CLEVELAND — A conference organized in northeast Ohio hopes to give those handling employees the tools they need to make the workplace as strong as possible during the pandemic.

What You Need To Know

  • Health Action Council is hosting the In-Value-Able conference at the Hilton in downtown Cleveland

  • The conference helps human resources and benefits workers find information to make their workplaces stronger

  • The conference comes at a time when healthy workplaces are needed more than ever with the pandemic causing so many mental challenges.

Annette Santos has spent 26 years at the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority, including in her current position as wellness manager.

“Being in this role has helped me network with people outside of CMHA and other organizations that do this type of work,” said Santos.

She’s attended the In-Value-Able conference in the past,and said she believes right now it can provide some great information.

“We know that it’s very difficult with this pandemic going on right now, and it’s very hard to keep employees healthy if their continuing their old behavior,” said Santos.

Patty Starr, the CEO of Health Action Council, said she hopes the conference will give those attending the tools they need.

“We ultimately [want] attendees to be reenergized, become a little bit more passionate about the work that they’re doing, but also learn new ideas, new perspectives, about new tools, about new services that are available,” said Starr.

Keynote Speaker Sara Frasca will be speaking at the conference, and said she wants to inspire others with so much mental strain going on.

“They are exhausted, they are tired, they are frustrated, they are disconnected more than ever before. And so, in order to kind of reinvoke this creative vibe, we have to give them some energy. Right? We have to give them the hope that they too can find a way,” said Frasca.

Santos said she is looking forward to learning new ideas and helping her employees make it through the pandemic.

“They need to network and networking with other folks, it helps us learn about what’s going on in other places, other companies and it helps us bring that back to our employees so that we can continue to help them stay healthy as much as possible,” said Santos.

Theconference will be through virtual sessions run on Thursday, Jan. 27 and Feb. 10 and 24 and March 10.