(Chicago)
The American Liver Foundation (ALF) Great Lakes Division – the nation’s largest patient advocacy organization for people with liver disease – today announced the launch of Get Fit, a workplace wellness campaign. Initially available in the Chicago area, Get Fit is a comprehensive employee wellness platform that provides high-quality educational resources and activities to promote general health, wellness and employee engagement.

“Many companies want to adopt a wellness program, but are discouraged by cost and other barriers,” said Jacqueline Dominguez, Executive Director, American Liver Foundation Great Lakes Division. “Get Fit was created to address
these limitations and provide companies, both large and small, an affordable way to engage with their employees and provide important health information and resources.

”Across the country, the number of organizations initiating a wellness program has been on the rise, with many employers seeing the tangible impact the programs make through a reduction in overall healthcare costs. In 2015, as many as two thirds of companies reported offering a wellness program. What sets Get Fit apart,is that for the first time in the Chicago area a non-profit organization, like ALF GLD, is solely responsible for the development and implementation of a workplace wellness program with the goal of ensuring that high-quality and impactful wellness programing are accessible to companies of all sizes.

The Get Fit platform features 12 months of programming on a wide-range of important topics such as mental health, nutrition, disease management, mindfulness and financial literacy. Participating companies have access to customized, on-demand live education via wellness webinars and symposiums. When an employee enrolls in the program, they are encouraged to complete and share their overall score of a health assessment questionnaire. The overall score and individual health interests collected from these baseline assessments will help demonstrate and maximize the positive impact of the program on the employee population and provide the employee wellness committee with valuable information for program customization at key points throughout the program. Additional resources include:

• Access to health screenings
• Sharable content such as posters, workplace memos and monthly newsletters
• Discounts with select wellness-orientated vendors
• Employee engagement through a wellness council and volunteer opportunities

“Many people may not know that the liver plays a vital role in nearly every bodily function and many diseases and health conditions are closely tied to liver health. Through Get Fit, it is imperative to help spread awareness and promote education to our community that liver health is all health. We are grateful to our Medical Advisory Committee and National Medical Advisors for their assistance in the development of the quality programming offered by the Get Fit platform. The
response from partner employees and employers has been outstanding, and we look forward to reaching more workplaces in the coming months,” said Dominguez.

The Get Fit campaign is currently serving more than 1,000 employees representing more than 500 workplaces across Chicago. Discussions with additional workplace partners and sponsors have been very positive and it is projected to have a user base of over 5,000 employees prior to the end of the year.

To learn more Get Fit and how your workplace can become a partner, please visit:
http://old-liverfoundation.ouetvkfa5o-yjr3odyem61m.p.temp-site.link/chapters/illinois/getfit/.

About the American Liver Foundation
Founded in 1976, the American Liver Foundation (ALF) is the nation’s largest patient advocacy organization for people with liver disease. ALF reaches more than 2 million individuals each year with health information, education and support services via its national office, 16 U.S. divisions and an active online presence. Recognized as a trusted voice for liver disease patients, ALF also operates a national toll-free helpline (800-GO-LIVER), educates patients, policymakers and the public, and provides grants to early-career researchers to help find a cure for all liver diseases.  ALF is celebrating 40 years of turning patients into survivors. For more information about ALF, please visit www.liverfoundation.org.