ness Corporate Solutions. “Somewhere around 70% of companies have some sort of wellness program in place.” According to Arthur Carlos, chief executive officer of Vitality Group, wellness program participants often get a discount on monthly healthy insurance premiums while non-participants pay full price. Some companies also make certain health plans available to employees in the wellness programs as well give out rewards when participants hit a certain goal or take part in an activity to keep them motivated. Vitality Group’s wellness programs serve nearly 2 million members in companies and incorporate positive incentives. The company has 30 activities that have assigned point values; when participants accumulate enough points, they can go shopping at Vitality Mall which has around 600,000 items that has everything from electronics to travel destinations.  How the Programs Work   Most wellness programs start with a health assessment that includes employees’ blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels along with other standard tests. The employer will get an aggregate score of employees and then, working with a wellness company, will put into place programs to help employees lower their health risks risk whether it’s a smoking cessation program or an exercise program. “Companies might put in place health coaches…seminars and might do workplace campaigns like a walking program,” says Gathright. Do They Work? Offering employees incentives to lose weight and quit smoking may not make them change every bad habit, but according to Mark Schmit, director of research at the Society for Human Resoubia center. Ailments lasting longer are rare, he said. The Mississippi flooding began May 2, when officials blew up part of a levee in Missouri to protect a town in Illinois. As high water rolled downriver to the Deep South, they were diverted through floodgates into the Atchafalaya Basin, prompting hundreds to evacuate. On Monday, the river's crest is expected to reach Morgan City, La., where the flood waters empty into the Gulf of Mexico. The extra lead time many victims in that area have had could reduce stress in the end, said Irwin Redlener, director of Columbia University's National Center for Disaster Preparedness. If you can get yourself and your family out safely with important papers and even emotionally important keepsakes, "you can restart your life," he said. And, because injury and bereavement are major causes of psychological distress, warnings "are indirectly probably our greatest mental health intervention" by getting people out of harm's way, said Fran Norris, director and principal investigator of the National Center for Disaster Mental Health Research. Even the warning 24 minutes before the tornado hit in Joplin, Mo., killing 132, was substantial, Abramson said. "In Israel, the warning systems for incoming missile attacks are 15 seconds," he said. The problem, typically, is getting people to pay attention to warnings. "It's kind of the opposite of the popular myth that if you warn people of disaster they'll panic," said Dennis Mileti, professor emeritus at the University of Colorado's Natural Hazards Center in Boulder. "The problem is the opposite — getting them off the couch." Photographs and video of earlier spring floods probably made it easier to convince people farther downriver to protect their property and leave, he said. The psychologically taxing piece as people return from the disaster will be coping with all the questions: Where will we live? Where will the children go to school? Diane Austin, 47, and her parents, aunt and uncle all got safely away from their homes in the Cutoff community, but they haven't been able to go back and survey the damage. "I'm concerned about what I'll find. I'm more concerned about if they'll let us back," Austin said. It may not be until sometime this week, and those who have to rebuild will have to meet new FEMA regulations, said Larry Liddell, spokesman for the Tunica County Emergency Management Agency. And "with all the rules and regulations, you have to be a millionaire to get everything back up to code," Austin said. Over in Tuscaloosa, Ala., F