AMC’s Health & Wellness Expo Offers Myriad Benefits to Employees
Company members flock to Newport Beach for health checkups, flu shots, education, stress relief and fun at annual expo.
IRVINE, CA—December 13, 2023—Employees of Advanced Management Company (AMC) don’t need to have perfect vision to see the vast benefits of the company’s annual Health & Wellness Expo, which has evolved over 23 years from simply providing flu shots to becoming a full-blown day of checkups, education, demonstrations, mental wellness activities and additional fun.
Held in early November at Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort in Newport Beach, California, the event brings together nearly all of AMC’s 465 employees from 61 different community properties throughout Southern California. The company treats it as a paid workday, adding an extra incentive for employee participation.
“We’re very proud of the way our Health & Wellness Expo has expanded through the years to offer increasingly more benefits to our employees,” said Danielle Holloway McCarthy, AMC President. “AMC is built on a family atmosphere, and the overall health of our employees is a primary concern of ours and something we take seriously. We’re thankful to provide a day to bring all the employees together to help them become more educated about their individual health.”
The expo has literally been a life-saving event for some employees. Nikki Lizardi, AMC’s Director of Human Resources, has directed the expo since its inception in 2000. She’s seen expo insights convince countless employees to make positive lifestyle changes when it comes to health and even knows of a few instances where testing at the event essentially saved employees’ lives by alerting them to immediately dangerous health conditions.
“We have saved a couple lives, and there’s all kinds of stories about important individual health discoveries over the years,” Lizardi said. “I really feel like this is such a good thing we do. Even if it’s just one person a year that we affect — if we alter their future, healthwise, in a positive way, then that’s a great outcome. There’s a lot of smaller impacts that happen as well. Any impact is beneficial.”
Employees check in at 8:30 a.m. the morning of the expo and pick up swag bags of information, schedules and other goodies, as well as a new matching company shirt, which they all change into for the duration of the day’s events. There is some required training depending on each employee’s position, but then everyone is free to participate in a variety of health-related amenities.
Healthcare services provided at this year’s event included the following:
- Cholesterol, glucose and body weight checks.
- Bone density.
- BMI.
- Posture screening.
- Vision checkup.
- Hearing checkup.
- Dental information.
- Chiropractor checkup.
- Hairstyling, including men’s facial hair.
- Eyelash and eyebrow care.
- Dermatology assessment.
- Flu shots.
One popular location was the Zen Tent, where a dozen masseuses provided stress-free chair massages. Other Zen offerings included reflexology tests, therapy dogs, yoga therapy and eco-friendly crafts. Additional tents were set up for power tool demonstrations, company benefits and career track training, professional headshots and a selfie station, and 14 vendors were onsite for early holiday shopping opportunities.
Lizardi said AMC supplies employees with $200 worth of work shoes, boots and insoles every other year. So there were two trucks filled with approved job site shoes for employees to pour their soles into.
“It’s a whole big production out there,” Lizardi said. “They put all the shoes on display like they’re going to a shoe store, and they lined everything up so it looks really nice. We had people there helping them try the shoes on. If they wanted more shoes than what the company provides, we offered them an employee payroll deduction instead of charging it out of pocket. We tried to make everything as affordable as possible.”
The event is held outdoors to take advantage of the beautiful Southern California weather in November and to help promote an overall healthy vibe. Eco-friendly ideals are a huge part of the planning, with most lunch materials being compostable or recyclable.
Looking back, Lizardi said the growth of the expo — which featured more than 100 volunteers this year — has been gradual, becoming a little more “ginormous” as the years go by.
“It’s just kind of evolved each year, and we’ve made it a little more fun, a little more interesting and a little more educational,” Lizardi said, noting that she really starts digging into the planning each year around April. “It’s a really fun event that’s dear to my heart because I’ve put decades of energy into it. It’s not just hearing, and it’s not just vision. It’s really for an employee’s overall well-being. It’s kind of like A to Z for everything you could possibly do healthwise in a group setting, minus any private things.”
About AMC
AMC is a subsidiary of Advanced Real Estate Services, Inc., a real estate investment company founded in 1982 by Richard Julian and Frank Holloway. AMC maintains and operates nearly 11,000 multifamily units in Southern California. Find out more at amcliving.com.
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