This will be an informational meeting about FSA's as open enrollment for medical expenses and dependent care is in November.  Come learn how FSA's also work with your VEBA or HSA plan.  This meeting will take place at the Middle School in the MPR.

The National Sleep Foundation recommends adults 18 years and older get 7-9 hours of sleep each night.  During this challenge you will document how many hours you sleep each night.  Keep track of your total hours each week to document on the weekly google form sent out in Cardinal Essentials.

Sleep, the Great Battery Charger

This session shares important details of why sleep is critical to our overall health and the physiological effects poor sleep has on our mind and body.  Dr. Kriva will review cutting edge research being done in the field of Epigenetics, which shows how critical sleep is to the proper functioning of each cell in the body.  Finally, tips for achieving excellent sleep are covered.  Take home message:  cutting edge research shows more than ever how critical sleep is to health, there are many things you can do to improve the quality and duration of sleep, proper sleep is not optional, but critical to your overall health.  This session will be on Zoom.  The link will be posted in Cardinal Essentials prior to the presentation.  This will NOT be taped, so there is only one opportunity to view this presentation.  Attendance will be taken on Zoom for staff to earn credit.

Here is Dr. Kriva’s bio:

Dr. Bill Kriva is dedicated to helping people achieve and maintain optimum health and wellness. He is a Doctor of Chiropractic with a post-graduate certification in Herbal Medicine. Dr. Kriva is an inspirational national speaker and award-winning author. He is the Clinic Director of Parkview Chiropractic Clinic and an adjunct faculty member of Northwestern Health Sciences University. Dr. Kriva also holds a master’s degree in Business Administration and a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering as well as years of experience in both fields. This diverse background brings a well-rounded perspective to his presentations and uniquely qualifies him to speak on topics like injury prevention, ergonomics, and a healthy workplace.

Complete the wellness calendar provided through Cardinal Essentials in the month of December.  You will need to do one wellness activity from the list each day and submit the completed calendar to Alison Scheffler schefflera@willmar.mn.us by Wednesday January 4th, 2023 to earn credit for this activity.

Location: Stacey's Nursery

When: December 6

Time: 4:30-7pm (open house style - come and go as you need!)

Cost: $55-60  *This is not a free event

Grab a group of co-workers and come join in the fun to make and take a spruce top pot!  No need to bring anything but yourself - Stacey's will provide all the materials and will do some demonstrations.

The gratitude kits are a tool for staff to use to express gratitude to others in our community to boost happiness!  In the kit there are tools to write and send up to 5 gratitude letters.  Staff who complete this activity should fill out the google form in Cardinal Essentials to earn credit toward the incentive.  Gratitude Kits can be requested by emailing Alison Scheffler at schefflera@willmar.k12.mn.us

This is a 4 week challenge.  Document the number of steps you get in a day - the goal is 10,000 each day.  Weekly google forms will be sent in Cardinal Essentials for you to submit your total steps each of the 4 weeks.  Bonus - you can document your steps with Sharecare too!

Keep track of your fruit and vegetable intake each day.  The recommended amount is 3-5 servings of vegetables and 2-4 servings of fruit, according to the food pyramid.  It is your goal to keep within this serving size each day throughout the challenge.  Weekly google forms will be sent for your to document your total servings for each week.

The challenge is to place 5 rubberbands around a 20oz water bottle.  Goal: 100oz per day.  Drinking water helps maximize physical performance, has a major effect on energy levels and brain function, may help prevent and treat headaches, can help with weight loss, and so on.  Weekly google forms will be sent in Cardinal Essentials for you to document your intake.

A calendar will be sent out with the challenges for each day.  Essentially, each skill will build over time (i.e. 10 push ups day 1 leading up to 45 push ups by day 25).  Weekly google forms will be sent in Cardinal Essentials to document progress.

If you sign up for and participate in a Community Education class that fits the Staff Wellness criteria (see notes in Cardinal Essentials next to CE class names), fill out the google form in Cardinal Essentials with the information for the class you attend.  Classes that have met criteria in the past include fitness classes, lamaze class, and so on.  **Note: Two Community Education classes will not count as two challenges.  You must particiapte in 3 different challenges to earn credit toward the VEBA/HSA incentive.

If you sign up for and participate in an adult rec sport league, you can fill out the google form in Cardinal Essentials to earn credit toward the VEBA/HSA incentive.   **Note: Two adult sports league participation will not count as two challenges.  You must participate in 3 different challenges to earn credit for the incentive.

**Note: Staff will need to participate in 3 different activities/challenges to earn credit toward the incentive.

If staff participate in EAP or Beacon, they need to fill out the google form in Cardinal Essentials.  This form will be in CE weekly.

Staff who meet qualifications for Omada can use this as one of their "challenges" toward the VEBA/HSA incentive.

More information will come at a later date.