Fun on the Job: Hagie’s Health and Safety Fair

Colleen Bartlett played with Legos at Hagie Manufacturing’s Health and Safety Fair on May 8.

“We’re building houses,” said the Wright County Economic Development office manager of the activities at her group’s booth. Gesturing toward a Lego sprayer (complete with movable booms) she joked she had been chastised because it infringed on a patented design.

So it went at the Health and Safety Fair. Pam Bradshaw, Hagie Wellness Coordinator, said that she had challenged the 47 participating local businesses, state organizations, community colleges, and Hagie internal groups to contribute to the event based on Hagie Family Value #7, “to create fun and be adventurous.”

The day’s heart, however, mingles fun with a serious purpose: to encourage the community to live healthy and safe lives. “Part of it is to show the different resources that are available locally,” Bradshaw said of groups that offer services like health care and financial planning. “So that when you need their services, you can at least recall a friendly face or someone to contact.”

“I’ve never seen so much community here,” said Dave Maxheimer, Director of Hagie Human Resources, of a positive turnout. Employees at the HR department’s booth dressed as pirates under the theme “treasure your health,” and noted that the company offers fitness memberships and reduced health insurance fees for employees who get annual physicals (for which the health plan also waives a co-pay).

 “We’re just waiting for someone to drop,” joked Nick German of the plant’s First Responders, ever at the ready. “Do you see anyone looking faint?”

Elsewhere throughout the floor, the Clarion Police Department and Ambulance Service supervised as participants played catch with drunk goggles. That Iowa Girl noted that itstocks (stalks?) food from The Asparagus Guy, and offered samples of chips and hummus and baba ganoush. Emerson Veterinary Clinic of Eagle Grove chatted that an employee had recently acquired a pet hedgehog. The Iowa-Illinois Safety Commission brought a driving simulator. An Ewing Funeral Home & Monument Company representative laughed when asked if it was a conflict of interest to be set up at a ‘health and safety’ fair.

Amber Kohlhaas, Hagie communications manager, noted that the largest similar event in the state had drawn 60 vendors, making the event within striking distance of claiming the ‘Iowa’s largest’ title in future years. Her department’s booth offered farm safety Plinko. 

Wright County Chiropractic asked questions from the “Worst Case Scenario Game,” which valuably informed the Monitor that letter bombs don’t vibrate, and we should instea be wary of lumpy packages with excessive postage. Elsewhere, Angel’s Touch Therapeutic Massage, Future of Health Massage, and Balanced Body Massage offered free five-minute massages that were stress-relieving and highly enjoyable.  

Read more about the Fair in the May 15 issue of the Wright County Monitor!