Employee Wellness Day at GRDM Head Office

Immediate release
30 May 2023

The Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) recently organised an Employee Wellness Day on May 26, 2023. The event was held at the GRDM head office front parking area, aimed to promote the well-being of employees across various departments.

Under the theme “Mind, Body and Motion,” all participants were encouraged to dress sporty and actively participate in the session. This session served as an annual introduction to the Wellness Day Policy, emphasising the significance of maintaining good physical and mental health for all employees. The specific purpose of this Wellness Day was to introduce a draft Policy for the Annual Garden Route Wellness Day in the region. This policy aims to facilitate coordination between the District, B-municipalities, and other relevant stakeholders in the field, ensuring a collaborative approach to wellness initiatives.

To ensure an engaging experience, a Virgin Active Zumba group activity was aranged by the Virgin Active team, in which GRDM employees enthusiastically participated. Additionally, various stalls were set up, offering services such as Health Screening Tests, Financial Advice, Medical Aids, and Retirement Fund Advice to keep everyone entertained and informed.

Lusanda Menze, Executive Manager of Planning and Economic Development, delivered a supportive message regarding the importance of employee wellness within the municipality. He emphasised that employee wellness is a key program and highlighted the significant amount of time spent at work.

Menze stressed the need for colleagues to develop camaraderie and work together while also recognising the tendency to overlook our own well-being. He emphasised the criticality of self-enrichment and maintaining good health in our personal time. He further emphasised the value of prevention over cure and highlighted the importance of early detection, urging everyone to prioritise self-care.

Also, a snakes and ladders game presented by Environmental Health Practitioners (EHP) at the event and those who used it enjoyed it thoroughly. The floor of the game was designed in-house to target younger generations and its aim was to teach children about the disadvantages of pollution, the issue of illegal dumping, that waste should not be burned, instead be reduced, reused and recycled. When the snake catches one of the players, a valuable lesson is learned and when a ladder is climbed, a good environmental task is done. Adult participants enjoyed the fun to engage and still learned about these crucial environmental matters. Magnets with reporting information on illegal dumping, were also distributed, as part of the ongoing illegal dumping campaign where people are encouraged to report illegal dumping so that the perpetrators can be caught and fined.

EHPs also displayed a sampling kit to showcase their professional gear and the process of taking samples. Broken, dented and rusted cans were also displayed to inform employees what to look out for when buying canned food to protect their health. Additionally, the team distributed pamphlets about Tuberculosis, soil pollution and diarrhoea to staff present.

About 145 employees were in attendance of which 20 staff members including management had free prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests done by CANSA.

Apart from the Virgin Active group fitness session, a few staff members enjoyed playing soccer and netball as part of the physical activities.

Two highlights of the day were when Planet fitness gave employees 7-day free vouchers to make use of their gym facilities and one of the employees won a R300 in the lucky draw for employees, done by Sanlam.

The GRDM hereby extend a message of gratitude to the following service providers who participated in the event, nl:

• Western Cape Health Department who provided free preventative services such as: family planning, cervical screening (pap smear), HIV testing, Tuberculosis, Diabetes and Hypertension screening.
• Cancer Association South Africa (CANSA) offered free Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) tests.
• Consolidated Retirement Fund gave free advice to staff regarding retirement benefits.
• Municipal Health Services of GRDM created awareness about Municipal Health related aspects and displayed their services at the event.
• Key Health and Bonitas Medical Aids assisted employees with necessary advice in relation to medical aid benefits.
• Virgin Active presented a free group active Fitness Session to those who were present.
• Planet Fitness handed out free 7-day vouchers to staff to make use of their gym facilities.
• FNB and Nedbank banks shared valuable finance advise with those who visited their stalls.
• Sanlam advised employees about their products and a surprised employee left the event with a R300 in the pocket after they have done a lucky draw for all GRDM participants presents.

ENDS