What’s more important: an annual checkup or a trip to the dentist? For the speakers on the New Jersey Business & Industry Association Health is Wealth panel at the Women Business Leaders Forum in Atlantic City, both appointments offer invaluable benefits to overall health.
“There are over 120 conditions that a dentist can see when they look in your mouth, and over 270 conditions that an optometrist can see when they look in your eyes,” Delta Dental Assistant VP Carin Hep said. “So your oral health and your vision health are really more about your overall wellness.”
With five generations in the workforce, the speakers examined how employees tend to separate their health concerns. “We often think about mental health or physical health, oral, vision care, all these things as really separate categories. They’re not. They really are the holistic pieces of it,” Dr. June DuPonte Sernak said.
Wellness doesn’t end at the doctor’s office either. The panelists spoke on making time for their mental and physical health daily, a challenge when trying to balance a full workday.
“I keep a pair of sneakers in my office… I’ll go do a walk around the parking lot,” Hep said. “I’ve had to do a lot of reframing for myself because I was very, very active, and now I just don’t have the time.”
However, as employers and the healthcare system neglect the interconnectivity of wellness, women find themselves suffering as a result. “One of the stats that I was prepping for this was women spend 25% more of their life in poor health in comparison to men, which was surprising because… you always used to hear ‘women always go to the doctor and men don’t.’” Lisa Satteson, the Vice President of Human Resources at Inspira Health, shared.
So what’s to be done? For the speakers, staying informed on company benefits and doing your part to educate others is the best way to support wellness.
“As a leader, as an advocate of information, share what those resources are because there’s a significant gap that we have to close,” Satteson said.
And there is information to be shared. “57 percent of people who have a dental insurance plan are likely to use it. That number should be higher,” Hep said.
The panel ended on a hopeful note for a wellness-forward tomorrow. After all, one small change can create a great improvement.
