Practice Task 16 · Parts 1–4

From: Marisol Ferreira, Accounts Payable Clerk

To: Dashiell Okoye, Wellness Program Coordinator, Brindlewood Insurance

Subject: Step Challenge points and my knee surgery

Hi Dashiell,

I signed up for the twelve-week Step Challenge last month and was doing well, averaging around 9,000 steps a day, until I had knee surgery two weeks ago. My surgeon has me on crutches for at least another three weeks, so I obviously cannot log steps during that period. I saw on the wellness portal that missing more than ten consecutive days automatically drops a participant from the leaderboard, and I do not want to lose the progress I already logged.

Is there some kind of medical pause option, or do I need to withdraw and rejoin the next round? I also noticed the portal lets people log 'alternative activity minutes' instead of steps, but it is not clear whether that applies to seated exercises, which is mostly what my physiotherapist has me doing right now.

Separately, I wanted to ask about the $150 wellness credit. The email that announced the challenge said credit is awarded to anyone who reaches 70% of the step goal by the end of the twelve weeks. Since I will miss at least three weeks entirely, is there any way to prorate the goal, or am I simply out of luck for this round?

Thanks for looking into this,

Marisol

— REPLY —

From: Dashiell Okoye

To: Marisol Ferreira

Subject: RE: Step Challenge points and my knee surgery

Hi Marisol,

Sorry to hear about the surgery, and thank you for flagging this before the ten-day cutoff hits. We do have a medical pause option: if you send a note from your surgeon or physiotherapist confirming the recovery timeline, I can freeze your leaderboard position rather than dropping you, and the clock resumes once you are cleared for light activity again. This is different from withdrawing, since your logged steps and current streak stay intact.

On alternative activity minutes: yes, seated exercises count, as long as they are logged as 'physiotherapy' or 'rehabilitation' in the dropdown menu rather than under general activity, which is reserved for standing exercises. Ten minutes of logged rehabilitation counts the same as roughly 1,000 steps for goal purposes.

On the wellness credit, I can adjust your personal goal downward to reflect the pause, but only after I receive the medical note, since the adjustment has to be documented for the payroll team who issues the credit. Once the note is in, your 70% target will be recalculated based on the number of active weeks remaining rather than the full twelve, which should make the credit achievable again.

Send the note whenever you're able, and I will process the freeze the same day.

Dashiell