Corporate wellness is, as I never fail to remind readers, an exercise in education. It is an effort to inform workers about issues of critical importance, topics rife with innovation and impressive results. Nowhere is that point more relevant, and nowhere is this assertion more influential (when compared to other matters of public health) than in the rise of personal health accessories.
I refer, specifically, to multi purpose items that contain advanced antimicrobial, heat resistant properties; the everyday products, which tens of millions of Americans use for matters both consecrated and commonplace, from prayer mats to yoga mats to all-purpose floor mats; there is a revolution underway involving the durability and state of the art manufacture of the things we carry, pack and use on a daily basis.
A good example of this point involves the pioneering results achieved by TIMEZ5, which represents the union of a sacred custom with NASA-inspired properties for maximum resilience regarding absorption, adaptive weight transfer and bearing. I cite TIMEZ5, and here I want to make clear my independence (as I am neither an employee of, nor an investor in, TIMEZ5), because the great strides in medicine are the result of a multitude of factors.
The range is as diverse as the individual doctors, engineers and research scientists, who seek to improve personal wellness in ways profound and practical; from finding inspiration in the rituals of transcendent prayer to applying that same behavior - the meditative period of introspection - to the very material an observant believer uses while paying homage to a higher power; it is this cross-pollination of ideas that reveals so many things - that religion and science are not mutually exclusive, and that there are measurable benefits that can aid the cause of good health in general.
This project is, at its core, a summons to companies to promote relevant news among their respective employees. It is a chance to simultaneously engage workers through products and accessories they already use, while empowering them on behalf of a much greater cause: Infection control.
In particular, I would like to call the reader's attention to the risk of hospital-related infections and the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Both matters are serious, but the latter, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) titled "Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States, 2013," strikes more than 2 million people per year. That figure is cause for alarm, yes; but it is also cause for action by the champions of corporate wellness.
Practical Achievements and Positive Results: Long-Term Medical Benefits
The lessons behind these statistics are twofold. First, awareness is crucial to developing an intelligent plan of action. Rather, awareness should not descend into madness, where panic triumphs over reason; filling the media with sensational headlines aplenty, but very little common sense, so the average citizen cannot separate a calculated response from a chaotic retreat.
In so many words: Intelligence and wisdom must prevail against the wildfire of rumor and innuendo. And secondly, a coordinated strategy suggests the existence of - it is proof of the need for - resources that can establish and sustain the principles of corporate wellness. In this regard, companies should encourage the inventors and innovators among us.
These professionals, very much of the sort one would expect to find at TIMEZ5 and other start-ups, follow an unofficial credo: That improvement is a constant process of refinement, yielding new insights about science and design, among many other things.
By celebrating the arrival of personal health accessories, we can rejoice in a new era of corporate wellness.Infused with knowledge, and equipped with the right materials, this period will be a time of great discovery.
About the Author
A public health advocate, Lewis Fein is an active supporter and volunteer on behalf of issues relating to infection control. He holds a law degree from the Emory University School of Law, and works with a diverse group of wellness professionals. Lewis can be reached at feinlewis@gmail.com.
