FCPS Wellness Bulletin Board

June 2024

June is Men’s Health Month. This time is all about encouraging men and boys to take charge of their health by making healthy lifestyle decisions such as eating right, exercising, and getting regular checkups and preventive screenings. Men’s health is not just a ‘man’s issue’, it’s a family issue and can impact everyone. To learn more about healthy habits check out the CareFirst You FIRST June edition.

High blood pressure is known as the silent killer because it usually has no warning signs or symptoms. Most people don’t even know they have high blood pressure and yet it is a primary contributing cause of 1,100 deaths each day.

Click the PDF link below to see your risk factors, and what you can do about it.

Cholesterol is a fatty, waxy substance produced naturally in the liver. Your body needs small amounts of cholesterol to function normally. The bad news is—too much cholesterol can lead to heart disease. The good news—you can lower your cholesterol and reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke.

Click the PDF link below to see your risk factors, and what you can do about it.

Did you know that CloseKnit offers virtual support from a team of registered dietitians that can help with achieving your health and wellness goals! With this benefit you can work with an expert to design a personalize plan to help you fell your best. This benefit is available to FCPS CareFirst medical plan participants.

What you can expect:

• Insurance-covered** 1:1 sessions with a registered dietitian
• Personalized, evidence-based nutrition plans
• Available for adults and children ages 5+

Great option if you're looking for:

• Long-term, sustainable weight loss
• Chronic disease management
• Ongoing, real-time, non-judgmental support

Two appointment types available:

• A one-time Q&A Session
• Continuous nutrition guidance

Summer is coming - are you ready to get started?

Schedule My Appointment

Simply login into CloseKnit and select Clinical Nutrition Care to learn more and schedule your first visit today.

Quick reminder...if you earned Blue Rewards for taking steps to getting and staying healthy you have until June 30, 2024 to use your reward, plus an additional 90 days to reimburse yourself for any eligible expense that occurred between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024.

Effective July 1, 2024, MetLife will replace The Standard as the insurer for employee and retiree, Life (AD&D), Voluntary Life and Short-Term Disability Insurance. For your review is an Introduction to our partnership with MetLife and a Question & Answer document that we trust will be helpful.

For additional questions, please email Benefits.Office@fcps.org.

Notice of Insurance End Date for Resignation or Leave of Absence for the Conclusion of the 2023–2024 School Year

• For 10 or 11-month employees who are not returning for the next school year, the school term ends in June. This means your coverage will end on June 30th even if you do not give your resignation or leave of absence notice until July or August as you have not paid insurance premiums for July or August.
• You will be offered the opportunity to continue insurance through COBRA or Leave of Absence rates.
• COBRA: You will be offered COBRA to continue coverage for Medical or Dental if you had coverage for these benefits at the time your employment ends. You may review the tab for COBRA for more information on this topic.
• If you terminate employment and were employed before 07/01/05 (benefitted) at the end of the Fiscal Year of 07/01/05, the termination date for medical, dental and life is extended one month for 10 & 11-month employees only.

Drumroll please!

The 2024 Spring into Motion winners are:

• 1st Place – UES Chaffing the Dream, Urbana Elementary School
• 2nd Place – CCM On the Move, Carroll Creek Montessori School
• 3rd Place – We’re Kind of a Big Deal, Carroll Creek Montessori School

We had 22 participants with a perfect score of 140 points! Therefore, we drilled down to total steps to determine the Individual Leaderboard Winners:

• 1st Place - Johanna Obranovich, Urbana Elementary School
• 2nd Place - Kyle Grimm, Urbana Elementary School
• 3rd Place - Leona Maggitti, Monocacy Elementary School

Thanks for everyone who participated – the challenge was a huge success, in total we logged over 50 million steps in just four weeks!

In the fall, we are planning another challenge, stay tuned and meanwhile keep stepping! 😊

Congratulations to our May Burnalong Winners! They will be receiving swag bags as prizes.

• Samantha Wentling - Liberty Elementary School
• Sophia Dorner -Tuscarora Elementary School
• Stacey Parks - West Frederick Middle School

Winners for the spring golf league are Jacob Manlove and John Whittington. Congratulations!

In preparation for 2024-2025, please take a couple of minutes to complete a brief wellness survey. In advance, thank you for your participation!

Did you know that we have a Facebook page? Find the latest information on our Facebook Page about wellness for our FCPS staff here.