The Oregon Healthy Workforce Center (ORhwc) is the newest of 4 NIOSH Centers of Excellence in Total Worker Health.  It is led by Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and Portland State University (PSU), in partnership with the Center for Health Research (Portland) and the University of Oregon’s Labor Education and Research Center (LERC).

The new ORhwc will conduct integrated safety and health protection and health promotion interventions in partnering Oregon workplaces.  Each intervention will be conducted as a randomized controlled trial, the strongest research design, and the results will be combined in a data repository to allow comparisons across projects.  What is novel is using a single intervention program to improve both safety protection and health promotion.

Five projects are funded:

• Peer-led training that organizes home care workers into neighborhood Healthy Workforce teams to support improving lifestyle (eg, diet, exercise) and workplace safety (Ryan Olson, PhD of OHSU/CROET)
• Teams created to achieve balance in employee’s work-family demands to reduce stress and improve safety in City of Portland construction workers (Leslie Hammer, PhD of PSU)
• Internet-delivered training combined with social media to foster healthy lifestyle choices and safe work practices in young summer workers in a Parks and Recreation department (Diane Rohlman, PhD of OHSU/CROET)
• Team-based peer-led approach and one-on-one health coaching with motivational interviewing to improve lifestyles (e.g., diet, physical activity, stress, safety behaviors) and reduce injury and illness in corrections workers (Kerry Kuehl, MD, DrPH of OHSU)
• Training supervisor skills in Latino and non-Latino supervisors in construction to motivate their employees to adopt healthier lifestyle choices and safer work practices (Kent Anger, PhD of OHSU/CROET)

The Oregon Healthy Workforce Center is led by:

• Dr. Kent Anger of OHSU/CROET (Center PI)
• Dr. Leslie Hammer of PSU (Associate Director, ORhwc)

The ORhwc also includes:
• Design and Analysis Core – Dr. Nancy Perrin (Center for Health Research)
• Outreach – Dede Montgomery (OHSU/CROET)
• Education Program – Steve Hecker (LERC)
• Center Manager – Kendra Evans (OHSU/CROET)

Funding for the new Center is $1M – 1.3M for three years.  Centers are renewable. Visit the ORhwc website for more information.