Advertisement Brown, a Gundersen Lutheran cardio-logist who helped kick off Trane Co.’s employee heart health campaign, suggested broiled fish with mixed vegetables instead of battered-fried fish and potato.
A few employees moaned, and many had disapproving looks on their faces.
Brown said he was trying to encourage heart-healthy habits among employees so they can avoid seeing him in the catherization laboratory for a heart problem.
Heart-health sessions were held for 2,350 Trane employees in La Crosse over a week’s time earlier this month.
The LifeSteps Healthy Heart campaign “Rev Up Your Heart” is a yearlong initiative to educate Trane’s La Crosse employees on the importance of maintaining a healthy heart and provide them with the tools and incentive to help improve their heart health.
Brown talked about obesity, lack of physical activity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking — all risk factors for heart disease.
“Your blood pressure rises, and you don’t even know it,” Brown said. “You need to burn off the calories with healthy eating and exercise to lower blood pressure.
“Smoking can really mess you up,” he said. “Smoking one pack of cigarettes (a day) is equivalent to being 100 pounds overweight. Stopping smoking is like losing 100 pounds when it comes to your health.”
Smokers can reverse their risk for heart disease three years after quitting smoking, Brown said. “Smoking takes years off your life,” he said.
Brown recommended employees eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day, reduce fat in their diets, eat more whole grains and fiber, and reduce their salt intake.
“My hope is that employees start eating an extra serving of vegetables every day, walk a little bit more, quit or cut down on smoking,” Brown said. “It doesn’t take much to benefit your heart, just small changes.”
He said Trane’s health programs show the company is investing in its employees because it wants them to be healthier, happier and productive.
With heathier employees, Trane could reduce its abseentism rate, increase productivity and lower health costs, Brown said. “This program is a good partnership between employer and employees that will benefit both,” he said.
Diane Ringeisen, Trane health and productivity manager, said the heart-healthy program had a pilot project in Lexington, Ky., and Clarksville, Tenn., sites.
The La Crosse site is the first to implement the program.
In La Crosse, Trane has established LifeSteps health stations where employees can check their blood pressure, weight and body mass index. “Employees can save the data and look at their numbers,” Ringeisen said.
The program will have monthly healthy heart seminars on topics ranging from healthy eating and nutrition to exercise and maintaining blood pressure.
Trane already provides health coaches and preventive health screenings, the Trane Trackers walking program and healthy eating and stress management programs.
Ringeisen said a major component of the heart-healthy program is management of blood pressure.
“High blood pressure is a significant problem, and we’d like to see improvements in that area,” she said.
Terry Rindfleisch can be reached at trindfleisch@lacrossetribune.com or (608) 791-8227.
