The majority of adults spend most of their waking hours at work, and the workplace can make it easier for employees to change their behaviors by creating a culture of health. Active living, healthy eating, managing stress, and avoiding tobacco are some of the essential elements in lowering the risk for and costs of chronic disease. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH), Division of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention has begun to partner with organizations and businesses in the Southcoast who have a vested interest in finding ways to improve employee health. Since April 20, 2008, DPH has been meeting with a group of about twenty representatives from local corporations, hospitals, agencies, chambers of commerce and colleges at the Charlton College of Business at the U-Mass-Dartmouth campus to look at how employee health could be improved through collective action. They are currently involved in the first stages of defining the mission of the group before beginning to create a structure through which a variety of activities can be developed over the next few years. For more information about the project, please contact David Weed of Healthy City Fall River (drweed@cox.net) or Maria Evora-Rosa of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (Maria.Evora-Rosa@state.ma.us).

((Top row, center) Janice Velozo of Bristol Community College leads a discussion among representatives of Southcoast employer representatives on the mission of the worksite health improvement initiative as New Bedford Chamber of Commerce president Roy Nascimento and director of municipal wellness Julianne Kelly listens. (Middle row, left and right) Southcoast Hospitals Group Director of Occupational Health Janet Hathaway records ideas from the group that need to be incorporated into a mission-vision statement for the project. (Bottom row, left) Maria Evora-Rosa of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health offers a recommendation. (Bottom row, center and right) Jim Amaral of Aerovox makes some suggestions about looking at the mission from the point of view of company CEOs while Interim Director of the Diabetes Association, Amber Vlangas, listens.