An on-site primary and occupational health care wellness center has been opened at the Perdue AgriBusiness complex in Salisbury, Maryland. The wellness center offers primary care, occupational health services and onsite laboratory draws to Perdue associates and their eligible family members.
“Most employers health plans focus on delivering treatment,” said Jim Perdue, chairman of Perdue Farms. “We’ve developed a program that delivers better health. It’s a substantial investment on the part of our company, but the payback is that our associates and their families are healthier. That’s a return on investment that benefits our associates, our company and the community.”
The 900-square-foot wellness center is among 15 located at the company’s major facilities and the fourth on the Delmarva Peninsula. Perdue also has wellness centers located at its Delmarva facilities in Georgetown and Milford, Delaware, and Accomac, Virginia. More than 350 associates work at the Zion Church Road Complex in Salisbury, representing Perdue AgriBusiness, Perdue Transportation Inc., a feed mill, hatchery and garage.
“For our associates and their covered dependents, the wellness center becomes their family doctor,” said Dawn Carey, Perdue Farms’ director of corporate wellness. “That’s because the wellness center is a doctor’s office — it just happens to be located where our associates work.”
Perdue’s onsite wellness centers overcome two of the biggest obstacles to obtaining primary health care: accessibility and affordability. Employees can make appointments to see a health-care provider at the wellness center without taking time off from work and while still getting paid for the time. Perdue partners with health care professionals from the community to provide onsite medical care.
