Tricon hosts health fair to raise employee awareness
<p>Free blood pressure tests were administered by nurses from Mineral Community Hospital.</p>
Editors Note: This article originally ran in the April 17 issue of the Mineral Independent however the organizer of the event was incorrectly identified as Stacy Conrow-Veveris. Traditionally a correction would be run but given the tremendous effort of Tricon Timber employee Stacey Neill in orchestrating the event for both employees of Trcion and the community as a whole, the editorial staff of the Mineral Independent felt it worthy to reprint the article giving proper attribution to Neill.
After being on an insurance committee at the end of the year, Stacey Neill of Tricon Timber in St. Regis noticed a lack of preventative care which resulted in a “spike” in the insurance rates.
As a result of being on the committee Neill and her team decided to create the first annual health fair for Tricon employees and their family members.
“We organized this event to create awareness and to educate our employees on preventative health and just diagnosing things early so they can get the treatment they need,” Neill said.
According to Neill, raising awareness for preventative care is a key factor in the health of the employees at Tricon and in that respect the event was a success before it even started.
“We had 75 of our employees take advantage of a blood draw at the mill,” Neill said. “The hospital (Mineral Community Hospital) came and did that and between 10 and 15 of those people were diagnosed with the need to make further appointments with doctors. So we have already been successful even if we don’t get anybody here.”
The event was a success in terms of the number of attendees – many employees from Tricon headed to the St. Regis Community Center after their shifts were over on Friday and participated in a 2x4 throwing contest as well as a number of free classes such as first aid and nutrition.
Representatives from the Mineral County Health Department, Mineral Community Hospital, insurance providers and many other county organizations were also on hand at the fair to give attendees more practical information on preventative health care.
“It’s just about creating awareness for child safety, insurance and things like that,” Neill said.