HAWC programs tailored to specific needs

  • Published
  • By Noel Getlin
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  NOTE: This is last part of a three-part series about programs offered by the Health and Wellness Center to assist Team Eglin to eat better, be healthier, feel stronger and boost energy levels. Nutrition and exercise have been addressed, but HAWC also offers programs for individuals with special needs. 

Wellness is not just exercise and weight loss, and the Health and Wellness Center wants to see Eglin's Airmen, families and civilians at their best. 

"We are health-lifestyle oriented," said Alison DeCaro, health promotion manager at the HAWC. "We're looking at the whole person. We help with stress, individual issues with nutrition and health." 

Besides nutrition and exercise programs, the HAWC offers a wide variety of programs designed to educate and address individual health needs. 

They offer free specialized classes or programs including Pregnancy Fitness, Performance Power, Healthy Weigh 4 Life, Healthy Hearts, Healthy Backs, Back on Track, Running Clinics, Sports Nutrition, Boot Camp and Muscle Max. 

The HAWC also offers smoking cessation classes under the supervision of nurse educator Kathryn Halliday-Fields. 

"One of the biggest expenses for companies is money lost due to tobacco use, not to mention the devastation nicotine causes to the body" said Ms. Halliday-Fields. "As a nurse, I've seen firsthand what unhealthy living and especially smoking does to the body." 

There is one five-week or three four-week programs offered. The group course uses education and behavior modification to approach tobacco cessation. Pharmacologicial aids are available to military medical beneficiaries. 

Relapses happen, and the HAWC covers that, too. Tobacco Relapse behavior modification classes assist those needing additional support. 

Another popular class focuses on the back. Obesity, poor posture, injuries and stress are just a few of the factors that lead to back problems. Healthy Backs is an educational class that provides exercises to help strengthen the back. 

"It's meant to be both a preventative class as well as helping those who already have injuries from reinjuring their back," Ms. Halliday-Fields said. "Back on Track is a sister class that takes many of the exercises from Healthy Backs and puts them into a 45-minute core workout using a stability ball, mat and standing core work." 

The HAWC tries to offer the stress class monthly, although Ms. Halliday-Fields has gone to squadrons to give a 30- to 45-minute brief. 

The HAWC has highly educated staff members who are experts in their fields, including a registered dietician, exercise physiologist and a registered nurse. 

"Health promotion and education is our job," Ms. DeCaro said. "We try to teach people to be proactive about health instead of reactive; not wait until there's something wrong," said DeCaro. 

Programs offered by the HAWC are free and open to everyone. For more information on the programs, visit the HAWC on the second floor of the Fitness Annex, Bldg. 843 or visit http://www.eglin.af.mil/units/healthandwellnesscenter.asp. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.