Celebrating King County Health Heroes

 


Harold Taniguchi and Laurie Brown
Department of Transportation
Seattle

“There is a relationship between people who are healthy in the workplace and how they perform their job.” - Harold Taniguchi






Since the Healthy Incentives^SM program began, the Director’s Office at the Department of Transportation has changed from a place where people eat candy bars for breakfast to a place where people share healthy recipes. At the center of this change are the department’s Director and Deputy Director, Harold Taniguchi and Laurie Brown.

Harold used to like the idea of being healthy, but was not very motivated to take action to make exercise part of his daily life. He belonged to as many as three gyms around town, but would not go to any. The impetus for change was a visit to his doctor where Harold found out he was at risk for diabetes.

Watch Harold's story

These days, Harold works out regularly with a personal trainer and watches what he eats.

His doctor recommended changes to his diet and regular exercise as a way to reverse the trend.  The culture of wellness in the county is what gave Harold the support to do just that. Harold also saw the value in modeling healthy behavior as the director of a department. “There is a relationship between people who are healthy in the workplace and how they perform their job,” he said.

It wasn’t long after Harold started talking about how great he felt before Laurie Brown decided to set her own goals.

Watch Laurie's story

Harold and Laurie agree that a key for both of them was taking ownership of their own health.

“Once I made the decision to make a difference that was what worked,” says Harold.

Laurie echoes this sentiment.  “For me it works when it becomes something I own and not for financial incentives.  I think it happened because of the environment."