This week, GNP Co. opened its first ever on-site health and wellness center near its Arcadia, Wis., processing facility. With services provided to company team members and dependents covered under GNP Co.’s healthcare plan, the center is independently staffed by local provider Gundersen Lutheran to ensure patient confidentiality and professional standards. The clinic is expected to be open 20 hours per week and offer a limited number of company-paid services and tests at no charge. GNP Co.’s goal is to encourage health, wellness and early detection for its team members, before illnesses escalate to become emergencies.

“Our people are our greatest asset,” said Mike Helgeson, CEO of GNP Co. “We’ve made significant improvements to our wellness program over the past 15 years and wanted to do more. This center shows our commitment to the health and well-being of our team members and puts action behind the words of our company’s mission statement, ‘dedicated to healthy food, families and farms.’”

Some improvements include company-paid smoking cessation programs, flu shots and biometric screenings in addition to opportunities like weight loss and exercise challenges, as well as health fairs. “We realize that with busy lives and families, team members don’t always put themselves first. While it’s taken an investment of time, money and resources to make this happen, we are confident that the investment will pay for itself through improved, overall wellness, early detection and team member satisfaction,” said Helgeson.

The center is intended as a supplement to primary healthcare and not a replacement. It will be staffed by a medical assistant and nurse practitioner who are qualified to administer basic tests, provide diagnoses and write prescriptions. Examples of symptoms treated at the center are similar to those handled by current “minute clinics” and include fever, cough, earache, flu, congestion, minor injuries and abrasions, strains and sprains. In the future, the company also hopes to offer more broad-based wellness education. The center brings it one step closer to doing that.

“So far, team member response has been positive,” noted Helgeson. “Because continuous improvement and innovation have always been important, we will continue to ask for feedback to ensure that we’re providing value and learn from this experience. Not only does the center make good business sense from a long-term cost perspective, it also gives back to our team members who give so much to our company.”

Source: GNP Co.