SYRACUSE — CH Insurance Brokerage, Inc. of Syracuse is partnering with Long Island–based Kreative Health Solutions, Inc. to include its health and wellness program in its employee-benefit offerings. The program includes the Kreative Care Network, which Kreative describes as an “educational hub for anything you ever wanted to know about health.” It’s an […]
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SYRACUSE — CH Insurance Brokerage, Inc. of Syracuse is partnering with Long Island–based Kreative Health Solutions, Inc. to include its health and wellness program in its employee-benefit offerings.
The program includes the Kreative Care Network, which Kreative describes as an “educational hub for anything you ever wanted to know about health.”
It’s an online health-education platform “that integrates into the job without disturbing your work flow,” according to a YouTube video about the Kreative Care Network.
The program is “customized to the needs” of a customer’s “living and working environment,” according to an April 14 CH Insurance email about the partnership.
CH said that it’s making the service available to its clients “at no cost.” It is offering the service to its customer “prospects” as well, says Joseph (Joe) Convertino, Jr., president and co-owner of CH Insurance.
Convertino, along with Steffen Rowe, CEO of Kreative Health Solutions, and Jarod Cervoni, Kreative’s chief director of new business development, spoke with CNYBJ at the CH Insurance office on May 4.
“I think it’s a good retention piece [for] our clients because I think they’re doing this without us knowing it,” says Convertino, noting they could be conducting online research on the topic.
The two organizations started discussions because David Wicker, a CH Insurance account executive, knows Jarod Cervoni.
CH Insurance started discussions with Kreative Health Solutions in late 2014 and finalized the deal on April 1, Convertino says.
“It’s very easy to access them and give our clients and their employees access to their product,” says Convertino.
CH Insurance implemented the program after Easter, says Convertino.
CH Insurance is paying Kreative Health Solutions to provide the health and wellness service, but Convertino declined to disclose the cost.
The firm is using its own assets to cover the cost, he noted.
“When you have a healthy and energetic workforce, I think it helps overall in the company with … morale, with workers’ compensation … and [cheaper] health-insurance premiums,” says Convertino.
“The biggest challenge wellness programs have is that people don’t use them,” says Rowe. “We negotiated terms so that we would have limited curriculum to offer them.”
Kreative set up five classes that CH Insurance felt were “most pertinent to their clients,” says Rowe.
The online classes focus on nutrition, weight loss, smoking cessation, high intensity interval training, and workplace ergonomics, a class described as a “must for anyone who spends the day sitting.” in
As of May 4, CH Insurance had five clients that have already taken advantage of the wellness program, says Convertino.
About Kreative
Kreative Health Solutions is a corporate and community wellness company, says Rowe, the firm’s CEO.
“Essentially what we’re dedicated to doing is helping build more functional people both at work and at home and in their community,” says Rowe.
Rowe is a graduate of Binghamton University and a former member of the school’s wrestling team, according to company marketing materials provided to CNYBJ.
Rowe and Cervoni launched the company in May 2014, each having owned separate corporate-wellness businesses before Kreative Health Solutions.
Cervoni still operates Business Fit Solutions, which is headquartered in Binghamton, but it’s on the “back burner” as of now.
The company that Rowe previously owned, called Wishing Wellness, worked with doctors, so he has a “very expansive” network of doctors, he says.
Rowe lives on Long Island, and Cervoni lives in Liverpool. They hope to open a brick and mortar location in June, perhaps in DeWitt, but they haven’t made a final
decision on the site.
Even without its agreement with CH Insurance, Kreative had been considering the possibility of a location in the Syracuse area.
“We like the geographic area of Syracuse, [which] allows us to hit all of Central New York,” says Cervoni.
Kreative currently employs 15 full-time workers, along with about 100 contract employees, says Rowe.
The firm has plans to open two corporate-wellness centers, including one in Syracuse, and each will include obstacle courses inside.
The centers could triple the number of full-time workers the company employs, says Rowe.
