Downs Food Group/Tony Downs Foods (DFG), a large poultry processing plant
located in Watonwan County who employs a large minority workforce, has been
busy making huge strides towards creating a healthier worksite for hundreds of
employees. Downs Food Group is not new to encouraging healthy lifestyles with
their employees. Over the past several years, health education has been
provided each month to employees as well as ensuring employees have a tobacco
free environment by implementing a tobacco-free grounds policy. SHIP funding allowed
the worksite to implement more comprehensive, evidence-based strategies to
improve employee health and wellbeing. These strategies include establishing
wellness committees in each processing plant who oversee and provide
suggestions to improving employee wellness. DFG has also recently adopted a
comprehensive wellness policy which includes healthy vending, healthy catering
and breastfeeding support for employees, tobacco-free grounds policies and cessation
support and encouragement of community partnerships to improve physical
activity opportunities for employees as well as encouragement of walking and
biking to and from work.
To help implement this policy, DFG partnered with Anytime
Fitness to reduce gym membership rates for employees. Additionally, DFG also partnered
with a personal trainer to provide a fitness challenge. DFG also partnered with
their local vendor to ensure 50% of the foods provided in the vending machines
were healthier choices.
Moving forward, DFG is exploring the availability of
offering stretching programs to reduce repetitive motion injuries; planning
more wellness activities including more family oriented events and exploring ways
to improve access to healthy foods through gardening and mobile farmers
markets.
Congrats to DFG for helping to make Watonwan County a healthier
place to live and work!
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