Air Care employees are leading a new health drive thanks to a number of initiatives set up over the past year by the company’s shadow management committee.Air Care Young Leaders, which is chaired by younger staff members, was tasked late last year with coming up with ways for the company to promote healthy lifestyles for its team members.Part of their recommendations were for Air Care to partner with its insurance provider BF&M to develop and promote a company-wide health and wellness programme for all of the employees.The initiative started with a friendly competition to help team member’s work towards losing weight by participating in a weight loss challenge.Weekly weigh-in sessions were held in the company boardroom and those that gained a pound or more had to donate one dollar to a fund.Once the competition was over, the individual who lost the largest amount of weight was recognised and awarded the proceeds of the fund which was then matched by Air Care.Additionally Air Care provided consultations with a nutritionist to team members who were interested in developing healthier eating options.The nutritionist impressed upon those who took part the value of keeping a record of their diet and the importance of setting attainable goals, while suggestions were given to individuals on substituting recipes for healthier options.Air Care also teamed up with International Fitness Pros to provide personal training sessions for those team members interested with 25 percent of the monthly fee being subsidised by the company.Devrae Noel Simmons from International Fitness Pros conducted a fitness seminar at Air Care in conjunction with BF&M to talk about the health benefits of regular and proper workouts.During the seminar BF&M Wellness experts talked about the benefit of replacing junk food snacks, eg chocolate bars, chips etc, with fresh fruit. Based on this advice Air Care now provides baskets of fruit around the office to encourage healthy snack options for our team members and clients.A further joint initiative between Air Care and BF&M to help promote wellness and proactive health care was for BF&M to organise flu shots to be administered at Air Care for all of its team members.With many of the company’s technicians in and out of climate-controlled conditions continuously throughout the year the idea to offer convenient and free flu shots was very well received. And the company hopes that administering flu shots will help to reduce sick days and promote wellness among its team members.Air Care’s general manager Robert Platt said: “Air Care Young Leaders has helped us understand the value of promoting healthy lifestyles and wellness throughout the company.“At Air Care, we treat personal health and wellness as a high priority; if our team members are healthy and happy they pass that onto our clients and we continue to exceed their expectations. The Young Leaders have done remarkably well with this assignment and are to be congratulated on their achievements.”