Keeping mom healthy during her pregnancy is a priority for everyone. When mom’s healthy, she’s more likely to have a healthy, full-term baby. That’s good for her employer too. Mom’s well-being is associated with lower healthcare costs, greater productivity and reduced absenteeism.

Companies that bring wellness into the workplace find that encouraging healthy attitudes and behaviors is beneficial to their employees as well as to the bottom line. Healthy and happy employees are more motivated, perform better and stay with a company longer. With an estimated 90 percent of businesses of 50+ employees offering some form of health promotion program, your company may have already experienced some of these benefits.

The March of Dimes lets you take your commitment to healthy employees a step further. We offer a free educational wellness program that is tailored to the needs of female employees and promotes a workplace that is pregnancy- and family-friendly. Healthy Babies Healthy Business—which provides a wealth of information to support employees before and during pregnancy—is easy to implement and manage. The program’s components are:

* ONLINE / My 9 Months runs on your company intranet. The site provides pre-pregnancy and pregnancy information. More help may be accessed in both English and in Spanish, including communicating with specially trained March of Dimes health information specialists.

* IN PRINT / The March of Dimes publishes a wide array of health education and awareness materials for moms and dads, in English and in Spanish. Request a free catalog at marchofdimes.com/catalog.

* PERSONAL SUPPORT / shareyourstory.org is a special online community for families with babies who have spent time in newborn intensive care. Bereavement materials for families who have lost babies (and those who grieve with them) are also available.  

Team up with the March of Dimes and offer your employees a chance to make better health decisions and have healthier babies. A small investment in time could save your company thousands of dollars. For more information, e-mail the Colorado chapter or call us at 303-692-0011.

Is your business pregnancy-friendly? Get certified
The March of Dimes is proud to announce a new program in Colorado to certify and publicly recognize companies that provide employee benefits that lead to healthy pregnancies and healthy babies. Organizations can be acknowledged as a pregnancy-friendly worksite and receive an official Healthy Babies Healthy Business seal of approval. To qualify, organizations must meet a set of criteria that includes providing health information, encouraging healthy behaviors and activities, accommodating the special needs of pregnant women and parent, and offering healthcare coverage and certain types of job protection. There is no charge to participate in the program. The exposure and goodwill you will generate for your business, though, are priceless. Learn more and download the application.