Paul Bass Photo
Down the hall from where city workers cut checks and tabulate expenses, they can now take deep breaths, assume a lotus pose, check their blood pressure, or pick up tips on how to cook more greens for dinner.
Welcome to the new “Wellness Center” on the fourth floor of the city government office building at 200 Orange, one door down from the controller’s office.
City and Yale New Haven Health officials cut the ribbon on the new center at a press conference Thursday morning. The city already contracts with YNHH for a wellness program, which sees staffers visiting 200 workers from 10 different departments in a given month. The new center is aimed at greatly increasing the number of workers who participate by creating a central place where they can come in for confidential advice to deal with stress or health concerns, take small classes or attend educational seminars. Offerings will include massage, yoga, and healthful eating tips.
Mayor Toni Harp said the center is the latest element of a growing partnership between the city and YNHH to tackle health care costs and challenges.
“This will make us healthier in our working lives and our personal lives. We’ll be better able to serve the people of New Haven,” she said. She noted that city government is self-insured and needs to “make sure our employees are as healthy as possible.”
Eve Duzant (at right in photo), a city Finance Department staffer who coordinates the wellness program with YNHH, testified how she has improved her own health through it. “I now love broccoli and asparagus and spaghetti squash,” she said. YNHH registered dietician Mary Maloy (at left) introduced her to healthful recipes, many of which she has collected in a 143-page cookbook and nutritional guide available at the wellness center, with alliterative titles like “Lavish Lentil Soup” and “Tasty Tofu Salad” to “Krunchy Kale” and “Succulent Succotash.”
