{"id":38091,"date":"2015-09-15T10:21:23","date_gmt":"2015-09-15T14:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=38091"},"modified":"2017-04-11T14:24:40","modified_gmt":"2017-04-11T18:24:40","slug":"picture-of-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2015\/09\/15\/picture-of-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Picture of health"},"content":{"rendered":"

When she was studying biology<\/a> at Wright State University, Julie Bonsall had her sights set on medical school. But along the way she fell in love with personal training and began longing for a career helping people get healthy through diet and exercise.<\/p>\n

Today, Bonsall is the employee wellness coordinator at the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority, an agency of 600 workers who operate 29 bus routes in the region.<\/p>\n

Since Bonsall assumed the position in 2013, the wellness program has grown to include more than half of the workforce, the number of visits to the agency\u2019s fitness center has doubled from 4,000 to 8,000 annually, and there has been such a drastic drop in health insurance claims that the RTA has now been able to self-fund its insurance program.<\/p>\n

\"Julie<\/a>

Wright State biology graduate Julie Bonsall ’12 leads a pioneering wellness program at the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority. (Photos by Will Jones)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve created something, and it really works well,\u201d Bonsall said. \u201cI think I\u2019m changing the mindset here, changing the culture. When it comes to a wellness program in a company, it obviously does great stuff for the bottom line, but it also makes the employee feel so appreciated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonsall grew up in Franklin, Ohio. Her father was a carpenter, her mother taught at Franklin High School, and her brother is an U.S. Army Airborne Infantry Ranger.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in every single sport that you can possibly imagine except cheerleading,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

At age 14, the diminutive Bonsall was playing basketball at the city park with the boys, surprising opponents with her skills, which included being able to hit the occasional 3-pointer from half court. She would go on to play varsity basketball at Franklin High School.<\/p>\n

Bonsall aspired to be a physician.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to become a pediatrician that kids weren\u2019t afraid of,\u201d she said. \u201cI focused on anatomy and physiology. I loved that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonsall initially attended Wittenberg University, but it didn\u2019t offer a focus that she wanted so she transferred to Wright State.<\/p>\n

\u201cWright State has such a variety of things you can choose from,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I loved the campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a biology graduate with a focus on exercise science, her education gave her the knowledge that would enable her to implement the successful wellness program at the RTA. The faculty also gave her just enough independence to develop her problem-solving skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stuff I learned at Wright State is not as important as the confidence that I gained from Wright State,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She also quickly learned that a biology degree was a perfect fit with a career in corporate wellness.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen someone goes into a gym, they\u2019ve already made the decision that they are going to change their lives,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen someone goes to work, they\u2019re not thinking that. They\u2019re not thinking \u2018I\u2019m going to get healthier when I go to work.\u2019 So I thought I could really do something amazing here.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the RTA, Bonsall works with the agency\u2019s benefits manager and family\/medical leave office to improve employee health and drive down absenteeism and worker compensation claims.<\/p>\n

\"Julie<\/a>

Under Julie Bonsall’s leadership, the RTA’s wellness program has grown to include more than half of the workforce and the number of visits to the agency\u2019s fitness center has doubled.<\/p><\/div>\n

The biggest health issue among employees is high blood pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you imagine driving a million-dollar vehicle with 40 people in the back all screaming and yelling and having a good time while you have to concentrate on the road?\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a high-stress job.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to exercise classes, Bonsall has offered classes on how to prevent back injuries and how to reduce the risk of diabetes. To promote walking, she started the Fitbit program, which provides employees with pedometers for their wrists that track their steps. And yoga classes will soon be offered.<\/p>\n

The RTA wellness program won a 2014 Healthy Ohio Worksite silver award from the Ohio Department of Health\u2019s Healthy Ohio Business Council.<\/p>\n

Victor Hall, an RTA utility mechanic, shed 50 pounds over 16 months exercising at the company\u2019s fitness center, slimming down to 190. He calls Bonsall \u201ca poodle with a pit-bull attitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHer knowledge and guidance is really the key. That\u2019s really what helps us the most. She is a good motivator,\u201d Hall said. \u201cShe changed my life and made it better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wright State biology graduate Julie Bonsall ’12 leads a pioneering wellness program at the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":38094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,733,4299,2064,725,727,715,746,720],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-alumni-profile","category-biology","category-home-news-sidebar","category-homepage-photos-and-video","category-news","category-science-mathematics","category-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38091"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38099,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38091\/revisions\/38099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}