Shell employee Steve Helms demonstrates one of many pieces of exercise equipment in the refinery’s new employee Fitness Center, open 24 hours a day.

Shell employee Nancy Nygren is an experienced fitness trainer.

Among health information displays at a Fitness Center Open House at the Shell Refinery was a table staffed by Ron Wigal (center) and Donna Swann of Regence BlueShield. 

Members of the Shell Puget Sound Refinery Wellness Committee presented their own version of “March Madness” last month, inviting all employees to a new, on-site Fitness Center.
    
A kickoff event was held March 7 at the center, which is now open to employees 24 hours a day,  seven days a week. In addition to tours of the facility, the Open House included displays and health-related materials from organizations including Regence BlueShield, the refinery Medical Department and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (sponsor of the annual MS150 Bike Ride fund-raising event). Another crowd-pleaser was a team of massage therapists on hand to provide stress-relieving massages.
   
Demonstrations were offered in the Fitness Center, which features equipment including free weights, exercise balls, treadmills, stationary bikes, a bench press system, and more.
   
Experienced trainer Nancy Nygren urged fellow employees to “take it easy, do what your body lets you do. She noted informational materials including illustrated posters mounted near equipment.
   
At an Open House display in the neighboring Rec hall, Plant Nurse Jane Wright, RN, COHN, noted Shell’s ongoing emphasis on health.
   
“We want our employees to be healthy,” she said, “and that goal includes familiar elements such as proper diet and exercise. Inactivity is a major cause of excessive weight, which is directly associated with health problems such as high cholesterol and diabetes. Weight issues also increase the likelihood of back and joint problems.”
   
Wright noted that all Shell employees are welcome to her department at any time for services ranging from health information to blood pressure checks and flu shots.