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JUNEAU - The Juneau Employee Wellness Coalition has honored the University of Alaska Southeast-Juneau Campus with its Well Workplace of the Month Award for January. The monthly award recognizes the efforts of Juneau organizations that promote employee wellness within their worksites.

The coalition hosts its next monthly brown-bag lunch meeting from noon to 1 p.m. today in Conference Room A of the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium Ethel Lund Medical Center, 3245 Hospital Drive. Conference Room A is downstairs in the main clinic building.

Some of the university's employee wellness activities this year include: creating competitive pricing in its cafeteria so unhealthy foods cost more than healthier options; holding "snack wars" for staff and faculty, who visited various departments to taste and rate healthy snacks; creating the Encouragement Team, which serves the wellness team and provides the vision behind many of the university's employee wellness initiatives; switching their student concession stand in the recreation center to offer more healthy options; and adding an employee bulletin board to note wellness accomplishments by fellow co-workers, as well as date-of-hire anniversaries and other items of interest.

"The hardest part has been having so many ideas, it's hard to stick to just one," said Marsha Squires, UAS Encouragement Team member.

"The easiest part has been the great support system UAS has provided to make changes possible," added Heather Swanson, Encouragement Team member.

The coalition is a community wide organization promoting workplace wellness and the group is open to all Juneau workplaces interested in designing and implementing effective employee wellness plans.

For more information on the Juneau Employee Wellness Coalition, contact SEARHC Steps to a Healthier Southeast Alaska Program Schools and Workplace Coordinator Bradelle Padon at 364-4404.