The Champaign County Chamber of Commerce kicked off a new wellness program last Thursday to promote healthy lifestyles in the area.

The new program, “Living Healthy in Champaign County,” is designed to be a competition between businesses around Champaign County, said Laura Weis, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce. Each participating business has teams of employees who are expected to track the duration of their workout sessions as well as their weight loss. At the end of the 100-day challenge, the total number of activity minutes and weight loss will be tallied from each participating team, and individuals and businesses with the highest total will be awarded prizes yet to be determined.

One main objective of the program is to improve employee output in the workplace, Weis said. She added that a healthy lifestyle reduces sick days, which increases productivity for businesses of all kinds. Businesses such as Wells Fargo and Architectural Express, both located in Champaign, have adopted the new program.

“It’s exceeded our expectations as far as how many people would be interested,” Weis said.

The Chamber’s original goal was to have 30 people participate in the program, but according to recent numbers, Weis said 252 participants on 37 teams are involved.

Weis added that some businesses have multiple teams participating in the competition, which adds to the number of employees getting involved.

The program is a branch of “Living Healthy America,” which is a nationwide wellness program. At the end of April, employees’ activity will be compared to participants nationwide in addition to other Champaign County employees.

Provena Covenant Medical Center in Urbana is co-sponsoring the 100-day event, as well as getting prepared for its own wellness program for hospital employees, said Cindy Magsamen, HealthAware Coordinator for the medical center.

“As we know, a lot of Americans are overweight, and just bringing it to the forefront will help prevent chronic disease,” Magsamen said.

Magsamen added that the web site for the Living Healthy program is very helpful, as it provides resources for a participant such as healthy recipes and exercising tips and tricks.

Some participants such as Virni Bryson, office manager of outpatient therapy at Provena in Urbana, have utilized the Web site in their new health-focused routines. Bryson said she has cooked recipes from the Web site as well as committed to a workout schedule.

“I think it helps to be part of a team,” Bryson said.