Wellness Centers Help Businesses Improve Employee Health

By Ron Hollowell

It’s a dilemma that has had business owners scratching their head for years. How do you corral stampeding health care costs caused by unproductive employees who log untimely sick days, or whose poor health causes their illness to linger for extended periods of time?

If Gloria Treister has her way, she will be glad to let business owners in on a secret that could bring them measurable savings to their health care costs. Treister is the owner of Wellness Evolution, a Mayfield Village-based health and wellness center. She and her team of practitioners – which includes two naturopathic physicians and licensed acupuncturists, one medical doctor, massage therapists, and an aesthetician -- are committed to providing a reliable, single source where businesses complement their medical care with holistic modalities, alternative therapies, and good lifestyle practices.

Treister, who has more than 27 years of health care experience in Northeast Ohio, empowers business owners and their employees to work with her practitioners to enhance quality of life, increase productivity and vitality, reduce the incidence of illness, and ultimately save the company time and money.

Wellness Evolution also provides advanced skin care and cosmetic laser therapies to help people look and feel better. Through a collaborative and integrative approach, Treister helps people find their way to better health.
“Alternative therapies are not meant to replace conventional medicine, but to enhance optimal health in a safe and effective way,” Treister said. “We offer both individual, group and corporate wellness programs to blend complementary modalities into health, wellness, and beauty strategies.”

A golden opportunity for businesses

Wellness Evolution offers business owners a unique Gold Corporate Program, which provides an array of special benefits. Employees receive a special membership card embossed with their company’s name and a list of the program’s benefits, which includes a savings on medi-spa services, nutritional supplements, acupuncture, and therapeutic massages.

“The program is a great way for employers to supplement their current health care offerings or to reward key employees and executives with holistic-based therapies, and medicine to improve their physical condition and their overall appearance,” Treister said.

Wellness Evolution helps employees with innovative weight loss solutions, as well as natural and organic skin care treatments for acne and wrinkles. “Business owners should look at us as an adjunct in addition to the health care benefits they provide to their employees,” Treister said.

Businesses slowly catching on

Like Treister, Betsy Bartter Muller, founder and president of the Indigo Connection in Strongsville, has more than 25 years of offering life-balancing experiences to professional business women. Bartter Muller is a certified energy health practitioner, and she applies energy psychology techniques in her role as an energy coach.

She continually challenges her clients to consider their unique life purpose, and to work with her to develop goals and plans that are consistent with the sources of joy in their daily life. Bartter Muller employs her techniques in a wide range of business roles, providing her clients with a wealth of ideas for harnessing energy and spiritual healing.

When presenting to business owners, Bartter Muller uses an innovative Emotional Freedom Technique as her primary coaching tool. The Emotional Freedom Technique is a simple, easy to learn, self-administered treatment that can be used by people of all ages on a wide variety of issues. The technique also is effective when used in private counseling and coaching sessions. Rooted in the ancient principles of acupuncture, EFT is based on the theory that the cause of all negative emotions is a disruption or blockage in the body's energy system.

Bartter Muller also wants to see alternative forms of medicine gain popularity as a viable health care solution for employees. Despite her efforts as a personal business trainer for professional business women, a personal coach, and an energy coach, Bartter Muller feels that business owners in Northeast Ohio still aren’t getting the message about alternative health care.

“Our business community is tough,” Bartter Muller said. “There are certain businesses devoted to wellness and they encourage their employees to seek alternative forms of medicine and they bring in speakers like me. But I would not be correct if I said alternative health care solutions are catching on here. They should be, because what I’m teaching is self care as health care.” Bartter Muller said companies see a true dollar benefit when an employee loses weight or stops smoking. When a person decides to lose weight they know the benefits, but they run into the ‘yes, buts’ that tend to impede their progress. That’s where her coaching techniques come into play. “A principle of coaching is you have to have the person know what the problem is and admit that they have a problem,” she said.

What’s on the horizon

Alternative health care is a $50 billion a year industry, Treister said. Northeast Ohio continues to trail states such as California, Colorado, and New York in terms of progressively incorporating alternative health care practices into the business world, but she’s confident the future is bright for her field of health care.

“We recently did a presentation for a major Cleveland law firm on how toxins affect our health and we had 25 people sign up,” Treister said. “Forty people attended, which was a pleasant surprise. Once people understand what alternative medicine and wellness is all about, and they make the shift in the paradigm to take control of their own good health, they will realize the benefits both for themselves, their families, and consequently their employers.”