Texas Health Resources - The Business of Healthcare

The Business of Health Care Report
One More Reason to Promote Employee Health - June 2003

Click to listen to this taped broadcast.

I'm Doug Hawthorne, President and CEO of Texas Health Resources, with "The Business of Health Care Report" on News Radio 1080 KRLD.

Today, I will discuss a new medical study that gives business leaders one more reason to promote health and wellness for their employees.

Common sense tells us that physical fitness is something we should all strive for. Too often, though, Americans, in particular, seem to find time for everything but a healthy lifestyle. Fortunately, a recent study by the American Cancer Society may help change that.

The researchers studied almost a million people over a 16-year span in an attempt to link excess weight and cancer.

The results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggest that more than 90,000 Americans die each year from cancers that either are triggered or advanced by excess weight. The findings indicate that one of every six cancer deaths in the United States could be prevented by people losing weight. As one researcher noted, such results are frightening - especially in light of this country's love affair with fast food and spectator sports.

On the other hand, what a great opportunity we have as business leaders to foster healthier lifestyles for our employees and their families. Investing in health improvement means investing in your employees and stabilizing your insurance premiums.

The researchers found links between being overweight and increased risks for cancers of the cervix and ovary, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, pancreas, liver, and, in men, the stomach and prostate. Combined with earlier studies that found links between excess weight and cancers of the breast, uterus, colon, kidney, esophagus and gall bladder, the case for a healthier lifestyle is even more clear.

Make it a point to encourage physical fitness for your employees - and for yourself. Skip that afternoon soda and make time for health like you make time for budget meetings. The payoff may well be happier and healthier employees.

For Texas Health Resources and its family of hospitals - Harris Methodist Hospitals, Presbyterian Healthcare System and Arlington Memorial Hospital - I'm CEO Doug Hawthorne with "The Business of Health Care Report" on NewsRadio 1080 KRLD.

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