#glenn laffel

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Somerville is the Latest City to Partner with Wellcoin

Wellcoin’s newest partner is Somerville, Massachusetts. Yes, the whole city! 

The new partnership assures that Somerville residents can earn fantastic rewards for their healthy behaviors. It drives traffic to small businesses and nationally recognized brands located in Somerville, and it provides unprecedented insight into the healthy activities of city residents, all at no cost to the city.

Somerville is known nationally as a pioneer among cities when it comes to assuring the health and wellness of its residents. Its Shape Up Somerville program has proven to be an effective strategy to counter the obesity epidemic among our children. The program has been emulated by many cities across the nation. 

“We are extremely excited to partner with Wellcoin as part of our continued commitment to providing innovative, fun and engaging opportunities for residents of all ages to find ways to be healthy and happy in the City of Somerville,” said Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone in a press release. 

Somerville joins Newton, MA as the second city to partner with Wellcoin. Newton partnered with us in May, 2013. Since then, Newton residents have earned more than 600,000 Wellcoins and redeemed several dozen rewards from more than 20 local and national partners based in the city. 

As part of the partnership, Somerville officials will encourage residents to signup for a free account on Wellcoin, and then begin tracking and verifying their healthy activities just as any other user would. The city has created its own page on wellcoin.com, where users can quickly see updates on healthy events and activities being sponsored by or taking place in the city. The city’s healthy mascot, Shape up Sam has already created an account on Wellcoin, and Mayor Curtatone will soon follow suit.  

Somerville-based merchants like Brooklyn Boulders, Whole Foods Market and Broga are also participating in the partnership. Any local business or a national brand can partner with Wellcoin. The process is simple and free. More information can be found here.

To kick off its partnership with Wellcoin, the City of Somerville will raffle off a pair of tickets to the popular (and sold out!) annual Illuminations Tour, run by the Somerville Arts Council, on Saturday, Dec. 14. The tickets are valid for Mayor Curtatone’s trolley. Winners will be chosen at random on December 13th.  In order to qualify for the raffle, you must be a resident of Somerville and must log at least one activity on Wellcoin between December 6th and December 12th.

About Wellcoin

Wellcoin created the world’s first positive health currency. Its users earn Wellcoins for doing hundreds of healthy activities - more if these activities can be verified - and then redeem them for rewards offered by local merchants and national brands. Anyone can signup for an account on Wellcoin for free. A mobile version of Wellcoin is available on iOS and Google Play for Android. Wellcoin was founded by Glenn Laffel, MD, PhD, and JP Pollak, PhD.

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Redeeming Wellcoins at Johnny's Luncheonette

Note: Gregg Smith earned his first Wellcoins on April 18, 2013. A month later, his business, GSFitness became a Wellcoin Partner. Because Gregg volunteered to help us refine admin controls for our Partner Page Module, we consider him to be part of Our Team. That's Gregg, in the photo (kids, don't try this at home ;)

Here's how Gregg recounts his experience redeeming his Wellcoins for a reward at Johnny's Luncheonette, the iconic 50's style diner in Newton Center, MA.

Tell us a bit about yourself, Gregg.  "I am a personal trainer with clients in Newton, Brookline and Wellesley. I live in Canton, Massachusetts with my wife Elysia, and our soon to be newborn child."

How did you earn your Wellcoins?   "My top 3 Wellcoin earning activities are resistance training, eating a healthy lunch, and cycling. I do a lot of strength training with the barbell, squats, bench press and deadlifts. I believe strength training should be the cornerstone of a fitness program."

Describe the reward you chose, the partner offering it, and why you chose it?   "I chose "add your recipe to our menu for one week" a reward offered by Johnny's Luncheonette in Newton Center. Johnny's is a real community restaurant. The owners know the names of their regulars. I chose this reward because I like Johnny’s, and I have lots of experience in the restaurant industry. So seeing a menu item that I created, and my name on their menu is a bit of a dream come true. As well, I run a fitness program nearby, so I thought it would be a good way to create a little buzz amongst my customers outside of our usual meeting place, and cross promote to Johnny's customers as well."

How did it go when you redeemed the reward?   "The Wellcoin voucher said I should contact Neal Solomon or Jon Furst at Johnny’s to redeem my reward. I got a hold of Neal right away. He offered to meet me right away. He was very friendly. He began the meeting by saying, "congratulations on earning enough Wellcoins for this reward!"

I thought that was great! It made me feel special…feel good about earning my Wellcoins. He was very interested in trying to make my recipe appear as I wanted it to on his menu. 

The recipe I chose is a Bison Burger. Hopefully Neal will be able to do it! This is a great option for health conscious people. It is high in protein, lower in saturated fat than ground beef from a cow, and it has the same kinds of vitamins and minerals. I learned about bison five years ago and have used in many different recipes since."

Your reward was priced at 2,500 Wellcoins. Do you think that was a fair price?   "I think it was priced fairly, for sure! It took about six weeks to earn enough Wellcoins to redeem this reward, logging just a few activities per day and getting many of them verified."

What additional rewards would you like to see on Wellcoin, and why?  "I'd like to see most of the rewards on Wellcoin offered by small businesses. Rewards from bigger chain stores are certainly needed, but small businesses like Johnny's might be more likely to come up with great, unique rewards like the one I bought."

Name 3 celebrities you’d definitely follow on Wellcoin, if they were users?  "Shawn Thornton of the Boston Bruins: Shawn sometimes walks to games at the Garden when they are in town. And he is a real character guy. He does a lot for charity in the community. His account would be more well rounded than other athletes.

Vice President Joe Biden: I'm sure the President has enough on his plate, but seeing a high profile political figure on Wellcoin, either at the local level or national, would hopefully rub off on some of their loyal voters who need it.  

And how about Miss America? Wellcoin would give her another avenue to act as a role model for young women in our country."

If you were Wellcoin's CEO for a day, how would you make it better?   "The reward experience is everything, so I would carefully select rewards partners, like Johnny’s. I would add notifications when friends comment on my posts. If there was a number notification similar to Facebook so when I log onto the page, I have a list of comments to browse and respond to, that would be great. Lastly, one thing I have had in the back of my mind is defining a healthy meal. Wellcoin has the potential to teach people more than you realize. Maybe I would provide more specific guidelines about what a healthy meal entails, while still leaving room for users to be creative."

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Visit Original Link

Wellcoin CEO and Head Coach Glenn Laffel sits down with Paul Roberts of WNTN-AM 1550 to discuss all things Wellcoin.

Part 2 of 2.

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Visit Original Link

Wellcoin CEO and Head Coach Glenn Laffel sits down with Paul Roberts of WNTN-AM 1550 to discuss all things Wellcoin.

Part 1 of 2.

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Newton Becomes the Nation's First Wellcoin Model City

Last week, Mayor Setti Warren announced that Newton, Massachusetts has become the nation's first Wellcoin Model City. The launch announcement was hosted by Whole Foods Market in Newtonville, one of 15 Newton-based merchants participating in the initiative.

“Dedicating oneself to wellness doesn't just involve what kind of foods you eat,” Mayor Warren said in introducing the Model City initiative. “It involves all your daily activities. What we haven't seen in this country is a way to combine all these activities, and measure them so that we can see the progress one can make, from an individual, a city, a state, and a national standpoint.”

“That's why I was so happy when Glenn and Dori came to me and said 'we've got a way to do this,’” the mayor added. Dori Zaleznik is Newton’s Health Commissioner. Glenn Laffel is Wellcoin’s CEO.

Under Mayor Warren’s direction, Newton created its own Partner Page on Wellcoin. The Page features many rewards including a $50 gift certificate for produce at any Farmer’s Market in Newton. It also lists Wellcoin earning opportunities, such as attending a fitness class at the Senior Center.

The city also added information about Wellcoin to its web site, and is helping Newton residents sign up for Wellcoin by distributing coded flyers and takeaway cards at several city-run venues. Mayor Warren also convened roundtable discussions for Newton merchants to promote his initiative.

Terri Petrunyak, the Marketing and Community Relations Team Leader at Whole Foods Market/Newtonville moderated the Mayor’s launch event. She was joined by representatives from other Newton-based Wellcoin Pioneer Partners. Mayor Warren thanked each partner during his remarks.

Wellcoin Partners offer rewards that motivate users to undertake healthy activities. Their venues are also great places to earn Wellcoins. A list of Newton’s Pioneer Partners can be found here. It’s free and easy to become a Wellcoin partner. More information about the benefits of partnering with Wellcoin can be found here. General information about Wellcoin can be found here.

"We want to make sure our citizens and residents are healthy,” Mayor Warren said. “It brings down our healthcare costs with our employees and it also makes our community more productive. It gives us a chance not only to make Newton one of the best places to live because it's safe but also because we encourage a healthy lifestyle."

"There is nothing negative about this program,” added Dr. Zaleznik. “We're not telling people that they shouldn't drink soda. We're not telling you that you can't have a piece of cake. What we're saying is; everybody does healthy things all the time. Maybe you can do a little bit more. And the little bit more you can do you can earn some Wellcoins for…in little incremental steps, we all can make healthier choices and this is a way that we can reward ourselves in the process."

“(Wellcoin) fits in to how Newton can be the best it can be and meet it's full potential,” concluded Mayor Warren. “That's what we've been able to launch today.”

Appearing in Photo (left to right): Dori Zaleznik, MD, Setti Warren, Glenn Laffel, MD, PhD, Terri Petrunyak and Ava Fantasia [Terri's counterpart at Whole Foods Market, Newton]

Glenn Laffel, MD, PhD, Head Coach & CEO

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Our First Employee Wellness Client is a Harvard Teaching Hospital

Last week, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) re-launched Be Well, Stay Well, its venerable employee wellness program. The new release is powered by Wellcoin. BIDMC thus becomes Wellcoin’s first employee wellness client. We’re pretty sure many others will follow.

BIDMC is a major teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. It played a leading part in Boston’s incredible, heroic response to the Marathon bombings last month. It consistently ranks among the top recipients of NIH funding in the nation. Its internationally recognized research scientists have made key contributions to AIDS and organ transplant research, among other fields.

BIDMC has more than 6,000 employees, all of whom now have free access to Wellcoin via a private signup code they get from supervisors. After they signup, BIDMC employees go to a special landing page (see figure) from which they can earn Wellcoins for BIDMC-specific activities like Completing a Wellness Questionnaire or participating in its Weight is Over program. They can also access the ‘public’ Wellcoin site and earn Wellcoins in thousands of ways, just like anyone else. BIDMC encourages employees to invite family and friends to join Wellcoin.

BIDMC leadership has added many fabulous rewards to the Wellcoin Reward Center, including $100 AmEx gift cards, $50 gift cards to REI and Trader Joe’s and $20 gift cards to Starbucks. While these rewards are made available just to BIDMC employees, their friends and family can access any of the myriad other rewards on our public site.

It’s an honor to be providing wellness services to BIDMC employees! We thank BIDMC for giving us the opportunity.

As an aside, we always believed we would disrupt the employee wellness market, because our business model allows employers to offer our innovative wellness platform for free. We hadn’t planned to pursue this opportunity until 2014 but remarkably, the market - in the form of BIDMC and others to follow - has found us. 

Why We Will Disrupt the Employee Wellness Market:

Wellcoin is free to employers. Employers can, like BIDMC, post ‘private rewards’ for its employees, but this isn’t required.

We permit employees’ family and friends to join (also for free).

Wellcoins are transportable. Thus if an employee retires, moves to a new location or changes jobs, she keeps her Wellcoins and can continue using Wellcoin.

If you want to start an employee wellness program, or cut the costs of your existing program to zero, please contact us at [email protected].

Glenn Laffel, MD, PhD, CEO and Head Coach

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Wellcoin, Fitbit and the Automatic Verification of Healthy Activities

We are delighted to announce that we have now integrated Wellcoin with Fitbit, the popular step tracker. As a result, Fitbit users can earn Wellcoins automatically for the healthy activities recorded by their device, without ever having to log Get Moving activities on Wellcoin. The Wellcoin-Fitbit integration represents a first step in an exciting new direction for our company, one that further simplifies Wellcoin earning and helps you earn Wellcoins faster than ever before.

Fitbit users can authorize Wellcoin to import their data using a simple 3-click process found in the Account Settings tab on wellcoin.com. Once you do, we will then import your step counts every night, allocate Wellcoins accordingly, and create a post on your activity feed automatically. You need not log onto our site to earn Wellcoins!

There’s no need to worry if you don’t use a Fitbit, by the way. Fitbit is just the first of dozens of similar integrations we plan to complete in the months ahead. The integrations will involve other devices, apps of all sorts, fitness center registration software and more. They’ll cover the gamut of healthy activities on Wellcoin, including dozens in the Get Moving and Eat Well categories.

In addition to making Wellcoin easier to use, integrations like this allow you to verify your healthy activity claims in an exciting new way. Until now, Wellcoin featured two verification methods. In friend verification, you ask family members, workout buddies, personal trainers and others who witnessed your healthy activity to verify your claim. In community verification, you upload a photo supporting your claim, and anonymous Wellcoin users assess the extent to which your photo supports your claim. Friend verification doubles your Wellcoin take on claimed activities, whereas highly rated photos can earn you up to 3x the Wellcoin value vs. an unverified claim.

With Fitbit integration comes a third verification method. We’re calling it automatic, electronic verification (AEV) until someone comes up with a better name ;) We award users a lucrative, 4x multiple on the value of a claim when they use AEV, because it is hard (not impossible) to fake the data or otherwise game the system when AEV is used as the verification method.  

On Wellcoin, Fitbit is used to verify the Counting Steps activity. Wellcoin allocations for unverified claims of Counting Steps are awarded at a rate of 5 Wellcoins per 1,000 steps. Given that the daily Wellcoin earning limit for Get Moving activities (including Counting Steps) is currently set at 60 Wellcoins per day, users reach their limit when they claim they walked 12,000 steps in a day. If someone uses AEV to verify that claim however, she earns 60 x 4 = 240 Wellcoins for that day.

Thanks to our incredible development team for making Wellcoin-Fitbit integration happen. It’s a huge milestone for us! Again though, it’s just the first of many such integrations in our development pipeline. All you folks who use different devices and apps, or who sign-in to fitness centers or Yoga studios for classes, you too will soon benefit from automatic electronic verification. We’ll keep you posted! 

Glenn Laffel, MD, PhD

Head Coach & CEO

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Mixed-Weight Couples and Wellcoin

Many couples have a tough time when the subject of one person’s weight comes up. That’s true even when neither member of the couple is overweight. Apparently though, couples in whom only one person is overweight have particular trouble with this.

So called ‘mixed-weight couples’ report more conflict than same-weight couples, including more arguments and increased feelings of resentfulness and anger, according to a recent study.

Conflicts are particularly likely to occur in couples where the woman is overweight and the man is a healthy weight. Oddly, mixed-weight couples in whom the man but not the woman is overweight experience roughly the same degree of conflict as same-weight couples.

If you have an overweight partner, how can you raise the issue in a constructive manner?

Behavioral experts recommend that you support your partner’s efforts to eat healthy and exercise. That is, make them feel like you’re rooting for them rather than nagging them. Find ways to team up with your partner. Make it a collective effort to change the behaviors that are causing your partner to gain weight.

Wellcoin is loaded with ways to do this. Friend your partner on Wellcoin, if you haven’t already. Then post your healthy activities! You’re establishing yourself as a role-model for your partner without judging him or her. Ask your partner to verify your healthy behaviors to be sure your partner knows that you make healthy choices all the time. Encourage your partner to post his or her healthy activities as well, and support those activities by liking those activities, writing encouraging comments, validating his/her claims and so forth.

Remember that we designed Wellcoin around a broad, inclusive view of health. As a result, your partner can almost certainly find dozens of healthy activities he or she already does, whether they are overweight or not. This way, an overweight partner can begin to see himself or herself as – in many ways – a ‘healthy’ person. A confidence factor comes from that, and you can build on it.

Also, talk with your partner about rewards on Wellcoin. Show him or her that some rewards are really easy to reach. Or call attention to a reward you can enjoy together, such as a free appetizer at his/her favorite restaurant? Fun stuff, and a chance to eat healthy, together!

Glenn Laffel, Head Coach & CEO