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Megan Nelson, RN, is co-chair of the program and was named the first “wellness champion” on her hematology/oncology unit. Wellness champions represent their units and provide information to their coworkers to encourage them to make healthy life choices. It’s Nelson’s responsibility to mentor wellness champions from as many as 40 units. Nelson meets regularly with the wellness champions and solicits their ideas to develop best practices for the wellness program. The ideas become monthly themes, which she promotes via a specially designated 
wellness bulletin board located on her unit. The wellness champions then implement the themes on their own units. Several units now have their own wellness bulletin boards, Nelson says. “The stairs challenge is the best thing we’ve done three years in a row,” she says. “The challenge for the first and second years was to simply take the stairs 12 times a month. In summer 2009, however, we ramped things up by having participants count every stair step they took and try to beat my total. That was a real challenge because I take the stairs all the time,” she says. Winners received protein bars as prizes. There’s a significant emphasis throughout the wellness program to encourage nurses to drink enough water to stay hydrated. One of the ideas the units came up with was a competition based on the popular Food Network Iron Chef program, but without the stress of a time limit. To focus on healthy recipes, the rule was that all dishes must include vegetables or fruit. “Employees bring in salads or dishes they keep warm in crock pots,” Nelson explains. Patients, families and staff buy sample tastings for $1 each and vote for the best dish. The winner gets the money that was collected. Other monthly themes include eating healthy snacks and going vegetarian for a month. Encouraging smoking cessation and healthy weight management are two important elements of the wellness program as well. To encourage nurses to exercise, Nelson posted on the wellness bulletin board photos of herself performing various exercises. She is proud to have lost 40 pounds since the program began. “I believe in the wellness program, and I know it’s greatly appreciated by our nurses,” Nelson says. “We’ve had several people lose weight, quit smoking and adopt a healthier lifestyle, which is terrific.”
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