Yo DaVita !

Well it has been a rough ending to my little jaunt around the world.  The plane had a mechanical issue, leading to 4 hours on/at the tarmac/airport.  This meant a missed connection.  So I spent the night at a hotel in Turkey, where virtually no one spoke any English.  Not such a big deal, I have done a lot of that – and given I did not get there until 9 pm there was no need for a lot of interaction.  I am now on a plane the next morning, heading to Zurich.  Unfortunately I will have missed both my meetings, and will need to figure out how to make that up.  The long delays and extra flight also push up the average air/airport travel time to 8 hours a day for my week of glamorous international travel.

I had salmon and veggies for dinner, 1.0 servings of veggies.  Also a healthy salad, for a .5 score.  I scored what I think is my 5^th straight day without dessert.  And I had the snack of an orange during the afternoon, so that is another 1.0.  

The fitness center at the Turkish hotel was shut down, so I swam some laps in the pool.  I had it to myself this fine Sunday morning.  I would estimate 20 minutes of swimming, and that was it.  My breakfast was 1.0 serving of high fiber cereal, and my lunch was 1.5 servings of fruit and .5 serving of veggies to go with a small steak.

The good news about the flight delay is that I got a lot of work done.  a lot.  Saturday work did not start until 10 am, but it continued until 10:30 pm, with breaks only for food and when I had to walk somewhere at the airport.  Today I will get in 4 hours of work on my two plane flights today, and then only do about 30 minutes more on the phone to catch up with my assistants in the States.  The rest will be wonderful down time with Denise!

Once again it was striking how the DaVita reputation you all have built is positive throughout much of the dialysis world.  The companies and physicians we met with almost invariably either knew about us, or had done their homework – and in either case view us as an ethical successful company with outstanding clinical outcomes and a focus on partnering with physicians.

As I prepare to take most of Monday thru Friday off (although my wife says that since I worked all day last Saturday and Sunday, and worked all this Saturday, and will work all of this coming Saturday as we fly back to the States … she says she may not count it as 5 days of vacation), it makes me think and hope that each of you is taking your vacation time.  One Cannot Pour from an Empty Cup.  You cannot give what you do not have.  Many of us derive a lot of sustenance because our work leads to good things for human beings and the world – but we still must also give our bodies and spirits some downtime.  AND the gift of exercise and healthy eating.

On behalf of your patients, thank you for your good and hard work, and your good spirits.

One for All

KT

Greetings to the Good People of DaVita, from India

Well it is mid-day on Saturday, and I am in the last 24 hours of this business trip.  I left home mid-day last Sunday, and will meet my wife in Zurich, Switzerland tomorrow morning, Sunday morning, after I interview a potential executive.  Then we will fly to Italy to meet two old friends/couples for 6 days.

The trip has been quite intense.  In those 7 days we will have hit 5 cities in 3 countries, and traveled around much of the globe.  The total number of hours on a plane will be 35, for an average of 5 hours a day.  Once you add in the time to and from each airport and in the airports you get to about 50 hours of air travel related time, or just over 7 hours a day.  We worked virtually every waking minute, including every airport transfer and evening, except for last night where I stopped working at 9:30 pm and took 1,5 glorious hours off before going to bed, AND except the exercise I got every day except Wednesday, when we took off too early and landed too late.

Sooooo…. Thursday started with a workout then meetings all day back to back.  Then off to the airport we went, arriving in the hotel about midnight.  I have to admit I did not work all 6 hours of the flight, my body started to crash a bit after eating dinner and I closed my eyes for an hour.  I never really slept, I could always hear things around me, but it was restful.  

Friday morning started with a workout, 25 minutes on the bike, 2 sets of push-ups (40 and 20), 80 crunches and a little stretching, for a total of 33 minutes.  ½ serving of fruit, ½ serving of high fiber cereal.  Lunch was another 9 course marathon with the CEO of an Indian healthcare service company, with ½ serving of veggies in the midst of the marathon, and with ½ serving of fruit to wrap it up.  Our negotiations went until the late afternoon, followed by the trek back to the airport for a domestic flight to another city.  This time we actually got to the hotel by about 7:00 pm, which allowed me to work for 2 hours including some live calls to the States, and then my glorious 1.5 hours of no work!  Dinner, however, was not healthy, a cheeseburger with some (but not all!) of the fries.

I then slept for an amazing 9 hours, which my body evidently needed after the much sleep deprived/distorted last 5 nights.  I got up and did 20 minutes on the bike, 40 push-ups, 100 crunches, and some stretching.  Total of 28 minutes.  Breakfast had ½ serving of high fiber cereal, and ½ serving of fruit.  Off to a meeting we went, which like most trips in urban India take a full hour to get to, because of old and narrow roads and intense traffic, both human and vehicular.

This negotiation was also constructive.  The DaVita team did a debrief and some broader international planning after, and then another hour drive to the airport.  Which brings me to my current spot on the plane.  I will have one connection on the way to Zurich.

I am hoping I can get GREAT exercise on my days off, and eat reasonably well – difficult to do in Italy because the food is awesome, and the dinners are long.  One of the couples we are meeting lives in Poland, so we don’t get to see them often, and it will be good to catch up with them and their kids.

I hope you are all well.  I hope you are all feeling the strength of our team of over 2000, banded together in pursuit of healthier lives.  I need to get back to picturing that team as I am deciding how long to workout, and what to eat!  Take care fellow citizens of the DaVita and MTM communities!

One for All

KT

Yo DaVita Village,

Well I am back on a plane, for the 6 hour flight from Beijing to India.  We raced from meeting to meeting today like every day in the brutal Beijing traffic, and had several good ones, including several hours of discussing potential center opportunities, and one with a former government official.  It is fun to experience how many organizations are interested in doing stuff with us, because of the size and reputation you have built!

On the three big dimensions, exercise, healthy food, and weight …. On exercise I am barely holding my own on the flight.  On healthy food I am doing solidly.  On weight I am doing poorly.  On to the detail!

Exercise:      Yesterday(Wednesday) was a big zero.  You can’t go for a run in downtown Beijing, and we left too early for the airport to use the health club in the morning (it did not open until 6 am, and we had to be in the car at 7) and closed too early to use it in the evening(it closed at 10 pm).  Today was better but not great, I got in 20 minutes on the bike, 2 sets of push-ups (40 and 20), and 90 crunches with a little stretching.  Total of 29 minutes.

Healthy Food:         Wednesday breakfast had 1 serving of fruit and .5 serving of all bran cereal.  Lunch had .5 serving of veggies, as well as fish, chicken and beef.  Dinner was mainly chicken and rice, so no points.  Today’s breakfast had 1 serving of fruit and 1 serving of all bran cereal.  Lunch had .5 serving of vegetables, as well as fish.  I don’t know about dinner yet.

Weight:         Given the light workout schedule and business meals, I am in trouble!  These formal Chinese lunches are daunting.  The Wednesday lunch was 12 courses, today’s was 10.  Even though the portions are small, that really adds up.  And in neither case do you get to order what you might want, so if they don’t serve many veggies, so be it that is it.  I am also eating bigger dinners than I need to, partly as a way of just doing something pleasant outside of working every minute.  I can feel my stomach growing each day!

I am glad that I insisted that today’s and tomorrow’s schedule start late enough so I can get a workout in.  This morning I messed up by sitting down “just to do a few emails” before I went to the gym.  Before I knew it I had been working 45 minutes, which is why I had to get by with the modest workout described above.

It was interesting to see another Chinese dialysis center yesterday.  Very modern, clean, organized.  They were using beds instead of chairs, as is the case in many countries.  The physicians are employed by the provider, and are there in the center/on the floor all day every day.  Most interesting.  The government reimbursement ranges from $30 to $45 per treatment.  There is very little private insurance in the country.

Enough about me – I am sorry I have not responded to teammate posts for a bit, but I have been working every minute of every day for a bit now.  I think I will take a break at some point in this 6 hour flight to respond to some, that will be nice for me.  I always get good energy when I read them, and this should help me get up in time for a good workout tomorrow – unfortunately we will not get to the hotel until about 11:30 pm, so it will be a little dicey if I have to spend too much time on the phone with people in America.  Perhaps I will be able to do all my necessary calls on the drive in from the airport to the hotel.

I hope you all are doing better than me this week!  I won’t be able to weight myself until I am back home.

Thanks to the many of you who were great citizens, teammates and caregivers today, living The DaVita Way … which for so many of you is also your Personal Way.

One for all

KT

(Begin with the End in Mind)

NeiHau (neehow)

I don’t know how to spell it, but that is how to say hello in Chinese.  Mandarin Chinese that is, the most common dialect.

I hope all 2000 of you fellow citizens of the campaign are well – it has been a bit hectic on this end.  I am glad to say that the last thing I did before leaving home for the airport on Sunday mid-day was to get a modest workout in.  The first thing I did when I got to the hotel 18 hours later without any sleep was to get a modest workout in.  Then I had a 2 hour business dinner, went to bed for 7 hours, and got up and got a modest workout in.  So I am doing my best to prioritize my workouts!  (the pre-dinner workout was about 26 minutes total, the pre-breakfast workout was only 22, 16 on bike then 40 push-ups then 70 crunches and some quad stretching).

Given that Sunday mid-day departure was preceded by a Friday night DaVita event where we welcomed the Kidney Rock Stars from around the Village, the Saturday day event of the Kidney 5k Run/Walk that consumed from 8 am to 2 pm (the last 2 hours were business meetings we snuck in with some of the participants, since we were together in person for the first time in awhile), and the Saturday night event that started at 6 pm and went until 11:30 pm …. it does feel like I have been a moving target.  Lucky I get to work with people like you and love my job.

With the 18 hours of travel from door to door, my poor assistants woke up to find 156 emails in their queue from the flight.  That was the bad news.  The good news is with me here I do not create as much work as when I am in the States, so they will have a few days to work the list through.

I had 2.0 servings of broccoli at dinner last night after I landed, and 2.0 servings of fruit (one before dinner and one after)  Along with chicken as the main course, so pretty healthy.  And no dessert – so that makes 2 nights in a row without dessert, after the Saturday Night Ice Cream Masacre.

This morning I had some granola for breakfast, they did not have shredded wheat.  I will count that as ½ a serving – because although high in fiber this granola had sugar.  I also had ½ a serving of fruit with breakfast.  Lunch was a cheeseburger, we were on the run with no time for anything but fast food.  Dinner was a healthy soup appetizer and a fish dinner, but it did not really come with enough vegetables to count as more than ½ a serving.

We had 3 different meetings with government officials today, 1 national and 2 regional.  A lot of the healthcare decision making here in China is regional.  We also met with the CEO of one of the most respected hospitals, and had 2 meetings with private equity firms.  We then did a business dinner, and the day that started with an 8 am meeting will soon end, at 10 pm, after I do a couple calls.  Tomorrow we leave for the airport at 7 am, to fly to a nearby city to meet with a company. 

I hope all of you are achieving the activity and/or outcome goals you set – it would be a beautiful thing if all 2000+ of us finished strongly!

One for All ….. KT

Greetings from Beijing!

This will be a short note, as I have been up for 24 hours straight, and need to get to bed fast if I am going to be able to get up and workout before tomorrow’s business breakfast. 

It will get a little tricky to track things, since we are 14 hours ahead of Denver here – so I left Colorado on Sunday afternoon, but did not land here until Monday evening.  Anyway I had another serving of veggies on the second flight, another 1.0, with my second dose of salmon. 

I got to the hotel after 15 hours of travel – most of that on two plane flights, where I got a stunning amount of work done.  15 hours, no interruptions except occasional eating and going to the bathroom, and so I just kept going and going.  No sleep for this boy.

I landed in China when it was about 5 am Denver time, so at that point I had been up 21 hours.  It took about 75 minutes to get thru customs and to the hotel.  I told the DaVita team to go ahead and start dinner without me, I had to get a little workout in.  I did 20 minutes on the bike, 40 push-ups, and some stretching.   Then I joined the team for the last part of their dinner, where I had 1.5 servings of broccoli.

My eyes are closing and I am making lots of typing mistakes because of the little micro-sleeps.

I hope you are all well!    KT

Yo DaVita !!

What a glorious day!  1100 people running/walking in the First Nationwide DaVita Kidney Rock 5k Run/Walk.   100 citizens from across the Village, probably 25 different states … as well as hundreds of local teammates and their families, and hundreds of local Denver citizens.

We raised about HALF A MILLION DOLLARS for our Bridges of Life Medical Missions, where we bring kidney care to parts of the world where people otherwise mostly die.  AND we did free kidney screenings for 467 of those people, and over 40 of them were told that the results mean they should start consulting with their doctors as a way of preventing early stage kidney disease from progressing much further.

But wait, I must go back to yesterday.  I had 1.5 servings of fruit on the plane back to Colorado.  I had one serving of healthy black beans at dinner, so only 2.5 on the day.  And I had way too big a dinner, with both some chicken and some steak.

This morning I had my shredded wheat, then ran the 3.2 miles with the crowd (let’s call it 27 minutes), then had a big apple .  For lunch I had chicken and a salad, so I am at 3.0 servings as I head off for the DaVita Block Party with our 100 “Rock Stars” from across the Village as well as several hundred Colorado teammates and friends of DaVita.  Tonight is about thanking the Rock Stars for making the trip, and thanking the many local sponsors who contributed half of that $500,000.

I also got a couple hours of work in, which I am wrapping up this second so I can shower and get to the evening event.  Tomorrow am will be busy, as I must exercise and pack for my trip to China at mid-day.

I hope all of you are hitting your goals today!

One for All & All for One!

KT

Yo DaVita Village!

It is Friday mid-morning, I am on a plane flying back to Colorado.

Yesterday’s speech on The DaVita Story – how to build a sustainably Mission & Value driven enterprise – went great!  Turns out there were 100 senior hospital execs from around the country, not 40 as I predicted yesterday.  Some of them were partners of ours, and came up to tell me we were doing good stuff with them.  The talk and the discussion went well – you should be so proud that all of these other major healthcare systems are interested in what we do, and what we are trying to do.  So cool!

The lunch at the event was wonderfully healthy.  Sea bass, zucchini, and faro with some veggies mixed in (faro is some kind of healthy wheat or wheat-like high fiber thing).  So 2.0 servings at lunch.  I then had conference calls and meetings the rest of the day, but I got to stop desk work early for another hour long bike ride, starting at 5:30.  It was with Misha again, and we got some good business done on the first half of the ride and for 30 minutes after the ride.  The 60 minutes of riding included 29:22 on that tough hill, with 1300 feet of vertical in 1.9 miles.  Once again I had a disappointing time, for some reasons my legs/energy are kind of dead this week.

For dinner I had pork tenderloin, which is nice and healthy.  Also some fiber and zucchini like veggies, I did not ask the waiter what kind they were.  Day #7 without a dessert, that is the longest stretch in a long time for this boy.  I would just count 1.0 servings for dinner, however, the fiber/veggie portions were small.

Today I did my workout first thing, 22 minutes on the inside bike, the “Hill” program – where once again my legs were not as strong as usual on the steepest section.  I also did 38 push-ups, 100 crunches, and some stretching.  Total of 28 minutes, solid intensity.

For breakfast I had an omelet, with sweet corn, ham and cheese.  So zero health points for that.  but it sure tasted good.

Once I land I will do a call in the car to the Casa Nueva (our home office) and then meetings until 6:30.  Then I am off to the Shining Star dinner, to welcome all the DVA citizens who have flown in to represent their regions in tomorrow’s first Nationwide DaVita Kidney Rock 5k run/walk.  I am psyched!  There will be a TV station reporting live, the Mayor of Denver will be there to speak, and it should be a great fundraising and spirit raising event!

I hope you each met your goals this week, and are proceeding down The Happy Trails.  The weekends are great time to focus and savor your emerging improving health – and I  am nervous about hitting my weight goal.  Remember, there are 2000 teammates right behind you, cheering you on and applauding your effort!!!  The Village Lives, when individuals decide to make it so.

Ride On!    KT     Your Mayor

(Most people go to their graves with their music still inside.  (old Indian proverb)

Yo DaVitans!

It is a beautiful Thursday morning here in California.  I hope you are all well, and living the new life you set out to when we started MTM, whether that was with a small change or big change is not important …. That you set out to change and did is what is important.  The longest journey begins with but a single step.

Let’s see, yesterday I got up, worked for an hour or so, then did a quick workout.  20 min on bike (I listen to DaVita voicemail while on the bike, so it is double efficient time, even though after the first 6-7 minutes I can no longer respond since I am breathing too hard, but I can still listen and respond later), 40 push-ups, and some stretching/shoulder injury rehab stuff.  Total of only 27 minutes.  BUT while in the shower I remembered I was not supposed to workout at my regular morning time, because I had a pre-dinner bike ride booked for later that day.  Yikes.  Oh well, the good news is I would get a double workout day, especially given the first one was not much.

Anyway, I had my shredded wheat bkfast.  Then I was off to the airport, with a conference call on the drive.  I worked the entire flight with a couple other DaVita people(one standing, but he is a young man and can handle that burden).  We landed, I did a conference call on the car ride to the Casa Norte our San Francisco office.  Once I arrived I had skinless chicken and green beans (1.5 servings of beans) – and I had a bowl of mixed berries, another 1.5 servings.

We did the final couple hours of prep for our quarterly earnings report to shareholders, which is always intense.  Then we did the actual live report, first we present for 15-20 minutes, then they ask questions for 45-60 minutes.  It went fine, and we performed solidly.  We are the only public company we know of that starts each earnings call with a report on our clinical outcomes, not financial.

Then I had a couple more meetings in the office.  I did a conference call on the drive to our old California home, which we have kept so far since my wife would only agree to move to Colorado if we kept it (yikes again, but a deal is a deal).  Once home I did a meeting until 6:15 pm, then went on a one hour bike ride which includes an intense 29 minute climb up a 1300 foot, 1.9 mile hill.  I did this with Misha Palacek, one of our Group Vice President’s, so we could talk business the whole ride except for the last 15 minutes of the hill.

At 7:30 I raced through a shower to join my wife and daughter for dinner, it is not often I am in California and get to see my daughter so that was special and fun and I actually took the rest of the night off!  I had 2 servings of fresh broccoli at dinner, along with the pork tenderloin so it was a strong eating day.   AND it was Day #5 without a dessert.

Today my first conference call was at 7 am, prior to which I had my shredded wheat bkfast.  I have back to back meetings all day except for one hour to try to catch up on stuff.  I am also giving a speech about The DaVita Story to 40 senior executives from 40 of the largest hospital systems in America, which IS A VERY COOL TRIBUTE TO THE COOL STUFF THAT YOU GUYS DO.

They are curious about how you have created such a mission and values driven environment in such a high percentage of our local teams.  With great clinical outcomes and high productivity/stewardship.  So please savor the compliment of organizations like that wanting to learn about … us!  We are far from perfect, of course, but we are special in so many ways in so many places – where people have decided to make the Village concept come alive.  Where we care for each other with the same intensity with which we care for our patients.  And we strive to care for the world in the same way.  A community first, and a company second.

My exercise is scheduled for 5:30 pm today, once again with Misha so we can discuss business while we workout.  I hope to beat the time up the hill, I was disappointed yesterday.  After that it will be another easy night, as we have dinner with friends we have not seen for a long time.  2 non-work nights in a row!  Tomorrow I fly back to Colorado, I hope to see some of you as Shining Stars for the first Nationwide DaVita Kidney Rock Event in Denver.

I only got to weigh myself once in Denver, since I have only been there one morning over the last 2 weeks.  I have found any one day can be misleading.  But the number was 191, which suggests I may have dropped a little bit of weight so far.  I will keep you posted.

As I hope you are keeping your friends posted on your progress.  Remember, there are 2000 friends cheering you on!  When I was tempted to have the ice cream they were serving last night at dinner, I just pictured the 2000 of you surrounding me in bleacher seats yelling in unison “KT, don’t do it”.  And I didn’t.  THANKS FOR HELPING ME !!!!

One for All

KT

(“Tis better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure … then to take ranks with those who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, for they live in that gray twilight that knows not victory or defeat”  from Teddy Roosevelt .. and DaVita will never live in that gray twilight while this little midwestern boy is Mayor)

Greetings to the Good People of DaVita

Over 2000 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, that is how many teammates we have banding together to help each of us improve our health, as part of our DaVita Village Vitality program.  Sweet …….

Quick blurb before I head down for my morning workout ….

I landed in Denver in the mid-afternoon, after a very productive flight in which I got a few hundred emails done.  After a bumpy landing in some storms, I did a conference call as I raced to the office.  I had the meeting with school district leaders, then a Town Hall with a GREAT class of directors and managers from around the Village, then a session with our summer hires, then a prep meeting for our quarterly earnings call today.  All of that ended about 7:40 pm, I worked with my assistants until about 8 and then headed home, getting some good voicemail done on the ride home. 

Denise made a wonderfully healthy dinner of light cannelloni and sautéed spinach, so one more serving of produce during the day – she made a small batch, so it was only 1.0 servings.  

I did a little work after dinner, we did some discussing of some house issues, I called my daughter, and then we went to bed at 11 pm. 

I hope all 2000 of you had a strong day, where you did that ONE MORE THING to lead a healthier life.  Rock On DaVita.

This morning I fly back to California for a bunch of meetings and a speech in San Francisco.  Life’s Rich Pageant.

One for All,   KT, Your Mayor

(A ship in the harbor is safe … but that is not what ships were built for)

Greetings to the Good People of DaVita,

It is Monday late afternoon, I am on a plane to Los Angeles.  Tonight is an important business dinner, followed up by a 7:15 am session with same group tomorrow am, then I fly back to Denver (only to fly back to California on Wednesday, then back to Denver on Friday, life’s rich pageant).

The last 24 hours have been pretty solid.  Last night at dinner I did order a steak, to celebrate the 3.5 hours of brutal biking that day.  But I did have 2 servings of vegetables, namely a side order of asparagus, and a side order of brussel sprouts.  I also had a salad, so 2.5 healthy servings for that meal.   And day #3 without a dessert, and I was really craving one last night!  Went to bed at 10:15 instead.

Given my friend was visiting from out-of-state I took the morning off.  I had a half apple for breakfast, so .5 serving there.   We did a 45 minute solid mountain bike ride, with about 700 feet of vertical (vertical is much tougher on a mountain bike than a road bike), followed by a 1.5 hour hike up to a lake, which required about another 800 feet of ascent.

I must admit I rewarded myself with a wonderful cheeseburger for lunch!  But I did have a vegetable soup before the burger, and a salad after.  So 1.5 more healthy servings, to go with the unhealthy but awesome burger (no fries).

As soon as I get a quiet night I look forward to responding to some of the messages from our team of 1800 from across the nation.  Until then I hope you are hitting your goal!  If you are not, please step back – do you want to change it?  or do you want to re-commit?  Do you want to partner with someone else who is writing in?  These are important life questions, and only you can answer for you. 

Tomorrow once I am back in Denver I get to do a Town Hall with a group of FA’s who are in for DaVita University.  I love doing those.

One for all

KT