by Rebecca R. Bibbs

     As a child, in the basement of a ranch-style home near Kessler Boulevard and Illinois Street, Sally Stephens carefully prepares a "vaccination" with the help of her sisters Rae and Julia. She pulls the cork stopper out of the top of a glass tube and pours out the glitter beads.

     "We'd get rid of the beads and stick a pin in the top, and that would be our syringe," she says.

     Young Sally did as many children do and played doctor.

     These days, however, health care is serious business for the owner of Spectrum Health Systems, a company that specializes in helping businesses encourage wellness among their employees.

     "Our goal was developing a program that was equal to a Fortune 100 employer's but be effective to the mid-size employer," says Stephens, sitting at the conference table that seats four in the corner office overlooking a row of auto dealerships on East 96th Street.

     With health care reform at the top of the nation's agenda, Stephens strongly believes one of the major strategies to cutting costs is to focus on wellness.

     Hoosier at heart

     One of five children, Stephens was born 58 years ago in California to Indiana natives Arthur Lathrop, a businessman with a law degree, and Jane Lathrop, a homemaker who had earned a twin-engine pilot's license in the 1940s.

     "I really am a Hoosier," she says. "I was raised here, and my family moved back when I was 2."

     Stephens started her education at The Orchard School. "I was very shy and insecure at that time, so being in a small school was good for me," she says.

     When she was in the fifth grade, Stephens' parents enrolled her in the exclusive all-girls Tudor Hall college prep school, which merged with Park School in 1970 to become Park Tudor. Stephens, who participated in field hockey, basketball and softball, says she loved her high school experience at Tudor Hall and remains close to many of her friends from there who meet several times each year.

     Summers were spent on a family farm near Rockville, Ind., and at a family-owned home that now sleeps up to 27 on Lake Maxinkuckee in Culver, Ind. Even now, Stephens often visits the lake house with her family and friends.

     Her parents traveled the world extensively because of Arthur Lathrop's business concerns, often leaving Stephens in the care of her older siblings. "It almost seemed like my oldest sister Rae stepped in as a mother on many occasions," she says.

     Even so, each of her parents deeply influenced the woman she became, Stephens says. Her father, an investor who developed a number of businesses, including sponsoring cars with the late entrepreneur and philanthropist Tom Binford at the Indianapolis 500, encouraged Stephens to follow her bliss. That encouragement, however, came with strings attached: Whatever she chose to do, he said, should be done with passion and with the intent to do her best.

     "I was, of course, an avid 500 attendee. When I was in high school, I was at the track every weekend," she says. Even now, she adds, her company supports the Indy 500.

     From her mother, who passed away at age 89 in September 2008, Stephens says she inherited a sense of class and style. "She just was the epitome of grace, goodness and kindness, and she absolutely adored her family," she says.

     A change of heart

     Though she attended a college prep school, Stephens admits her real goal was to be a wife and mother. "At that time," she says, "very few women were thinking about careers. And if they thought about a career, it was as a nurse, or a secretary or a teacher ... Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be doing what I'm doing."

     Still, Stephens enrolled in a two-year liberal arts program at the all-girls Bennett College in Milbrook, NY. There, she studied painting and dance.

     Though she transferred to Indiana University as a fine arts major, Stephens did not complete her course of study. She left school in 1970 to marry Joe Claypool, whom she met while she was in high school.

     Six years later, Stephens gave birth to the couple's older child, Adams Claypool. A year later, she returned to IUPUI to complete her associate degree. Nine years later - just as she entered her first year of clinicals after returning to school to study nursing - she and her husband adopted a baby girl, Genevieve.

     "I feel that a nursing degree is such a valuable degree to have," she says. "It opens a lot of opportunities, whether you are working in the hospital with direct patient care or in something like what I do or in insurance companies." Stephens says she also was attracted to the possibility of helping other people through medicine.

     "At the time, I remember being advised to get experience in a hospital for a year and then I could do whatever I wanted," she says. Stephens says she never intended to work in a hospital, but she spent much of her career at Methodist, St. Vincent and Winona hospitals.

     Her experiences as a patient care coordinator for patients with diabetes at Winona placed her squarely on the road toward being a pioneer in the field of wellness. It was in that position Stephens saw how important prevention could be.

     "It was an incredible background for this business," she says.

     Sick at heart

     A personal tragedy also underscored the need for wellness education when her brother Alan died at age 40 of a heart attack. "It just was such a huge shocker," she says. "He was a good example of lifestyle behaviors and how they affect your health."

     In the meantime, Stephens pursued a bachelor's degree in business management from Indiana Wesleyan University. "I'm never done learning, but I am done with formal education in terms of degrees," she says.

     Though her career was developing, her marriage had come to a standstill. Stephens and Claypool divorced in 1992.

     As she went through her divorce, Stephens met a man she describes as a "visionary." Mark Stephens traveled in similar circles for years, but they'd never met. A mutual friend even talked about fixing up the pair on a date, but it never happened until years later.

     In 1996, they married. Not long after, they merged his expertise in risk management for insurance companies with her medical background and established Spectrum Health Systems to provide disease education and prevention programs to Indiana employers.

     Her husband, Stephens says, taught her about marketing and building a business the old-fashioned way. "Believe me, I didn't have a clue ... I was way out of my league," she admits.

     Back then, Stephens says, employers took a "lunchroom approach" to wellness, allowing programs to be only voluntary rather than outcome driven. At that time, she says, employers simply didn't see the value of a wellness program, which often includes smoking cessation classes, lifestyle coaching and disease management services.

     In fact, Stephens notes, during the last recession, wellness programs were considered more of a fad and became one of the first things employers cut as they tried to contain expenses. That meant tough times for Spectrum.

     "We never missed a payroll, but there were time we weren't sure we could keep the doors open," she says.

     Over the years since that recession, however, employers have come to understand the cost savings a good wellness program can realize and have made them an integral part of their health plans, Stephens says. Those savings come through reduced absenteeism, employee turnover and health insurance costs. All this, she says, improves overall health, morale and presenteeism - the concept of employees not only showing up for work physically but being genuinely engaged in their work - which leads to increased productivity. That means in today's economy, programs are more likely to be downsized rather than eliminated, she says.

     "The market finally has caught up with us. We were definitely early adopters," she says. "The exciting thing for us is the employers are willing to put more teeth in their program."

     Helping clients take heart

     One thing that sets apart her company from many others offering wellness programs, in addition to its proactive, results-driven approach, is the extra personalized attention given face-to-face to the clients' employees, Stephens says. "We feel that is more effective than just generating mailings and information," she says.

     That personalized attention also allows Stephens' staff to assess the real factors that encourage or prevent wellness. "What I realized was it wasn't so much a lack of understanding of the disease process or their treatment plan," she says. "It was more about barriers like no time for the gym or not affording healthy food, personal problems like aging parents or financial problems."

     That personalized attention extends to company executives - CEOs, CFOs and human resource managers - who often are personally involved in the development of wellness programs for their companies. And they should be because a well-crafted wellness program, on average, can save a company $3 for each dollar invested, Stephens says.

     "Employers have a vested interest in making their employees feel valued and not just bringing them sick care," she says.

     Though times were tough during the earlier recession, Stephens says she is in a better position to weather this one, largely because of the independence of her company. And because Spectrum was a player before wellness became a more permanent aspect of human resources, the company has a track record.

     "I'm in a place where when difficult times come, I can say, 'There's an opportunity in this,'" she says. "All of us are presented with opportunities. We just have to see them and take advantage of them."

     But this recession also encourages Stephens to take a critical look at her company for ways to increase efficiencies and processes, she adds. "We're looking at it as an opportunity to take a close look at what we do internally," she says. "We're nimble; we're quick; we're very responsive. We understand outstanding service is critical to our business."

     Spectrum's big break came in 2003 when the company was hired by the City of Indianapolis. That led to contracts with other major employers, Stephens says.

     "That engagement really helped build credibility," she says.

     Never missing a beat

     But as she became immersed in Spectrum and her husband became involved in business ventures farther away, the marriage suffered, Stephens says. The couple separated, she buying out his interest in the business in the divorce.

     Though she'd counted on always having her husband's sage advice, Stephens now faced running her business on her own.

     "I sat back and thought, Well, I guess it's up to me," she says. Stephens assembled an advisory board and increased her involvement in the National Association of Women Business Owners, an organization for which she now serves as secretary of the board.

      "I really understood I wasn't here all by myself. I was capable of bringing in the resources I needed. I knew how to tap into the intelligence of the people around me," she says. "You just have to be willing to ask."

     Though Stephens considers the company regional, serving Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky, her employees travel to about 15 states to serve the employees working in subsidiaries of her core clients.

     Her friend Billie Dragoo, owner of Repucare, a medical and urgent care staffing company, met Stephens about seven years ago through their mutual business interests. She describes Stephens as methodical, passionate and aggressive.

     "When she has a job to do, she gets it done layer by layer by layer, and she does it right," Dragoo says. "I talk about this in her work, but it transcends into her personal life too."

     Though it was their business interests that drew them together, the women became friends. "That friendship was forged through the many luncheons we had," Dragoo says.

     Several years ago, she persuaded Stephens to join her and other like-minded women business owners to take a two-week boat trip along Europe's Danube River where they saw the cathedrals of Budapest, Prague, Austria and Germany. "She still talks about that trip to this day," Dragoo says.

     As roommates, they really bonded on that trip, she adds. "She's probably the one person I know who can dance more and have more fun on a cappuccino alone without any alcohol," she says, laughing.

     Dear to her heart

     Dragoo introduced Stephens to Diana Maxam, president of Promed Medical Management. Because the three have businesses dealing with medical issues, there was some talk of the three starting another business that pooled their talents and areas of expertise. That enterprise, however, has yet to come to fruition.

     "I came up with the saying that Sally's the cupcake and we're the icing," she quips.

     Still, Stephens and Maxam have formed a close friendship. "She's been a great mentor to me," Maxam says of Stephens. "She's the type of woman who helps you discover it on your own without you saying it."

     Stephens' best piece of advice? Grow your business and don't allow it to become stale.

     "She saw I had all my eggs in one basket and told me to diversify," Maxam says.

     "It was almost like she could see the potential I couldn't see until I started doing it. She was the woman pushing me out of the nest."

     Though they don't have as much time to pursue mutual recreational interests, Stephens and Maxam have a built-in ability to keep in touch with one another.

     "What made it easier for us to stay in contact," Maxam says, "is we're down the hall from each other." When Maxam went looking for a new home for her business, her real estate agent brought her to the 96th Street building where Stephens coincidentally has her business.

     "I was almost concerned she would be like, 'Why is Diana moving into my space?'" she says. But Maxam liked the building's structure, windows and single level, so she signed a lease.

     Though they work in the same building, Maxam says she rarely see Stephens at work. The two must make time to sit down and talk over a cup of coffee.

     "It's kind of the girls let it out conversations," Maxam says. "We don't have enough time to do anything else together, so we just talk ... As a business owner, sometimes you need girl business owners as friends just to talk."

     Stephens shares her medical and business knowledge not only through NAWBO but also through her affiliations with the Governor's Council on Fitness and Sports, the Indiana State Department of Health Advisory Board, and the Indiana Association of Health Underwriters.

     Making time for recreational pursuits is one area of Stephens' wellness she admits is more challenging to be balance.

     "I like to be engaged in books, conversations and experiences that support my personal and professional growth," Stephens says.

     Her one guilty pleasure is reading. She figures she inherited her father's taste for mysteries and cowboy novels. "Only I've taken it to the 21st century and read about counterespionage and thrillers," the Vince Flynn fan says.

     Though she hasn't been as successful in her personal life as she'd like, Stephens hasn't given up, believing she may find a like-minded man with whom to share her life. That kind of positive thinking is part of what keeps her healthy.

     "I haven't always had this attitude, believe me," she says. "I just know the alternative is not all that fun. I like to look at my experiences from an empowering perspective."

Article appears as published in the IW issue.