Millions With Chronic Disease Get Little to No Treatment Essay Example for Free

Millions With Chronic Disease Get Little to No Treatment Essay Relation to Management: The management team of every organization is expected to handle employee issues to be able to increase their competencies at work, which includes their health status at work. Helping employees avoid developing chronic illness through giving them better access to healthcare assistance availabilities as well as giving them fine environment for work is a huge step up in solving this issue on the part of the organizations’ management team. The rate of employees having the need to deal with suffering from chronic disease increases every year, especially in the American region. It could not be denied that the stress and the pressures that most employees deal with at work costs their lost of health stability. The article of Reed Abelson aims to show how many employees today are already affected by the illness. As the years of economic downfall over the world enters the scene, the problem becomes even more serious thus demanding a more serious attention on the matter from the management teams of the different business organizations all over the world. (Abelson, 2008, Intenet) The most disturbing issue that has been noted by the author is that most of the people having this particular illness actually receive lesser attention from the administration of the business organizations that they are working for. This is the reason why Jeffrey Harris and his colleagues decided to search for evidences that prove that chronic disease among employees in America today and thus be able to find a solution to the said issue. The group of Harris conducted a pilot test of the American Cancer Society Workplace Solutions, which they applied as intervention system in the work operations of eight major employers in the Pacific Northwest.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The said intervention proposed at least 15 major focus-activities that are further subdivided into five categories that are listed as follows: health insurance benefits policies workplace programs health promoting communication tracking of employees health behaviors to measure progress Along the said process of intervention, the researchers even added a 4-meeting session to be held with the employers of the companies involved for two months which are to begin with handed questionnaires that are designed to asses their involvement in the program and how well their employees are faring due to the effects of the program.(Harris, et al, 2008, 16)   TO be able to test the effectiveness of the program, the researchers decided to present the data in a before-after pattern which gave a clear depiction on how the program affected the existing systems of the organization and the health awareness culture that the said business organizations adapt to. Why have the research been concentrating on the employers as source of motivation on the staff personnel of the business organizations tested and not direct the study on the employees at once? There are three main reasons why this process had been considered effective by the researchers: Employers have power over the workplace environments that directly affect the health of the old-aged employees of the organizations. Employers face rapidly mounting healthcare and productivity costs that could affect the process by which they aim to safeguard the health of their people at work. Employers are the once who are in charged of controlling health insurances of employees. These reasons actually showed how much the employers could do to imply a health-conscious environment at work and thus increase health assured number of employees, in the aim of trying to help them avoid the causes of Chronic Disease that could result to long time illness. As a result of the study, the data gathered by the researchers showed that most employers who to involved in the study chose to impose non-smoking policies. Since it appeared to be the least expensive and actually the easiest way to encourage employees to be health conscious, it has been the â€Å"favorite† of the employers. Least applied on the organization on the other hand is the sun-protection program which aims to protect the employees, especially the ones working in the field, from being affected by the heat rays of the sun at work. (Harris, et al, 2008, 13) It is also through this study that it was found out that employers are less able to apply policies, especially when they are not at first handed through a written proposal that would outline the significance of the process to their business and their employees as well. More over, the study revealed that employers are more than willing to learn how to deal with the health needs of their people. Primarily, this is because aside from increasing the employees’ loyalty to them, it also serves as a protection to their gains in the future time as it would help them avoid paying for unnecessary or emergency health cases that their employees have to face. From the study analyzed, it could be noted that employers are indeed expected to take serious consideration of their employees’ health as they are considered to be the organization’s foundation now and in the future. Hence, the application of health-conscious programs on their part for the benefits of their people is an essential part of employee loyalty enhancement proceedings. Being able to establish such particular program in an organization makes the process of dealing with health issues in the organization be met with better ease and understanding on the part of the parties involved in the situation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   True, as Abelson notes in his article, understanding the health needs of the employees working for the success of the business actually ensures the progress of the entire business in the industry that they are involved with. This is the reason why the management team of the organizations today should actually give focus in answering these issues to ease the employees of the health problems that they need to deal with and thus give them better chances of performing better for the business organization’s sake. Reference: Harris JR, Cross J, Hannon PA, Mahoney E, Ross-Viles S, Kuniyuki A. Employer adoption of evidence-based chronic disease prevention practices: a pilot study. Prev Chronic Dis. 2008;5(3). Reed Abelson. (August 2008). Millions With Chronic Disease Get Little to No Treatment. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/05/business/05health.html?_r=1ref=businessoref=slogin. (August 5, 2008).