Event: Solon HR Roundtable Meeting Announcement, Speaker Bill Frankel

Our next meeting is Thursday August 22nd at Mustard Seed Market in Solon, second floor. Our speaker is Bill Frankel with Be Well Solutions and his topic is “The Truth about Exercise, Diet and Nutrition”. Come and spend some time with your peers learning new tools to take care of you (and teach your employees to do the same)! What:    Lunch meeting with speaker Bill Frankel Where: Mustard Seed Market, 6025 Kruse Drive in Solon,  2nd Floor When:   Thursday, August 22nd,  from 12 noon to 1 pm. Lunch:   Purchase food there if you like RSVP:   It’s helpful if you RSVP to Susan Drotleff at susan.drotleff@adeccona.com or to Carolyn Downie at communications@solonchamber.com so that we can plan for room set up and hand out of materials.

His 50th birthday one Tough Mudder

Sue Reid for The Solon Times It was a 50th birthday celebration that Solon resident Bill Frankel won’t soon forget. It involved plunging into freezing cold water, jumping through fire and running through electrical wires – and that was the fun part. Mr. Frankel, along with six of his close friends and colleagues at Be Well Solutions in Solon, took part in the Tough Mudder event recently in Mansfield. A 10 mile-plus, military-style obstacle course designed by the British Forces, Tough Mudder not only tests one’s physical strength, but also mental stamina. Drawing more than 700,000 participants worldwide, the event raises funds in support of the Wounded Warrior Project. “I’ve done marathons and triathlons and am a long-distance runner and cycler, so ‘been there, done that,’” Mr. Frankel, who turned 50 on May 2, explained of deciding how to mark [...]

E-cigs fire up controversy

Timothy Magaw for Crain's Cleveland Charlie Lardomita has been an off-and-on smoker since he was about 16 years old. And while it's only been two months since he lit up, the 38-year-old IT executive thinks this time he's kicked the habit for good. Forget the patch or nicotine gum. Mr. Lardomita swears by his electronic cigarette, a device that could be described as the lovechild of RoboCop and Joe Camel. He has made believers — or “vapors” — out of a handful of his friends who've since dropped traditional smokes. He even has dreamt of opening a vapor lounge — a one-stop shop and haven for e-cig connoisseurs — near his home in Kirtland. “I'm so into them it's ridiculous,” said Mr. Lardomita, chief technology officer for International Excess Alliance in Richmond Heights, a wholesaler of property, casualty and other [...]

Be Well Solutions moves to Solon

Chagrin Solon Sun Be Well Solutions, a physician-owned and operated wellness company, recently moved from Beachwood to Solon. Three of the four company founders live in Solon and decided when it came time to move to a larger facility, they wanted to locate in Solon. Be Well Solutions’ mission is to promote disease prevention, healthy aging, and healthcare cost containment for its clients through health screenings, behavioral interventions and educational seminars. All who are interested in wellness are encouraged to stop by and visit Be Well Solutions at 30625 Solon Road, Suite C. An open house is planned for later this summer.

Wellness big business for Solon firm

Timothy Magaw for Crain's Cleveland Keeping employees healthy is a good business plan these days as health care costs continue to inch upward, and a Solon-based company appears to be benefiting from helping employers do just that. Launched in 2005, BeWell Solutions positions itself as a business that can improve an employer’s bottom line by reducing employees’ health risks through educational seminars, biometric screenings, health coaching and other tactics. Revenues at BeWell, according to its top executives, are on the upswing, growing 100% in 2010 over the previous year and 60% on top of that in 2011. At present, BeWell is 40% ahead of where it was last year in terms of revenue, with “major opportunities in the pipeline,” said William Frankel, its executive vice president. Specific revenue figures were not disclosed. The company recently moved from a 3,500-square-foot space [...]

Companies trying to keep budget lines trim with wellness programs

Craig Lovelace for Business First Kathleen Herath has advice for companies crafting a wellness program for employees: “Always make sure the lawyers are present.” Sounds ominous, but Herath, who oversees wellness efforts at Nationwide Insurance, said a lot goes into customizing programs to meet the needs of workers but not run afoul of the law. “If you ... put it together in a mindful manner, it is much easier to maintain,” said Herath, associate vice president of health and productivity. Five years ago, Nationwide revamped its wellness program and developed MyHealth for its employees across the country. It always had elements of a wellness plan – such as smoking cessation, nutritional and exercise programs – but Herath said it was never a coordinated effort. Nationwide assembled a diverse team to develop a plan that was legal and worthy of the [...]

For wellness waverers, tax break might do the trick

Shannon Mortland for Crain's Cleveland Many companies have shied away from wellness programs that aim to prompt employees to live healthier lifestyles, but that could be about to change. In July, Congress began considering the Healthy Workforce Act of 2007, which would provide tax breaks to companies that offer robust wellness programs to employees. Through the act, the government hopes to reduce health care spending and therefore free up more money to flow into the economy. And some believe the effort just might work. Dr. Ron Golovan, medical director of Beachwood-based wellness pro-vider Be Well Solutions, said many small and mid-size companies are starting to think about wellness, a concept that mostly has been reserved for large corporations that stand to save a lot of money. Though a tax incentive isn’t the best reason to start a wellness program, it [...]