STAY CONNECTED ‌ ‌ ‌ LiveWELL PlayWELL EatWELL WorkWELL por tu salud Take charge of your health and put yourself on the path to wellness. Health and wellness means living life fully with vitality and meaning. Wellness looks different for each individual and evolves as our lifestyles change.  Nowadays families are spending more time together than ever before. While this is a meaningful time to reflect on the things that truly matter, it can become overwhelming for parents and children to work through all the recent changes within our community. We hope this newsletter will bring inspiring ways you can take care of your family wellness as you spend more time at home together!

LiveWELL Parenting During Quarantine

It is normal to feel overwhelmed and frustrated as a parent when trying to balance work, home-schooling, cleaning, cooking, and more, especially during a global pandemic. Here are some tips to help reduce your frustrations and feel more connected with yourself and your family while you stay at home: *Information derived from seattlechildrens.org Manage Stress and Anxiety: Give voice to your feelings by validating your experience. One way to manage stress and anxiety is to limit the consumption of news and information by being selective of who and what you listen to, including your thoughts. Have a Plan to Calm Down: Take five by lifting your hand to match your child’s hand and breathe together or raise your right hand by yourself and take deep breaths. Make time for realistic self-care practices: Find time to move your body by going for a walk, taking a dance break, or singing your heart out to an old favorite! Encourage the kids to join, too! Create a schedule that includes your priorities: Brainstorm a list of “want to” activities for the entire family! This can include time for parents to exercise together, children and parents to play together, or for children to play video games! Ensure that time is carved out during the week to do the “want to activities” even if the days are scheduled with structured tasks. Take time to build a framework for learning: The first part of building an effective routine that works is to address the needs of your children and yourself. Build your routine to include fun within structured learning and work responsibilities. Remember to have compassion for yourself when things don’t go as planned.

PlayWELL Muscle Strength for Kids and Family

Muscle Strength for Kids and Family! Practicing and improving muscle strength is important at any age. Read on to see how professional NFL players Kenyan Drake and Raekwon McMillan encourage building muscle through fun, physical activities!  Building muscle while walking Family walks in the neighborhood have become a norm in our community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Challenge yourself by incorporating lunges while you walk! Lunges improve cardiovascular health and help build strong legs.  Family Fun Kids love a good scavenger hunt! Create a list of interesting objects you may find on a neighborhood walk. Then go explore, challenging the kids to be the first to find each object. Build in some muscular fitness by having them do five push-ups or five squats each time they find an object!  For more details on these, and other, muscle-strength activities visit GoNoodle.com

EatWELL Back-to-School Easy Lunch

TOMATO BASIL ALPHABET SOUP WITH MEATBALLS INGREDIENTS 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 large onion, diced 3 cloves garlic, minced 56 oz tomatoes (2 cans) 6 cups chicken or beef broth salt & pepper to taste 1 tablespoon granulated sugar 1 teaspoon dried thyme 1 teaspoon dried basil Cooked alphabet pasta (or pasta of preference) For the meatballs: 1 slice sandwich bread 3 tablespoons milk 1 lb ground turkey 1 large egg 1 tablespoon garlic salt *Recipe and photo courtesy of www.laurenslatest.com INSTRUCTIONS Place a large pot over medium heat. Pour in olive oil and sauté onion for 4-5 minutes or until tender. Stir in garlic and cook another minute. Pour in tomatoes, broth, salt, pepper, sugar, and spices. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer and cover. Break sandwich bread into bite-sized pieces and place into a large bowl. Stir together with milk and soak 1-2 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients for meatballs until incorporated. Roll into small, bite-sized pieces. Using an immersion blender, puree tomato soup until completely smooth. Drop meatballs into the simmering broth to poach and cook 5 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through. Add in cooked pasta and stir. Ladle into bowls and serve hot or refrigerate to pack into your student’s lunch bag!

WorkWELL Five Innovative ways employers are practicing health and wellness

SPOTLIGHT ON BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD OF ARIZONA

At Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona (BCBSAZ), we live our purpose: Inspiring Health. We aim to inspire health in our community and among our members, and we are committed to helping our employees be their healthiest selves—both physically and mentally. Most of our 2,400 employees have been working remotely since March and are missing out on our many on-campus health promotion programs. To serve our employees and the broader community, we have implemented the following:   1.     Virtual Health and Wellness Offerings. With our on-site fitness center closed, the fitness center staff offers a variety of online virtual classes every day of the workweek. Plus, the center’s one-on-one fitness and nutrition consults have shifted to phone calls to help employees set goals and develop strategies to meet those goals. And our on-site dietitian conducts regular webinars on various nutrition topics.   2.     Free Masks. As a MASK UP AZ campaign supporter, we provided free masks to all employees and their covered dependents. And we have an ongoing photo-sharing social campaign encouraging people to share photos of themselves in masks and to share their personal stories about why they wear a mask.   3.     Online Mental Health Resources. BCBSAZ offered our employees (and all Arizonans!) a free three-month subscription to Unwinding Anxiety, an online program to help people take control of their anxiety. Also, we’ve continually shared resources—including webinars, articles, tip sheets, and more—from our employee assistance program as well as from our wellness platform, Sharecare. Plus, we launched an internal Daily Smile email to give employees something positive to look forward to each workday.   4.     Virtual Volunteerism. BCBSAZ’s heritage of service is highly regarded in our community and is honored by our employees. Many of our projects serve our purpose of Inspiring Health. Plus, we know that volunteerism is good for mental health. So, we’ve made an effort to offer opportunities to do good from home.   5.     Waiving Cost Sharing. To help reduce the risk of spreading the virus, BCBSAZ is encouraging the use of virtual care by eliminating cost-sharing for telehealth sessions and expanding access to telehealth and provider hotlines. We’re also waiving the cost-share for medically necessary diagnostic tests related to COVID-19.

Health & Wellness Share with us how your team is practicing health and wellness

Many of our Wellness AtoZ employers have taken steps to implement health and safety efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and we encourage you to share with us! Email us at info@wellnessatoz.org and let us know the innovative ways your company has supported your wellbeing. Look for us to highlight your efforts on our social sites!

WELLCommunity Supporting Community Food Banks

Food banks have always played a vital role in our communities, but especially now as our world is living through the COVID-19 pandemic. Food banks have become a source of food security for families and they rely on the community for support. Consider volunteering or donating by visiting St. Mary’s Food Bank for more information.