Nortel goes cyber big time
About 18 months ago, Ottawa-based Nortel Networks Corporation began enrolling its employees in a program that dramatically illustrates just how much can be accomplished in wellness programming using interactive media.
The company’s goal was to influence employees’ health and behaviors to make positive changes. They began a search for a vendor that could not only provide them with an on-line health risk appraisal (HRA), but allow for an immediate response to that risk assessment that was related to the individual employee’s stage of change. They also wanted that vendor to provide on-line modules that would allow employees to work through a broad range of information on health and medicine, and set goals to achieve behavior change. The service provided by the chosen vendor, Global Medic of Montreal, includes information on both personal and family health.
The Global Medic system allows for the integration of the health information the individual enters with the desired outcome, and the building of education modules in specific areas. To ensure confidentiality for employees, Nortel receives no individual data — just aggregate reports of utilization and risk factors.
Although Global Medic can be reached through the Internet, Nortel created a dedicated integrated services digital network (ISDN) line that links its local area network (LAN) to the Global Medic server, where the system sits. Entry into the system is password-protected for any individual.
The new system is currently being provided for more than 25,000 employees free of charge in pilot programs in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, with the ultimate intent to roll it out globally to Nortel’s 72,000 employees.
Nortel will not be able to measure outcomes for at least two or three years, but employee feedback has been very positive.
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