March 28, 2024

HEAL Team Promoting Healthy Meeting Standards

Healthy Meeting

MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital supports the Healthy Eating & Active Living Action Team of the Healthy St. Mary’s Partnership, which brings together community organizations and residents to coordinate action around healthy eating, active living, and weight management.

The HEAL team has developed a Healthy Meeting Toolkit. Will your organization take the pledge?

Studies show a strong relationship between the physical and social environments of the workplace and the health behaviors of employees.

Nearly half of most people’s waking hours are spent at work, and many of those hours are spent in meetings and conferences. Unfortunately, the foods and beverages available at meetings and conferences are often high in fat, added sugars, and sodium, and contain few fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Meetings and conferences also generally involve a lot of time sitting and provide little opportunity for physical activity — all of which reduces concentration, productivity, and energy levels.

In response, the partners of the HEAL Action Team are working to promote implementing healthy meeting standards within organizations in St. Mary’s County. The HEAL team has adapted the Healthy Meeting Toolkit to provide organizations with the tools to create a supportive environment that cultivates a culture of health and helps employees and members to eat well, be active, reduce use of tobacco products, and exposure to harmful secondhand smoke, handle food safely, and protect the environment.

The Healthy Meeting Toolkit is intended for anyone that holds meetings and conferences.

It could be used by governments, non-profits, associations, or businesses. This resource is a model that can be modified to fit the specific needs of the organization using it. The guidance addresses five topic areas: nutrition, physical activity, food safety, tobacco-free, and sustainability. The general recommendations are intended to be followed by all organizations.

In addition, each of the five topic areas is set up in a two-tiered system: Standard Healthy Meeting and Superior Healthy Meeting.

Organizations can choose which tier works best for them, which can vary by topic area.

For example, an organization might choose to follow the Superior Healthy Meeting recommendations for nutrition and physical activity, but use the Standard Healthy Meeting recommendations for tobacco-free and sustainability. The toolkit was developed by the HEAL team and is an adaptation of the toolkit developed by the National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity.

About the Healthy St. Mary’s Partnership

HSMP is a community-driven coalition of public and private partners working together to improve health in St. Mary’s County.

The coalition mobilizes members through four action teams to address the priority health issues in St. Mary’s: Access to Care, Behavioral Health, Healthy Eating & Active Living, and Tobacco Free Living.

The HEAL Action Team is implementing strategies that promote healthy eating and active living in the county. These strategies focus on promoting workplace wellness, healthy eating, and exercise in school settings, creating a physical environment within a community that supports active living (“built environment”), and helping individuals make healthy eating and active living part of their lifestyles.

For more information and one-click access to a list of resources available at MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital, visit its Leader member page.

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