It Starts With You

I know this section is supposed to be "Tell My Story," but the truth is that there's nothing I can say about myself that is remotely as interesting as the employees and participants we serve in our programs.

As the Director of CSX Health & Wellness, it has never been about me. It has always been about you - the client.

You could be an engineer instructor from Lower Alabama, raised on fried foods, who has lost 100 pounds through taking an active interest in good nutrition and physical exercise.

You could be a conductor in Georgia who wanted to find ways to better manage his blood pressure after discovering that it was so high that he was at risk of severe medical complications.

Or, you could be the parent of a five-year-old living in New York who is tired of matching her child's boundless energy with huffing and puffing. Or perhaps a type 2 diabetic living in Ohio who is dissatisfied with taking seven medications each day to better manage the disease.

Regardless of who you are, there are probably one or two things that you wish to do to enhance your quality of life. You may want to feel well, have energy, improve stamina, enhance self-esteem, lose weight, become stronger, be healthier or maybe all of these things.

The reason I entered the clinical and now corporate arena of health promotion and disease management is because in college, I was impressed with how just little changes in dietary habits and physical activity can enhance an individual's health.

What CSX is doing is extraordinary. With the resources and the commitment it has set forth, CSX has become an industry leader in employee health and wellness among Fortune 500 companies. Of course, it makes a lot of business sense, because a healthy railway is a safe one. But, in the end, all of us can benefit from a program that makes us all healthier and happier at work and with our friends and families.

Being the Director of CSX Health & Wellness is a rewarding professional and personal career achievement. I am not only able to conceptualize, design and implement programs that are intended to enhance the lives of others, I am also able to watch a person's life transform. These individuals are always thanking you for the things they've accomplished themselves. It's never about putting something better into someone. It's about getting something better out.