Benefits Coordination Office Prioritizes Employee Wellness

After world-renowned motivational speaker Inky Johnson spoke at an event in April, set up by the CVES Benefit Coordination Office, several teachers told Vicki Demarse-Giroux how valuable the talk had been and inspired them to keep making a difference in students’ lives.

Demarse-Giroux is the Benefits Director at CVES, and she works closely with Benefits Specialist Emilee Quantock on employee wellness initiatives. The two look at employees as a whole person, not just a staff member with specific job duties. Everyone has been through a lot in the last handful of years, and they want to make sure their office is doing what it can to support staff through physical and mental wellness initiatives.

Employee wellness has never been more important, especially in education. Maybe it’s because of that impact that employee wellness initiatives are Demarse-Giroux’s favorite part of her job.

“The mental health and wellness of educators in the North Country and individuals in education is critical, and we feel it is our responsibility as a BOCES and a consortium to address these challenges and needs our educators have,” CVES Assistant Superintendent of Management Services Dr. Eric Bell said. “We are going non-traditional routes to meet those needs and support the educators of the North Country.”

The Clinton-Essex-Warren-Washington Health Insurance Consortium oversees health insurance for its members: CVES and each of the 16 school districts in the BOCES region.
Keene Central School District Superintendent Dan Mayberry chairs the consortium’s Board of Directors and said the consortium believes that a focus on wellness will be a key to sustainability.

“As a consortium, we want to make sure we’re taking care of the health and wellness of our members, both with physical and mental health,” Mayberry said. “We want to give members the tools to take care of themselves, so they are happier and healthier, and that means they will be in a better place to care for others.”

Demarse-Giroux and Quantock put together a wellness program that is funded through a mix of wellness dollars from Anthem Blue Cross, the consortium’s insurance provider, and money directly from the consortium’s budget.

In 2023-24, they used wellness funds to bring two speakers to the area, Johnson and Mike Veny. Johnson’s impactful talk focused on overcoming adversity and making the best out of your circumstances.

“I was fortunate to spend time with Inky Jonson, and he lives what he preaches,” Bell said. “It was motivating to see that he truly is the person he speaks about. He lives life in the same way he motivates others to live in a truly inspiring way. He made a trip from Atlanta, Georgia, to rural New York and into the backwoods of Moriah and through the Adirondacks. He wanted to make an impact on education.”

Veny, who has worked with CVES in the past, spoke at small group sessions at four different school districts throughout the region. He has a program called “Fill Your Cup: The Exhausted Educators’ Guide to Emotional Wellness,” and he helped teachers and other staff develop strategies for managing stress and preventing burnout.

The Benefits Office also ran a popular wellness challenge throughout the 2023-24 school year. Each month featured a different wellness task, and anyone who did the task could submit their results and be entered to win prizes that included everything from an electric toothbrush to a paddleboard. The tasks were designed to be simple enough that anyone can do them, and some of the physical ones included a modifier for those who have less of a mobility range. Besides exercises like planking and jump roping, there were also months that focused on mindfulness and healthy recipes.

The challenge and other wellness programs were open to all current staff, regardless of whether they are insurance customers or not, as well as all retirees. Demarse-Giroux remembers one particular retiree submitting for the challenge from Spain.

Demarse-Giroux and Quantock are so passionate about this work, and they get especially excited when you ask about their future plans for employee wellness. They have tons of ideas, and several of them will likely come to fruition in the upcoming year including some cool new workshops and classes. They’ll continue popular initiatives from last year like the Wellness Challenge.

Another exciting new opportunity is called Credible Mind. This new platform is an employee assistance program (EAP) that personalizes resources to help you learn about mental and emotional health issues you may be dealing with. It tells you about evidence-based ways to address the issue, and it provides a variety of resources from articles and podcasts to videos and apps to help with the journey.

To hear our insurance provider tell it, Demarse-Giroux and Quantock are doing an amazing job with their wellness plan.

“Anthem provides flexible resources, funding and support for employer groups to implement holistic wellbeing initiatives,” said Brian Gilligan, the strategic account executive
that they work with at Anthem Blue Cross. “Our goal is to support our client partners in
creating workplace wellness programs that fit their particular culture and focus on physical, mental, financial and social well-being. CEWW’s comprehensive and thoughtful
approach to their wellness program is truly an example of best practices for success in
workplace wellbeing.”

Read more stories from our Annual Report here.