An Olympics-themed Employee Day recently capped off a 12-week focus on employee health and fitness and provided the spark that changed the culture of a local bank and may have even saved the lives of some of its employees.

More than 50 percent of Farmers Bank’s employees — 56 employees, altogether — took part in one or both of two health- and fitness-related events developed by a couple of bank employees, Jessica Slaba and Kathy Bryant. The pair put together a “Biggest Loser” competition and a “Biggest Mover” campaign.

In the Biggest Loser competition, employees got together in teams of three, and those teams competed to lose a percentage of their body weight. The second event was designed for those who might not be so interested in losing weight but who wanted to compete anyway. Employees were challenged to walk the number of steps — 220,000 — that would be required to walk from branch to branch.

One team, the Blister Sisters, was dedicated to both events. Annette Bradshaw, Debbie Stacy and Terre Rowland work side by side in Farmers Bank’s call center, so they spend much of their day sitting, but they rose to the challenge for the fitness campaigns, spending most of their lunch hours walking the circle behind the Hillpoint office. They lost 76 pounds as a team. Bradshaw was the overall Biggest Loser, losing a total of 44 pounds. Companywide, participants lost a total of 566 pounds.

Of the 27 people who participated in the Biggest Mover campaign, 21 completed more than the 220,000 steps required to walk between all the branches. The competition was stiff, with the top three participants each walking more than 1 million steps in 12 weeks.

Bill Bailey and Andrea Curry took third and second places, walking 1.1 and 1.2 million steps, respectively, and Susie Williamson took the top spot, walking 1,383,271 steps.

The bank also partnered with the YMCA, giving employees discounted memberships to encourage continued fitness and healthy living and presented a check for $566.50 — one dollar for each pound lost — to the Foodbank of Mount Carmel Christian Church. The donation will supply the pantry with a month’s worth of food.

The initial campaign wrapped up with an Olympics-themed Employee Day, where there was an emphasis on exercise and healthy living.

Bon Secours was brought in for voluntary employee health screenings, and one Suffolk employee was found to be dangerously close to having a heart attack as a result of the screenings, according to bank officials.

The employee went to the doctor and immediately began receiving lifesaving treatment.

Company officials said the campaigns have created a culture that emphasizes the importance of exercise, good eating habits and healthy living and have resulted in employees talking about being healthier, keeping the weight off and even extending the competition 12 more weeks.