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News | May 23, 2018

Expo educates HQC employees on self-care, healthy habits

By Dianne Ryder

McNamara Headquarters Complex employees gleaned valuable information about overall wellness and enjoyed food, fun and fitness during the 19th Health and Safety Expo in the HQC Café, May 22.

This year’s theme, “Self-health: A Guide to Living Lite,” brought together more than 35 vendors and 12 sponsors to provide employees information about physical and mental health, fitness, nutrition, legal and medical services and home maintenance.

The expo’s activities also included music, games, raffles as well as Tabata and Zumba fitness demonstrations.

In the McNamara Auditorium rotunda, employees kicked off their shoes for reflexology foot massages and signed up for complimentary chair massages to rejuvenate back and shoulder muscles.

In the HQC Café, vendors dispensed literature, food and beverage samplings and trinkets along with valuable advice about safety and health-related products and services.

Army Col. Isabel Geiger, Mission Support Team I director in the Defense Logistics Agency’s Joint Contingency Acquisition Support Office, said this year’s expo was her first.

“I think DLA does a great job of putting on a lot of events for the workplace,” she said. As a mother of four sons, Geiger said she’s very cognizant of integrating good nutrition into her family’s active lifestyle.

“I’ve got some dietary issues with one of my children, so it causes us to look at things a little differently in terms of how we approach our well-being and level of health,” she said.

Geiger said events like the Health and Safety Expo are important reminders that all employees need to find balance at work.

“Some of us can get lost in the daily stress, and there are things you can do throughout the day to help maintain that healthy lifestyle or that emotional and physical balance,” she said. “ [The expo] is just a good introduction in terms of what tools you can use or dietary choices you can make. There’s a lot of information here.”

Chancey Heyward, a program manager at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, said he wishes the expo occurred more often.

“Being over 40 now, health is my No. 1 priority, so I got a lot great information from the vendors which I know I can apply to my daily life,” he said. “Having this resource here, we can take some time from the office, get away from the desk and come down and get this information it’s priceless.”