Wellness Centers

RRM Category: Community Health

Overview

The Wellness Center will provide space and support for a variety of wellness and preventive activities including health education, nutrition, behavior change, and physical activity. Wellness Centers may range from simple operations which provide education and practical experience in wellness to multidisciplinary centers providing a broad variety of educational, training, and fitness activities. Wellness Centers will support the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention initiatives. The Wellness Center may operate from 4 to 16 hours per day for 5 to 7 days per week. The Wellness Center may, but is not required to, co-locate with employee fitness and or other clinical activities such as physical therapy. The Wellness Center RRM module estimates the requirements for management, support, outreach and physical activity staff. The wellness center management provides for quality control, safety, reception, educational opportunities and patient processing, as well as maintains data about the center's activities and utilization. The primary drivers for determining staff are user population and hours of operation, with the minimum set at 1320 users. Locally developed concepts of operation will define the scope of services and programs offered through the Wellness Center. The formula and minimum staff levels are meant to provide adequate numbers of staff to safely operate the center. Other departments or services which use the Wellness Center will derive staff from their respective RRM modules and are not provided for in this module. The Wellness Center is not meant to be the fitness center for the community. Further more the Wellness Center should not serve as the treatment site for medical and psychological conditions which are better treated in behavior health or in primary care clinics. If the Wellness Center is co-located with a clinical program the functions and responsibilities of each component will be clearly defined in the local concept of operation.

Services Description:

The Wellness Center's activities include the provision of health education, behavior modification, nutrition education/counseling, physical activity education and exercise. The Wellness Center supervisor and clerical staff coordinate and schedule the use of the space for the wellness and prevention activities provided by the Wellness Center staff and other health professionals. It is expected that the Director and Deputy Director will have experience and training in wellness and physical activities adequate to develop a comprehensive program. They will provide leadership in coordinating the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention activities of the facility and in the local community. In addition to the center's onsite activities the Wellness Center staff will conduct outreach activities promoting physical activity in the service area user population. The staff will encourage and seek to develop self sustaining physical activities in the community. A minimum core of educational programs including stress management, behavior modification, change process, tobacco cessation, weight management, fitness education, exercise programs, diabetes program, and nutritional programs will be provided. The Wellness Center physical activity staff will provide physical activity assessments, design individual exercise programs, conduct fitness classes, lead group activities, and provide outreach activities for physical activity and wellness in the community. As part of the data accumulation the physical activity staff will provide:

• Prescreen with a tool such as the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q)
• Collect base line data
• Orient clients to facility and equipment
• Conduct exercise classes
• Instruct for individual exercise programs (non-clinical)
• Assist with community outreach functions and activities

Staffing Criteria

Ranges of Service Delivery

1. 1,320 to 5,999 user population
2. 6,000 to 11,599 user population
3. 12,000 to 19,999 user population
4. 20,000 to 35,000 user population

Populations above 35,000 must be custom designed with detailed justifications providing hours of operation, services and staffing plan. Reasonable travel time and distance from the facility should be considered when developing the concept of operation in the larger populations.

Minimum: The minimum user population is 1,320 for Health System Planning space
1.0 Director per facility
1.1 Techs per facility.

Other Variable considerations:
Safe operations require at least 2 staff members be present when activities are being conducted in the wellness center.
Extended hours of operation require additional staff.

Group 1: 1,320 to 5,999 user population
Add 1.10 Tech per 2000 user population at 1,320 and above
Add 0.27 Techs for every 10 hours of operation beyond 40 hours per week
Add 1.1 Receptionist when user pop is 4000 or greater.
Add 0.27 Receptionists for every 10 hours of operation beyond 40 hours per week

Group 2: 6,000 to 11,999 user population
Add 1.0 Deputy Director/Coordinator when user population is greater than 5,999.
Add 1.10 Tech for every 3000 user population when user pop greater than 6,000.
Add 1.0 Administrative Assistant when the user population is 10,000 or greater.

Group 3: 12,000 to 19,999 user population
Add 1.10 Tech for every 4000 user population when user pop greater than 11,999

Group 4: 20,000 to 35,000 user population
Add 1.10 Tech for every 5000 user population when user pop is greater than 19,999

Staffing Formulae

Driving Variables:

User population
Hours of operation

Personnel Categories:

Wellness Center Director
Deputy Director/Coordinator
Outreach Physical Activity Technician
Physical Activity Technician
Receptionist
Administrative Assistant

MINIUM STAFFING LEVELS (fixed):

VARIABLE STAFFING LEVELS:

Group 1 User Population 1,320 to 5,999

Group 2 User Population 6,000 to 11,999

Group 3 User Population 12,000 to 19,999

Group 4 User Population 20,000 to 35,000