Progress Energy's New Healthy Progress Program Promotes Employee Wellness, Helps Company to Control Future Health Care Costs

RALEIGH, N.C., Aug. 20  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Progress Energy recently unveiled Healthy Progress, the company's new wellness program, designed to enhance the health, safety and productivity of the company's employees while helping the company manage its future health care costs.

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Healthy Progress provides wellness resources and free health screenings and health assessments for Progress Energy 10,700 regular, full-time employees in North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. Through the program, Progress Energy employees have the opportunity to earn cash rewards for meeting designated health standards.

The voluntary, confidential wellness program began July 10, and nearly 6,000 of the company's employees have signed up for health screenings.

"We believe that a healthier workforce is a happier, safer and more attentive workforce," said Bill Johnson, president and chief operating officer of Progress Energy and the company's executive sponsor of the Healthy Progress program. "We are extremely pleased with our employees' participation in Healthy Progress. Establishing a successful wellness program will ensure a higher quality of life for our employees, improve on the company's already outstanding safety performance record and help control future health care costs for the company."

StayWell Health Management is the independent organization administering the Healthy Progress wellness program for Progress Energy.  StayWell provides health coaching for program participants and manages the health screenings to ensure appropriate confidentiality of employee personal health information.

The program offers incentives to employees with optimal weight, blood pressure, glucose levels, cholesterol levels, and by being tobacco free. Progress Energy expects the benefits of a healthier workforce to far outpace the program cost.

Since 1978, StayWell Health Management has helped large employers improve the health and productivity of their employees with versatile, results- oriented health management strategies.

Progress Energy, headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., is a Fortune 250 energy company with more than 21,000 megawatts of generation capacity and $10 billion in annual revenues. The company includes two major utilities that serve more than 3.1 million customers in the Carolinas and Florida. Progress Energy is the 2006 recipient of the Edison Electric Institute's Edison Award, the industry's highest honor, in recognition of its operational excellence. The company also is the first utility to receive the prestigious J.D. Power and Associates Founder's Award for customer service. Progress Energy serves two fast-growing areas of the country, and the company is pursuing a balanced approach to meeting the future energy needs of the region. That balance includes increased energy efficiency programs, investments in renewable energy technologies and a state-of-the-art electricity system. For more information about Progress Energy, visit the company's Web site at http://www.progress-energy.com/ . 

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DATASOURCE: Progress Energy



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Web site:  http://www.progress-energy.com/

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