Polk Fit, Fresh and Friendly (PF3) will hold their first general meeting of 2018 on Thursday, Jan. 25 at the Polk County Library at 12 p.m.

We are excited to start off the new year hearing about the WorkFORCE Wellness Program, a comprehensive workplace wellness model that uses an innovative community-focused approach for helping local employers not only save money and improve their bottom line, but also make their respective worksites healthier places to be employed and help connect their employees to local free or low-cost resources.

Nick Byrd, WorkFORCE Wellness Advisory will present the program. Nick was born and raised in Marion, N.C. His Southern, rural upbringing offered more than a great taste in food and many lessons in self-sufficiency. It taught the importance of loving and taking care of one’s community to ensure that everyone has what they need.

He earned a bachelor of science degree in nursing from Wingate University, where he focused his time outside of the hospital on community health and chronic disease prevention. Upon graduating, he returned to Marion and began working as a health educator in diabetes prevention and maintenance. It was here where a home-grown passion started burning to do something that would truly impact the health and well-being of the community in which he grew up.

To make this happen, Nick went on to create and manage the WorkFORCE Wellness program which set out to bring manufacturing workers and small business owners affordable services and resources to create an environment where employees could thrive, rather than survive. Nick is currently working toward making this program even more comprehensive, offering health care services, telemedicine, and case management.

Polk Fit, Fresh, and Friendly meets on the fourth Thursday of every other month from 12-1 p.m. at the Polk County Library. We invite anyone that may have a passion for health and wellness to join us.

For more information on PF3 contact Buffy Ashmore, coalition coordinator, at 828-894-8271 ext. 222 or find us online at www.polkfitfreshandfriendly.org.

– submitted by Buffy Ashmore