St. Joseph Hoag Health, Western Digital Offer Employers and Employees Health Care Where They Work

IRVINE, Calif., July 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Seeking to bring outstanding medical care and wellness coaching directly to the workplace, St. Joseph Hoag Health and Western Digital together have -created a ground-breaking wellness center in Western Digital's world headquarters in Irvine, Calif.  The center is slated to open this month.

The 4,600-square-foot holistic, multispecialty DRIVE Wellness Center is designed to serve more than 1,800 employees. One of the first-of-its-kind for a large tech firm in the region, the center will be an integrated multispecialty clinic offering primary and preventative care, physical therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic and behavioral health services within the workplace. St. Joseph Hoag Health will manage the center, providing all clinical and operations expertise.

"The DRIVE Wellness Center is part of a commitment to our employees," said Jason Bibelheimer, vice president, human resources, Western Digital. "We are very excited that, through our relationship with St. Joseph Hoag Health, we can not only provide employees with conveniently accessible, outstanding health care, but also augment our Drive Wellness corporate strategy by providing our employees with useful health information, user friendly tools, and now an on-site wellness center so they can achieve their highest potential at work, at home and in the community."

For us, this is a great initiative that will truly help us to 'drive wellness' at Western Digital and maintain our position as a top employer in the tech industry."

"We are thrilled to be providing these services for Western Digital," says Annette Walker, executive vice president of strategic services for St. Joseph Hoag Health. "St. Joseph Hoag Health is partnering with local businesses because we truly believe that we can have an impact on helping people attain a healthier lifestyle if we are more available to them in places where they live and work. If we do that well, we will have not just healthier individuals, but healthier businesses and communities."

The DRIVE Wellness Center will focus on making health care services as convenient as possible, including medication distribution and laboratory services that feature on-the-spot results for simple blood tests and other services. A patient App also will be available to help employees manage their care, schedule appointments and enjoy a high level of service.  Additionally, the center will feature ultra-convenient scheduling. The center will not have a waiting room as employees will simply receive a call at their desks when it is time for their appointment.  

"At St. Joseph Hoag Health, we're focusing on developing innovative solutions to health care challenges, and these centers are just one example of our breakthrough thinking. With this effort, our network is directly partnering with a noted employer, helping them as they seek new ways to manage resources while enabling their employees to stay healthy," says Richard Afable, MD, president and CEO of St. Joseph Hoag Health. "Having a wellness center in the workplace is a great way to not just control costs, but also ensure quality and heighten employee satisfaction and engagement."

St. Joseph Hoag Health operates three other wellness centers (called Wellness Corners) in Irvine, Calif., at the Jamboree Center business complex, The Village Irvine Spectrum apartments and the Park Place corporate office of St. Joseph Health (the parent organization of St. Joseph Hoag Health). 

Among the outcomes experienced at the St. Joseph Health employee site were increased productivity and a decrease in those rated high-risk for chronic disease.  Wellness center users also rated the center extremely high for patient satisfaction and 90 percent of those visiting the center said they most likely would have avoided preventive and basic care had they not had the services immediately available to them.

About St. Joseph Hoag Health

St. Joseph Hoag Health is a historic alliance for Orange County, laying the foundation for sweeping changes in the delivery and accessibility of high quality health care.  Combined, St. Joseph Hoag Health has earned some of the highest honors for medical care, including Magnet designation for many of its hospitals (the highest honor bestowed to hospitals for nursing excellence).  Drawing upon the strengths of renowned health care organizations, St. Joseph Hoag Health focuses on meeting the big challenges of health care today, including expanding access, improving wellness and preventive services, ensuring quality and developing more efficient methods in the delivery of care. The network includes flagship hospitals (Hoag Newport Beach, Hoag Irvine, Hoag Orthopedic Institute, Mission Hospital Mission Viejo, Mission Hospital Laguna Beach, St. Joseph Hospital Orange and St. Jude Medical Center), eight medical groups and physician networks and numerous outpatient and urgent care facilities in Orange County.  The network is also affiliated with CHOC Children's and CHOC Children's at Mission Hospital.

About Western Digital

Founded in 1970, Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC), Irvine, Calif., is an industry-leading developer and manufacturer of storage solutions that enable people to create, manage, experience and preserve digital content. Its HGST and WD® subsidiaries are long-time innovators in the storage industry. Western Digital Corporation is responding to changing market needs by providing a full portfolio of compelling, high-quality storage products with effective technology deployment, high efficiency, flexibility and speed. Products are marketed under the HGST, WD and G-Technology™ brands to OEMs, distributors, resellers, cloud infrastructure providers and consumers.

SOURCE St. Joseph Hoag Health