Yo to the World Team Health group in DaVitaLand!

Yesterday’s all day back to back meetings covered things like Healthcare Reform, marketing, DaVita National Quality meeting, public policy progress, etc.  I ultimately left the office at the unusually early time of 6:30 to take 3 of our high potential Directors out to dinner.

At dinner they got to ask any questions of me, and provide advice on any topic, particularly those where they think we need to change something at DaVita to continue to improve.  I then asked for any recent highlight events or experiences in their last 12 months at the Village.  It was a great dinner, and I did not over-eat!  I did work voicemail on the drive home, where I arrived at about 8:45 pm. 

This morning I got 24 solid minutes on the bike in, one set of curls (20×17), and 3 minutes of stretching.  Total minutes of 29.  But the good news is my weight was down another pound, to 186, within 2 pounds of my goal.

More importantly, I am taking some days off over the next week, and I do not have much work scheduled for the weekends, so I should get in some GREAT exercise and rack up a lot of minutes!!

I am a bit sensitive to the fact that I am taking several days off during MTM V – I would not want DaVita citizens to get the wrong impression – I only took 1.5 days off in the first 5 months of the year, and our recent process for negotiating the recently announced acquisition of Healthcare partners meant we were hustling 7 days a week for about 7-8 weeks, and so I am grabbing some time off during this period to try to get healthier and get more family and reflection time.

I hope you are enjoying your participation in Team Health!  3600 partners in health …. Take care ..  kt

Yo DaVita!

Yesterday back to back all day and with DVA teammates until 10 pm, hence no journal entry, sorry!  Yesterday did 25 solid minutes on the bike, 100 crunches, and 6 minutes of stretching, for a total of 34 minutes.

This am,  I did 45 minutes of email starting at 6:30 then 25 strong minutes on the bike but only 2 minutes of stretching.  I am hustling to get downtown for meetings until 7 pm tonight. I don’t know if I have biz dinner or not.

Hope you are well!   I have stopped eating desserts!  

KT

Yo DaVita,

It is Tuesday night.  I started my day with emails from 6:45 until 7:30, then got 26 good minutes in on the lifecycle, one set of curls (17×20), one set of push-ups (40), and 4 minutes of stretching.  Total minutes = 33 minutes.  My weight is still 187, so I have my work cut out for me.

Then I headed into the office for a day of meetings, back to back to back like every other day.  We had meetings on relative competitive growth, clinical quality, private pay patients, an international update, etc.  The meetings ended at 7 pm and I headed home.

I hope you all had a good, and healthy, day!!!!

Ciao!    kt

Yo DaVita!

I am back on the grid, and hoping that you all had healthy weekends.  I got home a few hours ago, after 4 GLORIOUS days of mountain biking and camping in the mountains outside Moab, Utah.

This will be a long one, so get ready or skip out now.  I will have to check with some of my co-riders to make sure I have the numbers right:

            Thursday, did final emails and calls until 8:30 am, then left hotel for one hour drive to launch site  —  one medium intensity 75 minutes before an early lunch, then 90 minutes of steady climbing to the campsite after lunch, I had to get off the bike several times to walk.   Then pitched tents and got camp ready, followed by another 75 minutes of  intense riding — so it was a strong starting day, in 85 degree temperatures, with a lot of net vertical gain and ending at 8000 feet of altitude, somewhere in that range.  Pre-dinner conversation about how to make our Village concept become more real for more teammates.  We generated some good ideas that I will be bringing back to the rest of the senior team.  One of them is similar to the Make-A-Wish Foundation that McD’s or someone has – more to follow on that.  Great night singing songs around the campfire.

            Friday, waited for new arrivals (my son and 4 close friends), therefore did not break camp until about 10:00 am.  Brutal opening ride on long, sun-baked gravel road, but then switched to some exciting and beautiful wooded trails.  Total riding = 4.5 hours, ending at a campsite on a lake.  The water was cold, but felt great.  I did 50 push-ups, (after 44 the day before) but one of the other DaVitans told me I was hanging my head too low, so the number is probably misleading.  The pre-dinner conversation was about leadership and what, if anything, each of us most wanted to change in our personal or professional lives.  It was so good it went thru all of dinner as well – which is easy because we were all just sitting in small camp chairs around a campfire.

            Saturday also started with a tough gravel road climb, about 90 minutes.  Pre-lunch we did a DaVita business idea conversation, each person throwing out an idea around where they thought we could most improve the business performance of DaVita.  After lunch most of the DaVita teammates left to ride one direction to meet a van to go to the airport to head home.  I stayed with my son and his friends and one of the fellow DaVitans (don’t worry, I paid for the boys expenses, starting from the moment they arrived).  The rest of us did a challenging hike up to 11,700 feet, Burro Pass I think it was called.  Took 2.5 hours, was worth it as the views were spectacular and the lake we arrived at was small and pretty.   After pitching camp three of us went out for another 75 minutes of single-track riding, I fell twice and so was feeling a bit banged up.  Pre-dinner and dinner conversation was about what each of us was most proud of, professionally and personally, in the last 12 months of our life.  It was a very thought-provoking conversation.

            Sunday am it was hard to get out of the tent.  The other riders ranged from 24 to 36 years old (before most of the DaVita folks left, the age of riders who rode all the miles ranged up to 42), so this 56 year old body was beginning to protest.  But off we went for a total of 3 hours, with me falling twice on the downhill single track which was quite hard for me.  Fortunately no serious injury.  And we did also have someone older, Mark Mazak of the Village, who rode a lot of the miles and contributed perfect guitar playing and lead-singing in the evenings.

            Separate from this fact-filled summary, it was GLORIOUS.  Beautiful views, 24 hours a day of fresh air, serious business and life discussions with DaVita citizens and then my son and friends, lots of thinking/reflecting time … plus we saw 6 big Buck Elks moving majestically through the forest, on top of many deer bounding in that graceful powerful way they do.  Plus many hours of very intense exercise.  Pretty special.

            Now I am home.  I will adjust my goals to take into account the fact that taking 2 vacation days allowed me to super-invest in my exercise – but at the same time I do want to get some park-visiting credit for having done it!

            I hope all of you are doing well.  There are over 3600 of us now, joining hands across America and the World to help each other pursue incremental improvements to the health of our lives.  

Take care …. Your Mayor, KT

Greetings to the Good People of DaVita.

It is Wednesday evening, and I am happy to provide a quick update before I leave the grid for 4 glorious days of mountain biking and camping.

Last night my meetings went until 7:30, at which point I did a dinner with a member of our Board of Directors, Paul Diaz.  That went until about 10:00 pm.  I hustled back to the hotel and did an hour of calls, then back to Paul’s hotel to watch the last 8 minutes of the NBA Finals game.  Then I returned to my hotel, worked for an hour, and turned the lights off at 1 am.

I got up at 6 am, and foolishly sat down at the computer to do a quick email.  20 minutes later I was late for my workout, so I raced down to the gym and only got 22 average minutes in on the lifecycle and 3 minutes of stretching.

Then I was off to a breakfast with Senator Mitch McConnell from Kentucky, the Republican Leader of the Senate.  Good session.  Then it was off to the Casa Blanca (the name of our DC office) for a meeting, then the Voice of the Village call, I hope some of you were on it.   

Then I zoomed to the airport to catch a plane to Michigan.  I did work the entire flight which is what I always do, and landed and did a meeting at the airport with John Nehra, another DaVita Board member.   (by the way, I noticed a lot of you are visiting Wisconsin’s Peninsula State Park this week!  I love that park, I camped in it as a child!!) 

3 hours later I am ready to get on a plane to fly to Utah, where I will start my mountain biking adventure early tomorrow morning, and therefore will not be sending any MTM blurbs out.  I will get 3 hours of good work done, including a couple Professional Development Reviews, on the plane, then have a late dinner once I land and clear out some voicemail. 

Speaking of eating, I thought I might share that I made a vow about 10 years ago to have either fish or chicken with 2 servings of vegetables and a little fruit for a chaser, every day for lunch.  I do this about 90% of all weekdays, and it is really helped my overall totals of vegetable and fruit servings per day, and no doubt my health.  This also helps make up for my not-so-virtuous dinners!

I hope you guys are cruising to a new park today!    all the best, kt

Yo DaVitans!

I hope you are having a good start to the week!  Mine has been a tad rough – because of some family issues I did not get to bed until 1 am on Sunday night.  Therefore I decided not to get up at 4:45 as I had intended, in order to workout, instead grabbing an extra 45 min of sleep.  I flew to Denver and had a day filled with meetings – I left the office about 8:15 pm and had a business dinner.  By the time the business dinner was done, my call to my wife in California and some email, it was once again 1 am before it was lights out. 

This time I did still get up and do a little workout at 6 am.   I got 26 good minutes on the bike, 4 minutes of stretching, and 1 set of curls (18×20), for a total of 32 minutes.

After a couple conference calls I hustled off to the airport to fly to DC.  I will do a scheduled call during the drive from the airport to the city, as usual, followed by a conference call, followed by a dinner with a US Senator who we are trying to get more interested in kidney care policies, followed by a meeting with a member of the Board of Directors.  Then I will do some emails and hopefully get in bed in time to get 6-7 hours before a morning workout tomorrow.

On top of the low sleep and exercise in the last 48 hours, I was bummed to see that I had put a couple pounds back on with all the graduation weekend activities et al.  Yikes!

So a bit of a rough stretch for 2-3 days, but this is where the power of MTM kicks in – today I pictured the 3500 partners and it helped me drag myself out of bed, and the workout felt glorious once I got going.  Today I will watch my eating and get some sleep, and by tomorrow I should be back on track with so many of you.

I hope you are enjoying some new parks!

One for All & All for One …… kt

Good Morning DaVita Village!

I hope you all had a happy and healthy weekend.  As I mentioned it was a special one for us as our daughter graduated from college.  The graduation ceremony yesterday was thought provoking and emotional.  Corey Booker, the Mayor of Newark was the Commencement Speaker, and he did a strong job.

We had to leave the house at 8:15, however, and I was not up for getting up early two weekend mornings in a row.  This turned out to be a mistake, as we did not leave campus until about 3 pm and we had family and close friends coming over at 5:00.  But I did get permission to squeeze in a strong 30 minutes on the lifecycle and a few minutes of stretching, for a total of 34.  Not good for a weekend, but the best I could do.

Today I am flying back to Denver, the plane took off at 7:35 am.  Tomorrow I fly to DC for some important government meetings.  Wednesday I fly to Michigan to meet with a member of our Board of Directors.  But on Thursday I will be scoring amazing MTM Points, as it will be the first of 4 days of mountain biking in Utah.

I will be booked until 10 pm tonight and have to pack for the upcoming trip after that.  Then tomorrow I will be booked in DC until about 10 pm – so I will hope to read and respond to some comments tomorrow night, if I cannot do some while flying during the day. 

We are now over 3500 teammates, arms joined across the nation and world, a true Village for Health.  A Moving Village, given all the minutes of exercise being put on the table by you guys!   Ride On !!!

One for All,  kt

Happy Trails DaVita-Land,

My daughter is graduating from college this weekend, so many of you know what a special weekend it is.  We had to leave the house at 8:30 am this morning for the Baccalaureate ceremony, then the Class Day speech, then a reception.  We only got home about an hour ago and are preparing for 140 people to come over in about an hour – so my only window was this morning, I got up and did a good 24 minutes on the bike (the “hill program”, at maximum level), curls (18×20), crunches (100) and then push-ups and some stretching.

I felt great this morning, and set a new push-up record for me, at 52.  They are pretty good quality, but arms a bit wider than shoulder width because I have a shoulder issue which no longer allows me to put them closer together.

Total minutes was 32. 

I am also still glowing from the backpacking.   I love getting outside for 48 hours straight, with good hiking.  It was in the White River National Forest, the Eagle Nest’s Wilderness – I don’t know if that is one of the areas you are all visiting also or not, is it?

I hope many of you can take advantage of this weekend and do some great stuff for your health!  It is just like putting a deposit in a bank for your financial future – exercise is like putting a deposit in your body for your health future.

Let’s Go Partners!    kt

Greetings to the Good People of DaVita,

I am back from the wilderness, it was a glorious little backpacking trip.

On Wednesday I started work at about 7:00 am, had scheduled calls during the drive to the mountains, and so had pretty much 6 hours of work in by the time I met the guide, my good friend, and the 2 llamas at the trailhead at 1:15.  Off we went, 2 hours and 45 minutes to climb about 2300 feet of vertical to the campsite.  Absolutely beautiful and peaceful after the first 20 minutes or so of leaving civilization behind.  Because the llamas carry so much, my pack only weighed 31 pounds, which felt like quite the gift.

Did some good reading and journal writing in camp, which was in a beautiful valley, right next to a babbling brook.  Other than a big marmot trying to steal my sandal, all was perfect.

The next day we did a longer hike, about 4 hours in total,  as we an additional 1800 in vertical feet (to 12,100) and enjoyed a mountain lake and a tarn (seasonal pond/lake).   Once we got back to camp it was time for relaxed conversation and extensive reading.  Felt like heaven.

This morning we were up at 6 am, broke camp and were packed up and moving down by 7:30 am.  It took us 2 hours.  Since it was almost all downhill it was easy in every way, except on the knees.  The walking stick helps cushion the blows a little bit.

Village Vitality, I think we should increase my goal by 3 hours for this week, to take into account the special opportunity I had to get extensive exercise outside.   

Speaking of MTM goals, I hope the 3,500 of you out there are hitting yours!

One for All, KT

Yo DaVitans!

Very quick today – we did 3 wonderful surprise promotions last night at a dinner, leaders who are strong role models for our Mission and Values and strong clinical/business performers.  It was great!  

Then I went home and did email until about 11:30 pm, although I had a 45 minute conversation with my wife Denise who was in New York in between.

Today my first call was at 8 am, and now I am leaving to go backpacking in the Colorado mountains for 2 nights, with an old and dear friend.  So I will be off the grid until Friday, which is exciting to contemplate.  AND I will rack up major exercise minutes with the hiking we will be doing!

I hope many of you earn some more park visits – I will be doing mine live!  Take care and be well !!!

One for All, KT   (by the way I am down to 187, for 2 days in a row, so it appears I am down 2 pounds … on track)