Staff Excellence: Center for Healthy Living

Purdue University’s talented workforce is only as strong and robust as it is healthy. And every day, Center for Healthy Living staff members strive to provide an environment where employees and their spouses and dependents can receive the resources, information and treatment necessary to maintain — and enhance — their overall health and wellness.

Managed by One to One Health (OTO), the Center for Healthy Living offers a wide range of services to treat common illnesses, manage chronic conditions, provide preventative care and promote health and wellness. The CHL offers a multidisciplinary approach to health management by employing more than 30 individuals across three locations — West Lafayette, Hammond and Fort Wayne — who work to deliver in-person and virtual services that meet all five pillars of the Healthy Boiler Program. 

“Our Healthy Boiler Program sets the overall well-being foundation, and the CHL’s offerings provide support to all five pillars of that program — behavioral health, financial wellness, physical health, social wellness and work-life integration,” says Candace Shaffer, associate vice president of benefits and payroll in Human Resources. “And each year, our benefits team — in conjunction with the CHL and OTO teams — work to enhance and/or add programs and services available to better serve the needs of our faculty and staff.”

These professionals’ patient-centered approach shines through in everything they do, from the front desk staff who help schedule appointments to the medical assistants and the providers who offer compassionate care. The team also includes health coaches who provide physical activity and nutrition plans, dieticians who help develop individualized meal plans, behavioral therapists who offer one-on-one counseling, clinical pharmacists who guide patients through medication details and a health care navigator who helps employees maximize their health plan benefits.

Over the past year, these staff members worked together to serve 6,075 patients through 21,337 appointments ranging from primary care services like annual physicals, cholesterol screenings and bloodwork to other specialized services like health coaching for chronic conditions, medication therapy management and preventative health screenings.  

Other staff members support the CHL Telehealth Program, which offers 24/7 access to acute care and health care consultations via text, call and video chat. This team, which provides diagnoses, treatments, prescriptions, medical advice and referrals, helped facilitate 4,932 appointments in the past year.

In addition to its in-person and virtual health and wellness offerings, the CHL also hosts a variety of Healthy Boiler workshops, which include monthly recipe clubs, group coaching opportunities, lifestyle programs and more. Each year the center offers approximately 25 wellness programs and 20 webinars covering topics like mindfulness, strength and flexibility training, and chronic illness.

“The staff, programs and services available at the CHL locations help us exponentially in our continuous efforts to prioritize the overall health and wellness of the Purdue population,” Shaffer says. “We take pride in the fact that we have been able to expand the care provided by the CHL and our partnership with OTO to all three Purdue campuses and the entire Purdue community.”

OTO continues to seek additional partnership opportunities to help enhance programming and services offered. Current partnerships with the College of Pharmacy and the College of Nursing have given clinical faculty members the opportunity to serve as nurse practitioners and pharmacists at the West Lafayette CHL. Some Purdue students have even joined the team, serving as pharmacy fellows when available.

No matter their position on the team, CHL staff share one goal: supporting the well-being of Purdue employees and their families. This is routinely demonstrated at multiple events throughout the year, including CHL open houses, which took place in September and gave campus community members the opportunity to tour the three locations, speak with providers and learn more about available services.

The CHL also recently kicked off its annual flu shot campaign, which features multiple opportunities for faculty and staff across Purdue’s campuses to receive flu shots through on-campus and drive-through events or by appointment.

And as CHL employees help others prioritize their health and wellness, they’re also pursuing goals that will take their level of care to new heights. Multiple CHL employees at the West Lafayette and Hammond locations recently earned higher education degrees and certifications, with another successfully publishing a book focused on relaxation tools and mental health coping skills.

No matter the location, the CHL ensures that the entire Purdue family has easy access to quality, personalized care provided by its team of highly skilled staff members who each come to work each day with a friendly face, a listening ear and an eagerness to help patients better understand how to improve their overall health and wellness.