Company History
Truck Stop Events was incorporated in 2005, but the desire to help the truck drivers who were becoming sick and dying because of poor health habits began in my own back yard in January of 2000.
January 1, 1990 - January 2000 -
Terry and I worked for Landstar out of Rockford Ill. We were all ready to go back on the road that year for the start up of the heavy haul season. The truck was in great shape, but my body apparently was not.
In the middle of January, 2000 - I found out what over ten and a half million Americans deal with, when they develop heart or lung problems. I learned in seconds, (the hard way) that at any times you can leave this earth because one of your organs fails to work properly.
The biggest reality check was not the dying part, but the part that a heart attack or stroke can leave you totally disabled and I did not know if I could have handle that.
March 1, 2000-
I began to wonder what I was going to do for work. After getting out of the hospital and knowing that I was going to have trouble with every day activities, we decided to stay home for a while and see if the body could heal itself or will I be on medications the rest of my life. We also started to wondered how this happened to me. I am a non smoker and fairly active. For the rest of that year, I took it easy like so many patients do when they start to worry about their own personal health. On different trips to the hospital, I started to talk to other people who had developed heart and lung problems.This is when I also started to talk to other truck drivers.
The shock of this story was when I found out that out of five of my trucking friends, three had some type of health problem and one died of a heart attack in 1997.
January 2001-
I started my first on site industry questioner about truck drivers health. I began to research anything that I could find out about drivers and their general health condition. There was very little published and I found that no studies were ever done on just over the road drivers.
August to December of 2001-
I started seeing the first figures of a health dilemma developing from the answered forms I was getting back from the drivers. I needed to figure what to do with this information. Just getting the information from one individual study (even if it's specific) does not make it worth much. This information did not help the industrys image. I needed to get companies involved in the study and show them there is a health crisis on the horizon. In 2001 companies were not thinking much about drivers health; they just wanted more seats filled with drivers.
I now needed to make a decision.
Was I going to do anything about it?
January, 2002 - to - December, 2004 -
I worked with different companies to help off set the money I was now spending doing the research on the driver’s health.
Since I knew of no inexpensive way to get into the truck plazas where the drivers were, I went to companies who sold or displayed products at the truck shows or travel plazas and asked to tag along with their sales people and help work their booth in exchange for my time asking health questions. It worked well for both of us. I helped sell motor oil to hand cream, and soon had enough information and funding to get the printing and literature I needed out.
January 1, 1990 - January 2000 -
Terry and I worked for Landstar out of Rockford Ill. We were all ready to go back on the road that year for the start up of the heavy haul season. The truck was in great shape, but my body apparently was not.
In the middle of January, 2000 - I found out what over ten and a half million Americans deal with, when they develop heart or lung problems. I learned in seconds, (the hard way) that at any times you can leave this earth because one of your organs fails to work properly.
The biggest reality check was not the dying part, but the part that a heart attack or stroke can leave you totally disabled and I did not know if I could have handle that.
March 1, 2000-
I began to wonder what I was going to do for work. After getting out of the hospital and knowing that I was going to have trouble with every day activities, we decided to stay home for a while and see if the body could heal itself or will I be on medications the rest of my life. We also started to wondered how this happened to me. I am a non smoker and fairly active. For the rest of that year, I took it easy like so many patients do when they start to worry about their own personal health. On different trips to the hospital, I started to talk to other people who had developed heart and lung problems.This is when I also started to talk to other truck drivers.
The shock of this story was when I found out that out of five of my trucking friends, three had some type of health problem and one died of a heart attack in 1997.
January 2001-
I started my first on site industry questioner about truck drivers health. I began to research anything that I could find out about drivers and their general health condition. There was very little published and I found that no studies were ever done on just over the road drivers.
August to December of 2001-
I started seeing the first figures of a health dilemma developing from the answered forms I was getting back from the drivers. I needed to figure what to do with this information. Just getting the information from one individual study (even if it's specific) does not make it worth much. This information did not help the industrys image. I needed to get companies involved in the study and show them there is a health crisis on the horizon. In 2001 companies were not thinking much about drivers health; they just wanted more seats filled with drivers.
I now needed to make a decision.
Was I going to do anything about it?
January, 2002 - to - December, 2004 -
I worked with different companies to help off set the money I was now spending doing the research on the driver’s health.
Since I knew of no inexpensive way to get into the truck plazas where the drivers were, I went to companies who sold or displayed products at the truck shows or travel plazas and asked to tag along with their sales people and help work their booth in exchange for my time asking health questions. It worked well for both of us. I helped sell motor oil to hand cream, and soon had enough information and funding to get the printing and literature I needed out.
After seeing the results of the second questioner about driver’s health, I began to call for help in the advertising industry of the trucking community. Again it was not a subject they believed in enough to offer a free space to inform the drivers about their failing health. No real data was ever collected on drivers to reflect the health dilemma. I became a one man on a mission, and if it was to get done, I needed to do it myself.
Truck Stop Events had about fifty names and that many failures. All I got for an answer from most companies was where does it help our companies recruiting efforts or will it help sell our products?
The consequence of poor driver’s health was still on the horizon.
Truck Stop Events had about fifty names and that many failures. All I got for an answer from most companies was where does it help our companies recruiting efforts or will it help sell our products?
The consequence of poor driver’s health was still on the horizon.