CHARLESTON, W.Va. --  Mary Sizemore says she might not be around today if not for a chance discovery while working out last October in City Hall.

Sizemore, a computer operator for the city, was riding a bike in the new fourth-floor fitness center when the monitor showed a heart rate of more than 200 beats a minute.

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Mary Sizemore says a workout in the fitness center last October helped reveal a possibly life-threatening heart condition that she now controls through medication.

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Sizemore went to a specialist who found she had a heart condition called atrial fibrillation. "They said I could have had a stroke." The doctor put her on medication, which she continues to take.

City Manager David Molgaard, who had the fitness center built and equipped last year as part of the city government's wellness program, hadn't heard Sizemore's story until Tuesday when he and some newspaper people stopped by.

"It saved my life," Sizemore told them.

Molgaard said Sizemore's discovery helps justify the nearly $25,000 expense of building the fitness center, because of the hospital bills she may have avoided. "We probably paid for this whole place with this one thing."

The city self-insures its 800 or so employees against health claims, so it pays nearly all bills from doctors, hospitals and drugstores out of the general budget.

"We've been looking at what we can do to impact our health-care dollars," Molgaard said. "It is one of our fastest-increasing expenses."

One solution was to open a city-run clinic, where employees could see a doctor or health practitioner at minimum expense. In addition, all employees in the city health plan had to go through a health risk assessment, with a battery of tests.

Keeping people healthy through a free fitness center seemed to fit in with the overall wellness plan, Molgaard said.

Sizemore, a computer operator for the city, was riding a bike in the new fourth-floor fitness center when the monitor showed a heart rate of more than 200 beats a minute.

"I thought, 'This can't be right,'" she said Tuesday. "It must be the machine." She switched to a treadmill, and got the same readout.

Sizemore went to a specialist who found she had a heart condition called atrial fibrillation. "They said I could have had a stroke." The doctor put her on medication, which she continues to take.

City Manager David Molgaard, who had the fitness center built and equipped last year as part of the city government's wellness program, hadn't heard Sizemore's story until Tuesday when he and some newspaper people stopped by.

"It saved my life," Sizemore told them.

Molgaard said Sizemore's discovery helps justify the nearly $25,000 expense of building the fitness center, because of the hospital bills she may have avoided. "We probably paid for this whole place with this one thing."

The city self-insures its 800 or so employees against health claims, so it pays nearly all bills from doctors, hospitals and drugstores out of the general budget.

"We've been looking at what we can do to impact our health-care dollars," Molgaard said. "It is one of our fastest-increasing expenses."

One solution was to open a city-run clinic, where employees could see a doctor or health practitioner at minimum expense. In addition, all employees in the city health plan had to go through a health risk assessment, with a battery of tests.

Keeping people healthy through a free fitness center seemed to fit in with the overall wellness plan, Molgaard said.

The center has grown slowly, in part as a way to use space in City Hall vacated when the Building Commission moved up Virginia Street to the city service center in the McFarland Street parking garage. It fills three adjoining rooms in the northwest corner of the fourth floor.

"We began the building process in the beginning of the summer," Molgaard said. "We had an employee art show around the time of FestivALL." City employees later installed a special rubberized floor in one space, now dubbed "Beverly's Zumba room" in honor of Zumba enthusiast Bev Page, the mayor's assistant.

Through Page's efforts, Zumba classes meet three or four times a week. "I've lost 35 pounds since October," she said. Another city employee leads yoga sessions at noon each Wednesday.

"And somebody asked about belly dancing up there," Molgaard said. "So the need is there. It's been evolving."

Mayor Danny Jones donated two pieces of exercise equipment he used to keep at his office/garage in Kanawha City. Molgaard bought machines and free weights, a little at a time.

"Initially we bought these two treadmills and that bike, just to see what interest there was," he said. He added an elliptical machine, a cable crossover device and a set of free weights just before Christmas.

Judging by the daily log book, the center seems to be getting plenty of use, although some of that may be attributed to post-holiday guilt.

Twenty-two people signed in on Monday starting with Finance Director Joe Estep, who began his workout at 6 a.m. Another 13 logged in on Tuesday between 6:15 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

Molgaard said the center will be more secure, especially during off hours and weekends, after keyless electronic locks are installed on the center and nearby showers.

"We haven't put out a big notice [to employees], like for people in the Street Department. We'd like them to come over and use it," he said. "It's not just for people in City Hall."

Reach Jim Balow at ba...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5102.