Oconee Valley Healthcare March Madness Healthy Living Competition

Oconee Valley Healthcare employees will be invited to join the 2021 March Madness Healthy

Living Competition. Last year, employees had three weeks of competition to earn points, and

then an elimination round took place the last week between the top point earners. This year will

continue to encourage total health and fitness, though instead of an individual competition, there

will be teams of two. COVID-19 unwillingly created a separation throughout OVHC this past

year. Teams of two allows for a fun, yet competitive way to bring back some unity! To make

things more interesting, there will be bonus opportunities offered each week. Employees will be

motivated to win the prize and therefore put more effort into completing healthy habits.

The Healthy Living Competition will consist of three different components:

i. Week 1: Exercise

ii. Week 2: Nutrition

iii. Week 3: Positivity

iv. Final Round: Walking Steps

Week 1: Exercise

Exercise and fitness is essential to healthy living. The first week of the competition will be

centered around moving. Employees can earn up to 15 points (1 point for 1 day, 2 more points

for 2 days) for doing some sort of physical activity. Examples include: walking, working out at

the gym, running, biking, playing sports, yoga, stretching, Zumba (or other workout classes), etc.

Employees must submit a picture of their exercise to get credit. In order to get credit, the pictures

will have to show the full activity (not just be a selfie). For example, employees could take a

picture of an elliptical or weights at the gym, take a short video while jogging, take a selfie while
walking at a park, and more. An alternative option could be someone else taking a picture of the

employee. The purpose of the picture is to show that they are in some way participating in

physical activity. Employees will have the weekend and Monday morning to submit their

exercise pictures from the week by email and/or text message.

Week 2: Nutrition

Healthy eating is another necessity of overall healthy living. Employees who make it a point to

eat healthily during the competition will earn points. According to MyPlate, balanced meals

include:

i. Half a plate of fruits/vegetables

ii. Quarter plate of grains

iii. Quarter plate of protein

Like the previous week, employees can earn up to 15 points (1 point for 1 day, 2 more points for

2 days) this week by having one balanced meal a day! Healthy eating will be tracked Monday-

Friday. Employees will send pictures of their healthy plates to Allison Hawk and her Intern,

Natalie Babin. They can submit a maximum of 5 for the week. Employees will have the weekend

and Monday morning to submit their nutrition pictures from the week by email and/or text

message.

Week 3: Positivity

Employees can earn up to 15 points this week by living with a positive mindset! Every day of the

week is a new opportunity for a Random Act of Kindness. This week will also focus on

improving mental health within the workplace. Employees must send a picture of their Random

Act of Kindness and/ or mental health initiative to Allison Hawk and Natalie Babin each day in

order to earn points for that day. Examples of positivity or Random Acts of Kindness may
involve: Writing a caring note and/or email to someone, picking up trash in the parking lot,

donating to the Little Free Pantry, buying someone a coffee, breakfast, or lunch, doing someone

else’s chore, etc. The opportunities are infinite, employees will have more free range with this

week! Employees will take a picture of their RAOK and send it to Allison and Natalie along with

a short description on what they did (bought coffee for my mom, wrote a note for my coworker,

etc) to clarify. You will have the weekend and Monday morning to submit your pictures from the

week by email and/or text message.

Final Round: Walking

Before the final round starts, points will be tallied for all contestants from the first three weeks.

All will participate in the final round of walking. The steps will be tracked daily. Submissions

will be by the next morning at 9am, the person who walks the least amount of steps the day

before will be eliminated. On Wednesday morning, the first person will be eliminated, Thursday

the second, etc. until Thursday only has two competitors with the final steps being submitted on

Friday morning.

Employees will have until 9 am the next morning to submit their steps from the day to Allison

and Natalie. Depending on the form of recording, employees have several options to submit

steps:

a. Smart Watches: Employees can use the coordinating app on their smart device to see a

daily total of steps and screenshot the amount to send to Allison and Natalie. Here are some

examples of acceptable smart watches:

a. Apple Watch

b. Fitbit

c. Wear OS
 d. Samsung Tizen

b. Apps on smart phones: Employees can send screenshots of the app to Allison and

Natalie for their daily total of steps. (Employees should make sure their phones are near them

throughout the day so it truthfully records steps). Here are some of the top tracking apps:

a. Apple/Samsung Health

b. Footsteps

c. Pacer

d. Runtastic

e. StepsApp

f. MapMyWalk

g. GoogleFit

c. Pedometers: Employees can take a picture of the pedometer screen and send it to

Allison and Natalie. (Be careful: pedometers are easily accidentally “zeroed” at the touch of a

button).

If an employee does not own or have access to a smart watch or have an app on their phone to

record steps, a pedometer may be supplied. Any other form of recording steps will have to be run

by Allison and Natalie for approval.

Layout:

The competition will start Monday, March 1st. The length of the challenge will be 4 weeks, with

all employees participating in weeks 1-4. The last week the final winner announced the final

Friday morning. The last day to sign up to participate is Thursday, February 25th.
 Oconee Valley Healthcare March Madness Healthy Living Competition

Hello all!

You are invited to join this year’s 2021 March Madness Healthy Living Competition! This will

be remotely the same as the 2020 competition. The categories will remain exercise, nutrition,

positivity, and walking! Any employee can join and compete for three weeks in these categories,

1 topic per week. Allison and I will randomly select two member teams. All teams will enter a

final round of walking and go through single elimination that week. There is no cost to enter, and

the final team winners will take home two gift baskets!

So how does this work?

You will focus on different aspects of health for three weeks. Nobody is eliminated during these

weeks; you are only earning points!

Each week, you have 5 days (Monday-Friday) to gain points. The more days you complete the

activity, the more points you earn. The daily points match to the amount of days that you have

completed the activity. The points from each day add up, and both individuals in the pairing can

earn a maximum of 15 points a week, plus an additional five bonus opportunities, making it a

possible 20 points a week. Therefore, a combined team total of 30 points, or 40 including all

bonus opportunities. Team members are welcomed to perform activities together, but do not

have to. No bonus opportunities can be repeated during the week, except the final walking round.

Activity Daily Points Weekly Total

Complete 1 day 1 point 1 point
Complete 2 days 2 points 3 points
Complete 3 days 3 points 6 points
Complete 4 days 4 points 10 points
Complete 5 days 5 points 15 points
Example 1: You exercised Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday: you earned 1-point Monday, 2

points Tuesday, and 3 points Thursday, earning a total of 6 points.

Example 2: You ate balanced meals on Tuesday and Thursday: you earned 1-point Tuesday and

2 points Thursday, earning a total of 3 points.

Week 1: Exercise (March 1st- 5th)

Exercise and fitness are essential to healthy living. The first week of the competition will be

centered around moving. Employees can individually earn up to 20 points (including all 5

completed bonus opportunities) (40 combined team points) (1 point for 1 day, 2 more points for

2 days) for doing some sort of physical activity. Examples include: walking, working out at the

gym, running, biking, playing sports, yoga, stretching, Zumba (or other workout classes), etc.

Both employees on a team must submit a picture of their exercise to get credit. In order to get

credit, the pictures will have to show the full activity (not just be a selfie). For example,

employees could take a picture of an elliptical or weights at the gym, take a short video while

jogging, take a selfie while walking at a park, and more. An alternative option could be someone

else taking a picture of the employee. The purpose of the picture is to show that they are in some

way participating in physical activity. Employees will have the weekend and Monday morning to

submit their exercise pictures from the week by email and/or text messages.

Week 2: Nutrition (March 8th-12th)

Healthy eating is another necessity of overall healthy living. Employees who make it a point to

eat healthily during the competition will earn points. According to MyPlate, balanced meals

include:
 i. Half a plate of fruits/vegetables

ii. Quarter plate of grains

iii. Quarter plate of protein

Like the previous week, employees can individually earn up to 20 points (40 combined team

points) (1 point for 1 day, 2 more points for 2 days) this week by having one balanced meal a

day! Healthy eating will be tracked Monday-Friday. Employees will send pictures of their

healthy plates to Allison Hawk and her Intern, Natalie Babin. They can submit a maximum of 5

for the week. Employees will have the weekend and Monday morning to submit their nutrition

pictures from the week by email and/or text message.

Week 3: Positivity (March 15th-19th)

Employees can individually earn up to 20 points this week by living with a positive mindset! (40

combined team points) Every day of the week is a new opportunity for a Random Act of

Kindness. Employees must send a picture of their Random Act of Kindness to Allison Hawk and

Natalie Babin each day in order to earn points for that day. Examples of positivity or Random

Acts of Kindness may involve: Writing a caring note and/or email to someone, picking up trash

in the parking lot, donating to the Little Free Pantry, buying someone a coffee, breakfast, or

lunch, doing someone else’s chore, etc. The opportunities are infinite, employees will have more

free range with this week! Employees will take a picture of their RAOK and send it to Allison

and Natalie along with a short description on what they did (bought coffee for my mom, wrote a

note for my coworker, etc) to clarify. You will have the weekend and Monday morning to submit

your pictures from the week by email and/or text message.

Final Round: Walking (March 22nd- 26th)

Before the final round starts, points will be tallied for all contestants from the first three weeks.

All teams will participate in the final round of walking. The steps will be tracked daily.

Submissions will be by the next morning at 9am, the pair who walks the least amount of steps

the day before will be eliminated. On Wednesday morning, the first pair will be eliminated,

Thursday the second, etc. until Thursday only has two competitors with the final steps being

submitted on Friday morning.

Employees will have until 9 am the next morning to submit their steps from the day to Allison

and Natalie. Depending on the form of recording, employees have several options to submit

steps:

a. Smart Watches: Employees can use the coordinating app on their smart device to see a

daily total of steps and screenshot the amount to send to Allison and Natalie. Here are some

examples of acceptable smart watches:

a. Apple Watch

b. Fitbit

c. Wear OS

d. Samsung Tizen

b. Apps on smart phones: Employees can send screenshots of the app to Allison and

Natalie for their daily total of steps. (Employees should make sure their phones are near them

throughout the day so it truthfully records steps). Here are some of the top tracking apps:

a. Apple/Samsung Health

b. Footsteps

c. Pacer
 d. Runtastic

e. StepsApp

f. MapMyWalk

g. GoogleFit

c. If an employee does not own or have access to a smart watch or have an app on their

phone to record steps, please contact Allison Hawk and Natalie Babin to determine another

option. Any other form of recording steps will have to be run by Allison and Natalie for

approval.

BONUS OPPORTUNITIES

Every week there will be a maximum of five bonus points per week. This will add an

additional competitive aspect to the March Madness Healthy Living Challenge. The bonus point

opportunity can only be used once for the week, until the final walking round. In order to receive

credit, the two team members must individually send in proof to both Allison and Natalie Babin

as they send in their weekly tasks per week. For clarity, bonus points are not required.

Week 1: Exercise

- Creating a work-out routine and send in video (__3_ points)

- Having a walking buddy during lunch break (__1__ point)

- Create a personal goal related to your Cardiovascular Health, Flexibility, Strength

Training, or Wellness (_1_ point)

Week 2: Nutrition

- Tracking water intake (_1_ point)

 - Bringing healthy snack options for break room (__3_ points)

- Picture of meal prep for the week (__1_ point)

Week 3: Positivity

- Posting positive encouragement on personal social media platforms (__1_ point)

- Posting mental health awareness on personal social media platforms (__1_ point)

- Tracking sleeping patterns (__1_ point)

- Create short/long term goals to remain positive within the workplace (__2_ points)

Week 4:

- Hitting 10,000 (around 5 miles) steps in a day ( _1_ point per day) *This is the only time

a bonus point can be repeated*