News Releases

USM Lifeline to Develop Verrill Dana’s Employee Wellness Program

August 20, 2007

Editor’s Note: In addition to the contact information listed above, you can also contact Michele S. Pattenaude, Verrill Dana Director of Human Resources, at 253-4782, or mpattenaude@verrilldana.com.


Portland, ME – The USM Lifeline Center for Wellness and Health Promotion is partnering with Verrill Dana, LLP to develop a workplace wellness program for the Portland-based law firm.

Lifeline’s health professionals are working with Verrill Dana’s Wellness Team to assess specific organizational and employee needs; design initiatives that help promote the health of employees; and develop ways to measure the program’s effectiveness.

A recent study by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and MaineHealth found that unhealthy eating and exercise habits cost Maine’s economy an estimated $2.56 billion in avoidable medical and workers’ compensation costs and lost productivity each year. A growing number of Maine businesses are adopting workplace wellness programs to proactively combat rising health care costs and enhance employee health.

Tom Downing, executive director of the USM Lifeline Center for Wellness and Health Promotion, agrees. “As an employer, you can take a proactive approach and support and encourage your employees’ efforts to adopt and maintain health-enhancing lifestyles through the development of workplace wellness programs. Prevention does make a huge difference.”

In late 2005, Verrill Dana created a volunteer Wellness Team comprised of lawyers and staff to address employee wellness issues in the workplace and at home. The team, which was created as part of the firm’s overall Total Quality Management program, embraced its stated mission of promoting “a culture committed to optimum health at Verrill Dana by providing opportunities to improve and maintain the overall health of everyone, here and at home, through motivation, education, and activities.” Over the past 18 months, the Wellness Team reviewed national best practices to determine a number of healthy initiatives for the firm, and recommended that the firm work with USM's Lifeline Center in developing the firm’s overall Wellness Program. The initiative was launched earlier this summer, beginning with a Health Risk Appraisal program offered to all employees at the firm’s Portland, Kennebunk, Augusta, and Boston offices.

“It makes good sense to partner with USM’s Lifeline in a program as important to us as our employees’ health and well-being,” said David Warren, Verrill Dana’s managing partner. “Lifeline has a stellar and wide-reaching reputation in their field.”

The Lifeline Center for Wellness and Health Promotion offers a range of community-based fitness and rehabilitative services. It has more than 20 years of experience in providing a menu of worksite wellness services for private and non-profit organizations including Bath Iron Works, Hannaford Bros., LL Bean, the Maine Turnpike Authority, and Mercy Hospital, to name a few.

Verrill Dana, LLP is a full service law firm with more than 100 attorneys conducting a nationwide practice from offices in Portland, Augusta, and Kennebunk, Maine; Boston; Hartford; and Washington, D.C.

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