They wholeheartedly value the complete well-being of each member – at work and at home.