The Leesburg Area Chamber of Commerce is challenging local companies and the City of Leesburg to get financially and physically fit with a new competition called the Business Wellness Challenge – Because Your Health is Your Wealth.

 

The competition encourages companies to focus on preventative wellness of their employees. Healthier employees save companies money by reporting fewer sick days from work and reducing the rising cost of medical insurance claims.

 

The 90-day challenge beginning Feb. 16 encourages businesses to form teams of five people to get healthy and to lose weight. Weekly weigh-ins at Central Florida Health Alliance’s Leesburg Regional Medical Center will keep track of each team’s progress. The 12 weigh-ins will be held each Monday during the competition and will coordinate with health and wellness lectures that promote both physical and business health.

           

Progress in the Business Wellness Challenge will be monitored through coverage in the Daily Commercial newspaper and television programs on Leesburg’s Lakefront TV. The winners – those who accumulate the greatest percentage of body fat loss - will receive various prizes including memberships at the Health Alliance’s Leesburg Wellness Center and a one-year advertising campaign in Healthy Living Magazine.

 

Chamber executive director Jan Zacharchuk said the winning company will get much more: “That company is going to get five healthy people who will change their lives forever.”

 

Leesburg plans to participate in the Business Wellness Challenge with its own five-member team to help celebrate the recent opening of the city’s new Employee Wellness Center, which provides free and convenient medical care for city staff and encourages all employees to live healthier lifestyles.

 

All area businesses are invited to join the Business Wellness Challenge. Chamber membership is not required. Entry is $500 for each five-member team. For more information, contact the Chamber of Commerce at 352-787-2131.