BNSF News

BNSF Employees Hit the Stairs to Fight Pulmonary, Lung Disease

2010-02-25

A team of BNSF employees - and friends of employees - have been hitting the stairs since fall 2009 to get in shape.

No stairs were considered too easy or too hard. Bleachers, office buildings and any other stairs they could find were fair game for this team. The goal? Several members of the team have immediate family members with some type of chronic lung or pulmonary disease. So they signed up to participate in the "Fight for Air Climb," sponsored by the American Lung Association.

BNSF employees on the team include the following:

• Joyce Campbell, analyst, Price Management
• Brian Cattle, senior systems engineer II, Technology Services
• Ellen Chapman, senior technical analyst II, Information Services Support (ISS)
• Cherié Coles, manager II, Technology Services
• Norma Ingram, contractor specialist, ISS
• Lynné Joplin, manager II, Technology Services

Training - and training hard

Joplin said the team worked to prepare as a team on the weekends - and during the week as individuals. For the event, they climbed the 53 flights of stairs to the top of the Renaissance Tower in Dallas, where the American Lung Association is headquartered.

"Healthier Way Forward" principles helped them prepare for the grueling task.

"Once a week, we got together to walk up and down the bleachers," she said. "We also practiced on the stairs at the Administrative Office Building at the BNSF Fort Worth campus to get ourselves ready."

While they were working to get themselves ready for the event, they realized the exercise helped them feel better and that they were feeling more fit, Ingram said.

"It was hard, but it was worth it," Ingram said.

The day of the event, team members assembled at the Renaissance Tower and, when it was their turn, started the journey of more than 2,000 stairs.

About the photo: BNSF employees who participated in the Fight for Air Climb are, left to right, Joyce Campbell, Cherie Coles, Norma Ingram, Lynné Joplin and Ellen Chapman.

BNSF Headquarters

BNSF Railway Company
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P.O. Box 961057
Fort Worth, TX 76161-0057
Phone: (817) 352-1000

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