As part of the weeklong activities put together by the Human Resource Department (HR) to mark this year’s Health Week, the HR department organized a health talk to sensitize staff on the need to balance work, life and health.
The Forestry Commission Health Week, is an annual event which has been put in place to promote healthy lifestyles amongst staff. This year, staff had the opportunity to listen to carefully selected topics on posture, work life balance, mental health, proper dieting and hand washing mechanisms.
Specialists from the Achimota Hospital, Chiropractic and Wellness Center and the Office of the President Medical Center took staff through the afore mentioned topics.
Madam Hannah Oye Afriyie, a Psychologist and Marriage Counselor, educated staff on the need to maintain a positive work life and health balance. She admonished staff to take issues relating to their mental health seriously, rest when necessary and talk to other people when they have issues. She added that, mostly when people tend to bottle up their emotions, it leads to a lot of psychological issues which hinder productivity in the workspace. Mrs. Afriyie also talked about the importance of time management, and advised staff to plan their time well and focus on things one at a time. According to her, “if you plan, eat and sleep well, everything in your life will be balanced”. She also advised staff to try and sleep for 6-8 hours, exercise at least 30 minutes a day.
Mrs. Joana Odei who is a senior nurse at the Achimota Hospital took staff through a demonstrative way of keeping our hands clean by using hand sanitizer.
She said it is prudent for one to be cautious especially, in the rainy season because diseases like cholera, flu, and malaria are on the rise, hence the need to keep our hands clean at all times. According to her, hand washing only takes away the debris from the hands, however, when you use alcohol based hand sanitizer, it kills the microbes. She advised staff to buy sanitizer that contains 70% alcohol. She entreated staff to try as much as possible to practice hand hygiene and eat hot meals.
Mr. Elikem Sorkpah, a Chiropractor from the Chiropractic and Wellness Center in East Legon, educated staff on the right ways to maintain good posture and good health. According to him, over 70% of sicknesses and diseases are due to bad posture. He taught staff proper ways to sit, stand, sleep and specific exercises to do for the balance of various parts of the body.
Mr. Sorkpah gave staff the opportunity to book appointments at the Chiropractic Center, to get their spines checked and be given a massage.
Dr. John Antwi from the Office of the President Medical Center, spoke on the need to have and maintain a healthy diet. To him, it is good to know what we eat and the number of calories they contain. “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and supper like a pauper”, he added. He advised staff to eat the right proportions of food for a healthy and balanced diet.
As part of the celebration, a day was set aside for staff to go colorful and exchange fruits. There were lots of fruits flooding the Commission with baskets of different types of fruits being exchanged such as oranges, mangoes, grapes, pineapples and kiwi. The exchange served as a platform for networking among staff.
