UCSF Launches Wellness Web Portal to Advance Health Campuswide
UCSF has launched a web portal dedicated to stimulating and supporting the campus community by providing comprehensive wellness programs and resources designed to promote mental, physical, social and cultural balance at UCSF.
The wellness website is a product of an ad hoc UCSF Wellness Task Force and Campus Life Services Fitness & Recreation. The initiative is part of UC Living Well, a wellness initiative coordinated by the UC Office of the President. The goal of UC Living Well is to encourage all members of the UC Community to lead and maintain a healthy lifestyle and to access the wellness activities and programs offered by UC locations.
The “Living Well at UCSF” web portal offers information about numerous initiatives, including wellness programs and services, health education, from safety to fitness and a collection of resources that support lifestyle change and sustainable behavior patterns that will keep the UCSF community healthy and productive. Home to a renowned medical center and health sciences university, UCSF is uniquely positioned to provide wellness programs and resources.
“Just as UCSF is committed to advancing health worldwide™, we should be equally committed to advancing health campuswide,” says Randy Lopez, interim vice chancellor, Financial and Administrative Services at UCSF. “Given the challenges and stresses we are all experiencing, we each should remain mindful of the need to attend to our own health and take advantage of opportunities to do so.”
Tracey Gearlds, director of Programs and Services at Campus Life Services agrees. “It is important for us to collect the many resources that UCSF has to offer, and make them readily available to our community,” she says. “Our university has diverse needs, and the wellness web portal is just as diverse from student health needs to work/life resources for staff to the Chancellor’s Council on Faculty Life we want to make sure everyone at UCSF would feel supported and represented by this initiative.”
Features of the Living Well at UCSF web portal include a “spotlight” story, links to web resources, a wellness-focused calendar, news articles, and partner sites. Currently in the spotlight section of the web portal is a UCSF Walking Program T-shirt contest. Participants can vote for their favorite T-shirt design and enter to win an iPod. The winning T-shirt will be given to participants who attend one of four free designated walks. Voting for this contest is through Friday, Sept. 25.
Despite budget cutbacks, UCSF is doing what it can to expand opportunities for health and wellness, including introducing the UCSF Walking Program, expanding the Farmers’ Market to both the Parnassus and Mission Bay campuses, and offering a new drop-in yoga program at the Laurel Heights campus. The “Living Well at UCSF” web portal highlights these and other important programs, giving the UCSF community easier access to information and services available to them.
Those with questions, comments or suggestions are encouraged to use the feedback link on the website, or contact Sue Forstat, 415/514-3324 .