By Annabelle Chipps, New Castle News

Lawrence County courthouse employees will receive electronic fitness bracelets funded by a wellness grant.

The Fitbit bracelets have the time and measure a user’s daily steps, heart rate, sleep patterns and more.

The county commissioners at their regular meeting Tuesday approved purchasing them and accepted the grant as part of their dedication to the needs and health of local government employees. They noted the funding for the devices does not come from tax dollars.

Rather, they are being paid for by a $4,552 grant designed to benefit the health and welfare of the workers. The funding is available from the county’s insurance trust through the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania.

Counties can apply for the wellness grants of up to $5,000 “for programs, supplies or anything that enhances the wellness of our employees,” Commissioner Chairman Dan Vogler said at the commissioners’ meeting Tuesday.

The idea to buy the Fitbits came from a combination of departments at the courthouse, including an internal safety committee formed through human resources.

“We wanted to get into wellness programs for employees because we’ve had them in the past,” human resources Director Michael Occhibone said. His department sent an email to all courthouse employees and found 140 staffers were interested in owning a Fitbit.

The plan is to incorporate the data into a full-blown wellness program with fitness goals and incentives. If the program is successful, Occhibone says Lawrence County will reapply for the grant next year.

“We’re not the first county to look into going the Fitbit route for staff members,” Administrator Joe Venasco.

“I think it’s a great idea. The program, I think in the long run, will cut down on our healthcare costs for the county,” Commissioner Chris Sainato said, adding that helping employees reach 10,000 steps each day will benefit their health.

“Just walking, they say, is one of the healthiest things you can do,” said Sainato, who regularly gets his walking in through the courthouse halls and staircases. “That incentive, I think, will get the employees really into the health care of it, the fitness. That’s the whole goal of it, that’s why they came up with this grant program.”

Annabelle Chipps is a recent graduate of Slippery Rock University and one of 10 Pittsburgh Media Partnership summer interns.