Healthcare | Wednesday 8 April, 2015 12:23 am |

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, hosted a health and wellness fair for more than 1,000 employees and their families in celebration of World Health Day 2015.

The event, which took place at Etihad Airways’ headquarters in Abu Dhabi, was held to raise health awareness and provide education and screening. It included fun-filled activities such as live cooking demonstrations, nutrition and healthy eating advice, full medical and dental check-ups, safety demonstrations, screening services, and weight, skin and hair analysis.

Other highlights included an outdoor children’s cinema, face painting and fitness competitions. More than 1,000 free giveaways and raffle prizes were also distributed during the day.

Dr Nadia Bastaki, Vice President Medical Services at Etihad Airways, said: “The Etihad Airways Medical Centre is committed to delivering convenient, easily accessible and free-of-charge services to improve our people’s health and wellbeing. We also have a dedicated wellness team that organises campaigns throughout the year to ensure that important health topics are covered, proper advice is given and relevant screening can be conducted.

“We received extremely positive feedback from our health and wellness fair. The full range of services was available from 12pm until 6pm, providing employees and their families with a chance to participate in all the activities and utilise the complimentary check-ups and tests.”

Etihad Airways’ wellness team organised the fair with support from 21 partner organisations, with attendees being provided with the mobile medical clinic by Ambulatory Health Services – SEHA, the mobile dental clinic by Abu Dhabi Police, weight screening services by Daman, eye tests by the New Medical Centre, and one to one consultations by Health Point.

Bite Rite offered the live cooking demonstrations, Kcal consulted on healthy eating, and Al Borg Lab took more than 500 blood tests onsite. Other partner organisations included Abu Dhabi Traffic Police, Lotus Medical Centre Holistic Approach, Pharmalink, Abbot, Nestlé, Organic Pharmacy, Sebamed and L’Oreal.

Abdulaziz Al Ali, HR Business Partner at Etihad Airways, said: “Learning about health and wellness is very important and by attending this fair, we have not only been educated, but entertained at the same time. The highlight was watching my children dancing with the Fit2Fly gym team, who led fitness activities for adults and children throughout the day. I also underwent eye and dental examinations, along with many of my work colleagues.”

Health and wellness fairs are a key offering of the Etihad Airways Medical Services team. Other initiatives include the introduction last year of a staff ambulance service and travel clinic for those travelling for work purposes, several free fitness facilities across Abu Dhabi, and a dedicated ‘Care by Etihad Airways’ welfare support service, which is offered to the airline’s crew and pilots and will be extended to all staff and their dependents later this year.

Abu Dhabi based employees also have access to world-class medical care at the Etihad Airways Medical Centre, including full laboratory services, physiotherapy, radiology, dental, nutrition counselling, ENT services, primary care, and aviation health services.

The centre, which is regulated by Health Authority - Abu Dhabi (HAAD) and the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), was awarded the ‘Clinic of the Year 2013’ by GCAA in recognition of its status as one the leading aero-medical centres in the UAE. It is located at Etihad Plaza and staffed by 30 medical experts, including 10 fully-qualified doctors.

PHOTO CAPTION 1: .

PHOTO CAPTION 2: The Fit2Fly gym team gets employees and their kids moving with dance at the Etihad Airways Family Fun Health and Wellness Fair in Abu Dhabi.

PHOTO CAPTION 3: Etihad Airways’ Medical Services team members Dr Hania Sobierajska, Nutritionist Abeer Al Marzouqi and Quality and Risk Manager Safeya Al Hashmi.

PHOTO CAPTION 4: Guests of honours at the Etihad Airways Family Fun Health and Wellness Fair in Abu Dhabi were children of the airline’s employees.

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About Etihad Airways

Etihad Airways began operations in 2003, and in 2014 carried 14.8 million passengers. From its Abu Dhabi base, Etihad Airways flies to 111 existing or announced passenger and cargo destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas. The airline has a fleet of 111 Airbus and Boeing aircraft, and more than 200 aircraft on firm order, including 69 Boeing 787s, 25 Boeing 777-X, 62 Airbus A350s and nine Airbus A380s.

Etihad Airways holds equity investments in airberlin, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Aer Lingus, Alitalia, Jet Airways and Virgin Australia, and is in the process of formalising an equity investment in Swiss-based Etihad Regional, operated by Darwin Airline. Etihad Airways, along with airberlin, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Alitalia, Etihad Regional, Jet Airways and NIKI, also participate in Etihad Airways Partners, a new brand that brings together like-minded airlines to offer customers more choice through improved networks and schedules and enhanced frequent flyer benefits. For more information, please visit: www.etihad.com