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MT. STERLING, ILL. -- With healthcare costs going up every year some businesses are using creative ways to keep costs down.

You've probably heard of some incorporating fitness and wellness programs into work life to keep employees healthier. But one local company is taking those progressive ideas to the next level, in hopes of keeping workers healthy and accident-free.

Most of the 17 hundred employees at DOT Foods in Mt.Sterling drive trucks or work in warehouses. But no matter their job title, more than two-thirds of employees have to meet strenuous job requirements, from bending to loading and lifting heavy boxes of food to and from pallets like this and on deliveries all over the nation.

But the key to good health here at DOT is lifting and bending the right way.

Occupational Health Trainer Stacey Akins said, "Many times someone will do something incorrectly time and time again and over time that takes a toll on your body and that can result in major issues for that employee later on."

Concern for employees' well being is why the company has Occupational Health Trainer Stacey Akins on staff now to help prevent injuries before they happen. Administrators plan to add a certified athletic trainer soon, in an effort to further instruct and consult employees on the floor and in the field about proper body mechanics, back strengthening exercises and lifting techniques in order to prevent pain or a possible injury later on.

Akins said, "If we address those issues, now they will have a better quality of life and be more productive and healthier at home or at work."

But that's not all. DOT is using some other progressive ideas to help get in front of possible injuries. The company helps subsidize employee memberships to the local YMCA and provides employees with free preventative screenings to test cholesterol, glucose and blood pressure at work. The hope is these screenings will catch possible problems early on so employees can take control of their healthcare costs. It's a win-win for this company, which hopes to keep its valuable employees healthy, while also seeing some savings in its ever-increasing costs of providing healthcare.

Andrea Dearwester, DOT Employee Benefits Manager said, "By the company taking a proactive role and having a variety of health and wellness programs for our employees, we want to engage them on the onset, we want to provide them with those tools for themselves so they can contain healthcare costs for themselves and that comes back and impacts the company in a positive way. Overall then healthier employees will be happier, be more productive, their absenteeism will go down and the productivity will be safer."

DOT Food's occupational health programs and consultations also are provided to the rest of its nearly two thousand employees in distribution centers throughout the country via tele-conferencing.