As a disease management specialist for BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, Sheila Wofford knows the health risks of obesity and diabetes.
After counseling others for years, the 43-year-old Chattanoogan decided a year ago to take her own advice and start exercising to lighten her once-hefty 297-pound frame.
“I couldn’t fit into clothes anymore, and my shoes got small. It was awful,” said Ms. Wofford, who dropped from a size 28 to a size 18 in less than a year by regularly exercising at the company’s new gym.
The task for Ms. Wofford and 4,000 other Chattanooga BlueCross workers was made far easier with the addition last year of a fitness center, health clinic, pharmacy store and health-oriented cafeteria menu.
The insurer hopes its success will encourage other employers to act similarly to trim down employees’ waists and their own health care costs.