Military housing provider Corvias last year launched its Wellness at Home initiative to improve air, water and light quality in military homes, starting with a small number of homes at two bases. It’s now rolling it out to other installations.

Corvias SVP Property Operations, Denise Hauck told On Base what the program means for service members and their families.

ADC: What is Wellness at Home, and why did Corvias initiate it?

Hauck: Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said in the Resilient and Healthy Defense Communities Strategy that it is a national security imperative and a moral obligation to ensure the spaces where Department of Defense people live, work and train are healthy, functional and resilient.

Wellness at Home embraces independent third-party expertise and scientific research around health and wellness for our communities and the military families that live there. Early this year, we enrolled our entire military housing portfolio in the International Well Building Institute’s WELL for residential program and committed to working toward the needed requirements for each home to achieve program certification.

Corvias has 60,000 residents and this program can have immediate, meaningful impacts on all our residents without any major disruption. There is no more effective investment we can make in our communities.

ADC: You’re continuing to roll this out to other installations in the Corvias portfolio. What can residents at other bases expect?

Hauck: Last year, we successfully completed a pilot of 50 homes on Fort Liberty and Fort Meade, which leveraged a seven-step, research-based program provided by Vitacorps to identify upgrades that would enhance air, water and light quality for our residents and contribute to their overall well-being. We have been sharing results and openly engaging with our Army partners, MHPI providers and the DOD on future plans and solutions.

While we take a phased approach to rolling out Wellness at Home across our portfolio, wellness itself isn’t portfolio specific. We believe that this program is a model of a broader initiative to drive a wellness solution across residential DOD communities. All journeys start with the first step, and Corvias is taking that step. The good news is that two other MHPI providers are also working on similar pilots and that is exciting to see.

ADC: In general, what are you hearing from your residents across the country this year?

Hauck: Our residents continually show an interest in improving their quality of life. One of the best ways we can immediately serve our military families is by supporting their well-being and resiliency. Since service members move frequently, Wellness at Home helps ensure that Corvias’ military housing portfolio provides improved indoor living conditions. The results from last year’s pilot offered us positive resident feedback indicating we are on the right track. One participant shared that their children had “a reduction in allergy symptoms from having the air purifier in their rooms.”

This feedback is encouraging for wellness and fuels our efforts to explore other ways to enhance the quality of life for our service members and their families.