SPRINGDALE — Don't be surprised to see small pedometers clipped to waistbands of employees of the city of Springdale.

        Even though the spring Cincinnati Walks program — in which participants try to take 10,000 steps a day — is over, many employees still keep track of steps, blocks and miles walked. It's part of the employee-initiated Springdale Health Incentive Program, (SHIP) begun six years ago by nurse Jane Messer.

        An outgrowth of the American Heart Association's Heart at Work program, SHIP has grown to a year-round wellness program. Activities are planned for and by employees via a committee with representatives from several city departments. This year's budget is $1,700.

        Administrative assistant Martha Brillhart is one of several women who spend part of their lunch hour walking. Sometimes they walk a few blocks to pick up fast food — often a salad. Other times they walk laps at the track at the nearby community center or walk in the building's basement.

        ""We started with 40 people in the Cincinnati Walks program. Normally, people take about 4,500 steps a day,” Ms. Brillhart said. ""The goal was 10,000 steps a day. We enjoy it.”

        Springdale's SHIP program is following a national trend, said Suzanne Zagata with Hewitt Associates LLC, an Illinois consulting firm that specializes in human resources. Ms. Zagata said the firm's research shows that 93 percent of U.S. companies offer some kind of health promotion program compared with 88 percent seven years ago. Seventy-six percent offer special health promotion programs, an increase of 5 percentage points since 1996.

        Companies begin the programs to help control health care costs over the long term, increase health and productivity of workers and as a way of attracting and keeping employees.

        Assistant Administrator Derrick Parham said that claims to the city's self-funded health care program have been decreasing since SHIP began, but he couldn't attribute that solely to the SHIP program.

        “Too many things contribute to it for me to say it has affected it, but I would hope the program has helped,” Mr. Parham said. “If it does nothing else, it does seem to bring employees of different departments together. Anytime you participate in a health improvement program you enjoy, you participate more and are willing to go the extra step.”

        One of the popular programs that begins each January and lasts about 10 weeks is the Deflate Your Weight Program, modeled after a program begun by LensCrafters, Ms. Messer said. Employees divide into teams and each team tries to lose the most weight. After the weekly weigh-ins, the team that has lost the fewest pounds wears a pig pin until the next weigh in.

        “If you feel part of a team, you're more likely to stay on your diet,” said City Administrator Cecil Osborn, who lost 24 pounds this year and gained back only 10. “There's no focus on individual weight loss. I remember I had to wear my pin at a council meeting.”

        For the city's Walk Across America program, employees divided into teams and were assigned miles for exercises or doing common tasks such as mowing the lawn. A chart was kept to see which team “walked” the farthest.

        Twenty-eight of 140 employees received perfect attendance certificates for 2000, including seven who had perfect attendance for six to 10 consecutive years. Tops was Police Chief Mike Laage with 10 years.

        “It's made people aware of their health,” Ms. Messer said. “It always boils down to the same two things: diet and exercise.”

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