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Taking a Lesson of Her Own

As the employee engagement and wellness coordinator for Coastal, Judy Babb is responsible for setting up all the wellness events for the company. It’s a job she loves, and one she takes very seriously.

From free mammograms during Breast Cancer Awareness Month to free BMI screenings and flu shots, she oversees various initiatives designed to keep employees healthy. “From the leadership on down, this company is committed to ensuring employees stay healthy and productive,” she says proudly. “It shows the employee how important they are to the company.”

It was at one of these screening events that Judy’s life changed forever.

Coastal was doing free heart and vascular screenings for all employees. It’s one of our most popular events, saving each employee the thousands of dollars most clinics charge. As usual, they were nearly full.

But there was room for one more, and a nurse suggested Judy get herself screened. “I got my heart screen and figured everything was normal.”

But then she got a call the next day from the nurse, suggesting she go see a cardiologist right away.

“I would have never in my wildest dreams thought to do this. I was healthy. I felt fine,” she says. “But I was a walking time bomb.”

In meeting with the cardiologist, she found out her heart was only working at 40%. Through further testing she was able to find it wasn’t that she had a bad heart, she had bad sleep. Sleep Apnea, to be more precise.

“Without that free screening, I would never have gone to the doctor for my heart. And then, who knows,” she asks, her voice trailing off. But, thanks to a free screening—from a program she is in charge off—she is here, healthy, and being a health advocate for all of Coastal’s employees as well as her kids and 14 grandchildren.