After competing against 25 other Long Island businesses, Bethpage Federal Credit Union's Employee Wellness Program was the overall winner in the 2nd Annual Action Long Island (ALI) Corporate Wellness Challenge and first place winner in the Challenge's "beginner" category. The ALI-Corporate Wellness Challenge is an annual wellness competition sponsored by Action Long Island and the American Heart Association, which challenges Long Island businesses to compete against one another in a year-long competition focusing on employee health and wellness. The Long Island business or organization with the greatest amount of employee participation wins. A first-time competitor, Bethpage is pleased to note that they finished the ALI Corporate Wellness Challenge with participation from over 400 employees, which represents 88% of its staff. As part of the competition, Bethpage employees signed up for various online wellness tools provided by the American Heart Association and Action Long Island, and participated in a variety of wellness seminars organized at various Bethpage branches. Bethpage's Employee Wellness Program also staged internal competitions between branches and departments to encourage participation. Bethpage launched its Employee Wellness Program last year as a direct outcome of its management development program. Each year the credit union identifies high-potential managers to participate in a 12-month training program to enhance their management skills. The program culminates with a group project to be rolled out across the organization. Last year's project was the Wellness Program and participation in the ALI-Corporate Wellness Challenge. Doug O'Neill, senior vice president, Human Resources for Bethpage, "Since employee health and wellness have always been important to Bethpage, the Wellness Challenge seemed like a perfect fit. We believe that healthy people are more productive, more energetic and more focused individuals. I applaud the efforts of all of our employees who participated, and the managers who developed the program and sustained it throughout the year."