Could this work?

Good morning truckers,

I am the wife of an OTR trucker and I have watched for several years as my husband's health has deteriorated due to lack of exercise, tobacco addiction and poor diet. He is on the road sometimes months at a time. I am a bit of a fitness junkie and each time he comes home, I work with him teaching him exercises he could perform inside or around his truck, how to use tension bands and some fairly light hand weights. I talk to him about diet but it seems that options for him given the limited parking, etc., are very slim and what is available is a choice between not very healthy and really unhealthy. I cook meals that can be frozen but generally he can only carry about a week's supply. He has a problem with motivation and would rather go to the TV room and be entertained, or sit at the counter and talk to other drivers.

I am going to participate in a health care forum at the end of the month. At this forum we will discuss health care issues to present to the new Obama administration. It is a grass roots attempt to brainstorm and offer suggestions. I want to present some ideas I have about trucker fitness. I have a proposal in mind, based on my limited knowledge of what it is like on the road and I wanted to bounce it off the people it would effect most; truckers, if any of my idea were to be adopted, and see if you think it is something that truckers would use or, or if it is not a reasonable amenity that they would be inclined to take advantage of, were it available.

My proposal would involve tax credits and/or expense deductions for usage of small fitness rooms located at truck stops around the country. Also, tax incentives for offering more choices of healthy foods. The salad bar is ok, but it is full of deceptively unhealthy food items. I'd like to see a more focused effort to offer more choices.

For the driver - (1) a tax credit (the biggest bang for the buck) for every dollar spent in a low cost fitness room (low cost i.e. $2.00 a day). (2) A deduction off of reported income for measurable weight loss from one DOT physical to the next. (3) some kind of financial incentive for smoking cessation. I'd have to figure out how to measure that.

For the truck stop - (1) grants from the government to furnish fitness rooms with a treadmill or two, an eliptical, maybe an exercise bike, a weight machine. (2) income generated from fitness rooms would be tax free. Truck stops would have to provide the room to house the equipment and the maintenance of the equipment. A provision of this benefit would be that admission to the fitness room would HAVE to be low cost. (3) a tax break for offering some healthy (truly healthy) options on their menus.

For the trucking companies (1) some type of tax benefit for successful encouragement (measured by reported driver participation. i.e., driver might submit copies of receipts for fitness room usage that the companies could use to compile data) of use of fitness facilities at truck stops. This might be in the form of periodic bonus checks (some companies offer small bonuses for sustained safety records. Something along those lines). (2) same as above for successfully encouraging smoking cessation or measureable weight loss. Maybe a point system of all of these goals as achieved. Higher points would result in bigger tax incentives.

For the government (i.e. the nation as a whole) -(1) lower health care cost associated with improved health of a segment of the population. (2) safer highways resulting from drivers who are in better health. (3) retainage of more experienced drivers who previously were forced off the highway by progressively deteriorating health.

I would really like some feedback from you. If you think I am barking up the wrong tree, please tell me. If you think it is something you would take advantage of, I would love to hear your thoughts on it. We meet on the 29th, and it is by invitation of the Obama team, and they DO have a massive stimulus package they are going to unveil, so I think this might be a window of opportunity that might otherwise have been a pipe dream.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

Luvmyhubby, I wasn't expecting the government to run this program, but rather to offer incentives for businesses (truck stops, trucking firms, owner operators)to invest in an infrastructure that would support a healthier lifestyle for an occupation that reflects the obstacles to achieving that. Thats all. I'm glad your husband is so busy that he would not have time for this. My husband has worked for three different trucking companys in the last three years (each one was a little better than the last) but he very often spends multiple days sitting complete still with no offers of runs to take coming his way at all. Drivers pay for showers, (and a lot more than I am proposing for a fitness room). I would think having another activity available besides watching television, might be an incentive,yes. My husband is also very friendly and generally can strike up a conversation with just about anyone. This might be a place for a person to get a little exercise while still being able to converse with someone.

Brickman and Baack, the cost to the government (we the people) would be the initial grant money to furnish the exercise rooms with equipment, and the loss in tax revenue hopefully reflected in the form of tax credits or reductions in taxable income. The benefit to the government (we the people) would be in reduced health care cost (that we all end up paying for in one form or another), safer highways, driver retention (thus more experienced veteran drivers). The cost to companies would be in the administration of any programs (perhaps as a function of the safety manager)to incentivize drivers in their fleets to paritipate. The benefit again would be realized in increased productivity as well as some kind of tax incentive for participation.

I have to acknowledge that it would require some kind of addition to the tax code to allow for these incentives. But, I feel it is a worthwhile tradeoff when compared to the potential benefits to all of us to have drivers; husbands, wives, fathers, daughters, sons....who drive for a living, becoming healthier.

I also have to acknowledge that it appears that truckers, those whose opinions I was seeking, so far the consensus is that this is not a good idea, that it is not something they would take advantage of. Thats what I came here to learn.

 

heyns57, don't laugh now! If I didn't think it would be asking too much, and if I could figure out how in the heck to make that work, I actually think to have a one-on-one trainer would be the very best incentive a person could have. But I cannot think of a realistic way to approach that angle. You figure there would have to be someone available 24/7, since the lives of truckers encompasses 24/7. My vision of the fitness room is small scale (sort of like the fitness rooms you see in hotels), so keeping a trainer occupied for three shifts a day might not be feasible either. But, if I could think of way to fit that in, I do think that would be a huge break-through for those stubborn, hard to motivate people.