Page 29 - WesternU View - Fall/Winter 2014
P. 29
Wellness is topic of Pumerantz Lecture
Melanie Cumbee Dr. David Tillman, Melanie Cumbee and Dr. Richard Bond Dr. Philip Pumerantz addresses the audience
Health educators, employers and providers must be the leaders in setting an example The reasons why that’s so important were more sobering, as she revealed with several
of health and wellness, if the United States is to ever pull itself out of a downward statistics:
spiral of obesity and chronic disease, two wellness experts said at Western University of
Health Sciences Tuesday, October 21, 2014. • 133 million Americans have a chronic disease of some kind.
Dr. David Tillman, Medical Director for MemorialCare Health System of Orange County, • Chronic disease eventually kills seven out of every 10 people in the United States.
and Melanie Cumbee, Manager of Memorial Care Health and Wellness Programs, were
the featured speakers at the 6th annual Dr. Philip Pumerantz Distinguished Lectureship, • Obesity rates have doubled since 1970.
held in the Health Education Center on the WesternU-Pomona campus. The lectureship • The percentage of overweight children and youth has tripled since 1981.
was established in 2009 in honor of WesternU President Philip Pumerantz, PhD,
through a donation from Drs. Elaine and Daljit Sarkaria of Orange. • Obesity and its related conditions have increased health care spending by $200
billion annually since 1987.
Cumbee and Tillman stepped in for originally announced speaker Tammie McMann
Brailsford, RN, MemorialCare’s Executive Vice President and CEO, who was battling a MemorialCare, which operates six hospitals, two medical groups and a variety of
cold and laryngitis, and could not appear.
specialty-specific offices in Southern California , is working to battle obesity with its own
Tillman told a full house of students, faculty, staff and invited guests in HEC Lecture Hall 11,000-plus employees, who Cumbee said “look like the rest of the country” – more
I that health educators must establish an expectation of student wellness and enhance than half are statistically obese, and more than 10 percent are seriously obese. Using
nutrition management education. Employers must create a culture of health and the “fork, feet and fingers” approach – that wellness is largely about what we eat, how
wellness in the workplace, including health benefit designs that help management of we exercise, and whether we smoke – MemorialCare created The Good Life, a personal,
chronic conditions, while health care providers should embrace primary care, model supportive, multiyear plan for wellness for all those who seek it. The “fork” part
wellness, and create interdisciplinary teams to better serve their patients. includes healthy cafeteria options, healthy food provided at meetings, and healthy
vending machine snack inventories. The “feet” component includes “walking
Directing his remarks at the hundreds of health sciences students in attendance, Tillman meetings,” walking work stations, height adjustable desks so that employees can stand
said, “You have the power to be the change we need.”
sometimes instead of sitting all day, and “stretch breaks” and “recess.” Finally, the
Cumbee, in a first for the six-year-old lecture series, got the crowd on its feet early on “fingers” element is all about smoking cessation and smoking cessation support.
by ordering a “stretch break” at one point in her half of the presentation. As “ABC” by
the Jackson 5 played over the loudspeakers, the MemorialCare wellness manager Most chronic diseases – including hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes – can be
convinced most of those in attendance to step left and right to the music, wave their prevented or managed with the right cultural and workplace changes, Cumbee said.
hands and swing their arms, clap, and stretch to the beat of the music. “Social, environmental and behavioral factors make up 60 percent of health. What we
do with our fork, feet, and our fingers determines our future health.
“Stretch breaks” and “recess” are just two of the tactics MemorialCare uses as part of
its wellness program, encouraging employees to take a break from their daily grind “What kind of educator, employer, or provider do you want to be?”
and get moving, Cumbee said. – Jeff Keating
WesternU View Fall/Winter 2014 27
Melanie Cumbee Dr. David Tillman, Melanie Cumbee and Dr. Richard Bond Dr. Philip Pumerantz addresses the audience
Health educators, employers and providers must be the leaders in setting an example The reasons why that’s so important were more sobering, as she revealed with several
of health and wellness, if the United States is to ever pull itself out of a downward statistics:
spiral of obesity and chronic disease, two wellness experts said at Western University of
Health Sciences Tuesday, October 21, 2014. • 133 million Americans have a chronic disease of some kind.
Dr. David Tillman, Medical Director for MemorialCare Health System of Orange County, • Chronic disease eventually kills seven out of every 10 people in the United States.
and Melanie Cumbee, Manager of Memorial Care Health and Wellness Programs, were
the featured speakers at the 6th annual Dr. Philip Pumerantz Distinguished Lectureship, • Obesity rates have doubled since 1970.
held in the Health Education Center on the WesternU-Pomona campus. The lectureship • The percentage of overweight children and youth has tripled since 1981.
was established in 2009 in honor of WesternU President Philip Pumerantz, PhD,
through a donation from Drs. Elaine and Daljit Sarkaria of Orange. • Obesity and its related conditions have increased health care spending by $200
billion annually since 1987.
Cumbee and Tillman stepped in for originally announced speaker Tammie McMann
Brailsford, RN, MemorialCare’s Executive Vice President and CEO, who was battling a MemorialCare, which operates six hospitals, two medical groups and a variety of
cold and laryngitis, and could not appear.
specialty-specific offices in Southern California , is working to battle obesity with its own
Tillman told a full house of students, faculty, staff and invited guests in HEC Lecture Hall 11,000-plus employees, who Cumbee said “look like the rest of the country” – more
I that health educators must establish an expectation of student wellness and enhance than half are statistically obese, and more than 10 percent are seriously obese. Using
nutrition management education. Employers must create a culture of health and the “fork, feet and fingers” approach – that wellness is largely about what we eat, how
wellness in the workplace, including health benefit designs that help management of we exercise, and whether we smoke – MemorialCare created The Good Life, a personal,
chronic conditions, while health care providers should embrace primary care, model supportive, multiyear plan for wellness for all those who seek it. The “fork” part
wellness, and create interdisciplinary teams to better serve their patients. includes healthy cafeteria options, healthy food provided at meetings, and healthy
vending machine snack inventories. The “feet” component includes “walking
Directing his remarks at the hundreds of health sciences students in attendance, Tillman meetings,” walking work stations, height adjustable desks so that employees can stand
said, “You have the power to be the change we need.”
sometimes instead of sitting all day, and “stretch breaks” and “recess.” Finally, the
Cumbee, in a first for the six-year-old lecture series, got the crowd on its feet early on “fingers” element is all about smoking cessation and smoking cessation support.
by ordering a “stretch break” at one point in her half of the presentation. As “ABC” by
the Jackson 5 played over the loudspeakers, the MemorialCare wellness manager Most chronic diseases – including hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes – can be
convinced most of those in attendance to step left and right to the music, wave their prevented or managed with the right cultural and workplace changes, Cumbee said.
hands and swing their arms, clap, and stretch to the beat of the music. “Social, environmental and behavioral factors make up 60 percent of health. What we
do with our fork, feet, and our fingers determines our future health.
“Stretch breaks” and “recess” are just two of the tactics MemorialCare uses as part of
its wellness program, encouraging employees to take a break from their daily grind “What kind of educator, employer, or provider do you want to be?”
and get moving, Cumbee said. – Jeff Keating
WesternU View Fall/Winter 2014 27
