NEWS RELEASE
April 1, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Terri Emmons
881-8333
Springfield, MO
Ollis & Company has been recognized as a Platinum-Level Start! Fit-Friendly Company by the American Heart Association’s Start! movement for helping employees eat better and move more.
“Physical activity and employee wellness are important priorities at Ollis & Company. We are honored and excited to be recognized by the American Heart Association’s Start! movement,” said company President, Richard Ollis. “We’re committed to providing the best workplace environment possible. This will benefit our employees’ health and produce even more positive results for our company overall.”
Platinum-level employers:
- • Offer employees physical activity options in the workplace
- • Increase healthy eating options at the worksite
- • Promote a wellness culture in the workplace
- • Implement at least nine criteria outlined by the American Heart Association in the areas of physical activity, nutrition and culture
- • Demonstrate measurable outcomes related to workplace wellness
“The Start! Fit-Friendly Companies Program offers a unique, easy-to-implement opportunity for corporations to increase employees’ physical activity, which will help improve their health – and their employers’ bottom line,” said Ollis. “Even people who haven’t exercised regularly until middle age can reap significant benefits by starting a walking program. A study published in 1986 in the New England Journal of Medicine found that individuals could gain two hours of life expectancy for every hour of regular, vigorous exercise they performed.”