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'BE WELL' hopes to improve Airmen fitness

  • Published
  • By Scott King
  • 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  (Editor's Note: This article is part of a 4-part series on Comprehensive Airman Fitness. The goal of CAF is to help Airmen, Air Force civilians and family members become more resilient and better-equipped to deal with the rigors of military life by promoting mental, spiritual, social and physical fitness. This week's article focuses on physical fitness. The base Health & Wellness Center has a new program that provides Airmen and leadership with the necessary resources and tools to optimize fitness and health.)

'BE WELL' is an Air Force course of action with five options and is now available to
Airman who have and unsatisfactory score and also to those who wish to improve their fitness and health.

Options include: One or more of the specialized HAWC intervention programs; Better Body/Better Life AF Healthy Weight Program; Cardio Intervention; Strength Intervention; a Military One Source Personal Health Coach or an online course.

"At Fairchild, we have expanded on the Air Force model and developed our own," said Will Saultes, HAWC Health Promotion Program coordinator." We have implemented mandatory orientations for those who fail their fitness assessment on Mondays from 8 to 10 a.m. and Wednesday's from 1 to 3 p.m. They will provide a detailed description of the three available specialized HAWC intervention programs: A body fat measurement utilizing the Bod Pod; a functional movement assessment; a review of prior lab work or (if necessary) a prescription for new lab work and verification of a 'MiCare' account for the individual."

Once the orientation is complete, a registered dietitian and exercise physiologist will review all vital data on the individual and an individualized 'BE WELL' option recommendation will be provided to their commander and Unit Fitness Program Manager the following day.

"This will provide commanders with a comprehensive evaluation based on fitness assessment scores and an analysis of tests conducted at the HAWC," Saultes said.
"The tests will undisputedly illustrate the areas the Airmen will need to address for future success and lastly, it will provide the MTF and HAWC with useable data for disease and injury prevention."

The HAWC staff strongly believes this program will work because it is better tailored to individual Airmen needs, has commander oversight, provides greater flexibility for shift workers, family members, etc and it's consistent with future health promotions staffing model with the focus on prevention and outreach.

"The end result of this effort offers greater flexibility with available fitness and health intervention tools to commanders and their Airmen while providing the Airmen with a comprehensive program tailored to individual needs," Saultes said. "I believe this program has the potential to be very successful and possibly a model the Air Force will embrace in the future."