Yo DaVita HealthCare Partners !!

Well I only slept 10 hours last night, after 11 the prior and 14 prior to that.  I went into the office for the first time since Monday and did our quarterly earnings call.  Am on the mend!

But I need to get to bed soon, so this is a quick one.

Tonight (Thursday) was a great dinner, pork chops with 2 cups of broccoli and a salad worth a half serving.  For breakfast I had a cup of blueberries, very tasty batch this week.  For lunch I had 2 servings of vegetables, I have asked my assistant to remind me what they were.

But I think I missed doing an entry yesterday.  Dinner was halibut with mixed veggies, 1.5 serving.  But the salad was a big summer salad, with fruit in it, an easy 1.5 servings.  I had a cup of blueberries in the am, and one serving of grilled veggies at lunch.

On both Tuesday and Wednesday I let my body sleep until it was ready to get up, then did conference calls and emails until about 7:30.  After a little dinner with my wife, sitting outside at our little round table looking out on the backyard with the Colorado mountains in the distance, I go back to my upstairs office and do email until 9:15 or so (9:45 tonight).  Then we sit and read, or sometimes watch a 30 minute episode of Modern Family before we read ourselves to sleep.

I hope you are all well!  I weighed 194.2 today.  Darn.  But got to love those Colorful Choices!

KT

Yo DaVita !!

Well I slept for 14 hours last night/today.  Wow.

I am much better, but unfortunately probably looking at another cough intensive evening.  Why is it that coughs get worse once you are in bed?  Your muscles relax or something?

I got up at 1 pm.  This gave me time to clean up and get on my 1:30 call, and do all the back-to-back meeting/calls from my home, until 7:30.  Then Denise and I had dinner, after which I did an hour of email, which is just about to end with this note to my Partners in Health!

For “breakfast” I had a bowl of high fiber cereal (1 serving, mayor’s prerogative) and one cup of blueberries.  With some organic sausage of course.  For dinner I had 2 servings of veggies, one of them broccoli, the other zucchini and tomato, mainly zucchini so no bonus points.

No exercise today, given the illness.  I hope I am well enough tomorrow morning to fly to Los Angeles.

I hope each of you achieved your goals today!   We are in this together, when you are wondering what to eat just picture 3500 teammates over your shoulder, urging you to make the healthy choice.  That is what saved me from a diet coke today, and I had tea instead!

Ciao!   kt

Greetings to the 3500 partners in health !!!

This note will be short because unfortunately I am sick.  Darn, been a long time.  Nothing serious, but a serious annoyance.  I skipped my workout this morning to get more sleep, and stopped work at 7:15, except for a little spurt from 8:15 to now, about 9:10.  Lots to catch up on after a few days off the grid, although I got a lot of emails done yesterday/Sunday afternoon.  I need to get to bed early and try to kill this bug.

But a great MTM day it was!  A banana in the am, plus high fiber cereal (I know I know, special rule).  Then 2 servings of veggies at lunch, roasted pepper and I can’t remember the other I will check.  Also a cup of strawberries after lunch.  Dinner was 2 servings of broccoli plus 1 serving of zucchini and tomato, with pork tenderloin.

If I did not report Sunday night dinner, it was one serving of spinach, with a pasta dinner.

Today was the usual series of meetings, although I squeezed in a 30 minute test drive of a new car (my lease runs out in a month) and a wonderful hour at a big Denver Public Schools meeting.   They have an annual meeting patterned after our annual Villagewide meeting.  They had about 1200 teachers, bus drivers etc there, to discuss how they are doing with their Mission and Values, thoughts on leadership, etc.  They also discussed their Denver Public Schools University, which is patterned after our DaVita University, with corresponding classes that are once again each patterned after ours.  Great Ripples of Citizen Leadership, so consistent with our notion of being a Community First and a Company Second.

Also La Casa del Mundo, our Denver world headquarters, won The Healthiest Employer in Denver for the third year in a row, from the Denver Business Journal.  Cool.

My weight was down to 192.2 this am, first time below my starting weight in this saga.

I hope all of you are well.   Let’s do it.  I have 3 nights in a row at home, might be the first time in 6 weeks or so.  But when I am home, I really nail MTM.

All the best!  KT

Yo DaVita HealthCare Partners,

I am typing this as I sit next to a stream in a forest, having just immersed myself in its absolutely freezing water.  Every pore of my skin feels quite alive.

EPIPHANY !!!!  On this mountain biking/camping trip I learned of the bonus point structure of Match the Mayor, I did not realize I needed to be more specific in my reporting!  Village Vitality please go back and adjust.  Broccoli is the vegetable I eat most, let’s assume that is every fourth veggie.  I have had spinach of kale once a week.  All of my bowls of berries are strawberries, raspberries and blueberries … unless they are pure strawberries, but that also qualifies as bonus right?  Asparagus is probably one out of every four as well, but I don’t think that is a superhero vegetable.   How about zucchini, that is another one in four, those are my three most common veggies..  Tomatoes are probably one out of every 8.  Village Vitality please tell me more about this bonus system, my scores will go up!

As expected this trip has been AWESOME for exercise, great conversations about our Village … and not so good on veggies.  We are at a campsite and sleeping in tents, and dinner is cooked outside for the 14 of us by the bike guides.  We have to pack our lunches and carry them in our backpacks to eat out on the trail.

The facts:

Thursday had a banana and a bowl of fruit (but not mixed berries).  2.0 servings.  Lunch did include a zucchini/broccoli slaw, but I would only count it as one serving.  1 serving of veggies that night, peppers in case they count for bonus points.

Friday was 2 bowls of fruit for bkfast, one banana later in day, and 1.5 servings of apple.  Dinner was 1.0 serving of asparagus.

Saturday, so far, is one bowl of fruit (again, not mixed berries so no bonus points)

Much more fun to report the exercise facts!

Thursday was 18 miles with 2700 feet of vertical.  Total biking time was about 3.25 hours, plus 15 minutes of stretching/therapy after.

Friday was 27 miles with 3300 vertical, a big day with a bunch of technical stuff, so I had to get off the bike 5-6 times and walk 5-30 feet to get thru some of it.  Amazing views of Mount Hood, Mount Ranier, Mount Adams, and Mount St Helena.  I never knew that when Helena erupted in 1980 it literally blew up the top 5000 feet of its cone – – it was 5000 feet shorter after the eruption.  That is amazing also.  Anyway only 7 of the 17 riders on this day completed the full 27 miles, and I was with the first 4, so I felt good that I am hanging in there in terms of fitness.  This was a long day, about 5.5 hours of biking.

Today was about 20 miles with 2900 feet of vertical, but much less technical.  About 3.5 hours of biking plus 15 minutes of stretching/therapy.

We also had great conversations on many topics, including the village, some business issues like HCP IT, our life balance, and some of the most formative moments in our lives.  We sang songs around the campfire each night, and got to know each other better which is such a great thing for the Village.  We had attendees from Kidney Care, from HealthCare Partners, and from Paladina.

This email won’t get sent until Sunday, when I am back on the grid in Colorado.  I hope each of you have had a successful couple of days, days in which you took the small steps that can turn into big improvements in your health, over time.

One for All & All for One.     KT

Yo DaVita HealthCare Partners !

Yo to the 3500 of us making Colorful Choices (or some other health improvement goal) a big part of our lives during MTM … and hopefully for the rest of our lives!

I had a strong Produce day today …. 2 big servings of vegetables with my salmon at lunch … and 3 big servings of vegetables with my steak dinner.  If a salad counts, make it 3.5 !

Exercise was weak as I had a hard time getting out of bed.  26 minutes on lifecycle (medium intensity) plus 11 minutes of stretching/balance/strength/etc.

But the next 3 days will be STRONG on exercise, because as of 9 am I will be off the grid doing mountain bike camping for that time.  Mountain bike for several hours each day, camp out each night.  Lots of vertical, lots of fresh air, lots of exercise..  And I hope lots of fruits and vegetables, but we will have to see what the guides bring, I am at serious risk here.  The group is about 12 DaVita HCP executives.  At lunch and before dinner I facilitate conversations about our Community concept, our mission and values, our business strategy, our personal goals/hopes/worries … etc.  It is a great thing.

On Friday morning my son and 4 of his friends join us (don’t worry, the company does NOT pay for their part of the expenses!).  The Friday night conversation around the campfire is one of my favorites, as the young men (my son and his friends are all about 26 years old) and the DaVitans (who typically range from 35 to 65) discuss serious life stuff.  It is glorious!  We also sing campfire songs most nights, sometimes for a couple hours, so fun to belt those songs out in the middle of the woods somewhere.  Refills my cup!

This is an annual trip.  We are doing it in Oregon this year, near the Mount Hood River I think.  I will be off the grid, so no messages until Sunday.  I am taking my laptop so I can try to catch up on the 1000 or so that are in my queue, but I won’t be able to send or receive after the flurry I will be doing until 11 pm tonight, and the flurry I will do tomorrow morning until I am picked up at my motel somewhere in rural Oregon.

I got to share some great clinical news on a couple town hall calls today, one with Kidney Care US, and one with HCP.  That is always a treat.  I also spent an hour discussing some potential partnerships.  What an interesting job I have!  Lots of hours and travel, but incredibly interesting.  And fulfilling.  And challenging.

I am now 3 days into my new job with HCP, and am learning a lot, such cool stuff we do in this arena.

I hope each of you is achieving your goals, or improving your lifestyle even if you are falling short.

“If I cannot do great things, I will do small things in a great way”.    KT

Flash Update!

I had 1.5 more servings of fruit (mixed berries) at the end of the night.  This also allowed me to resist having dessert for the 3^rd consecutive night, a small accomplishment.  My weight is back down to 194.  Ever onward!

All the best, KT

Yo DaVitans!

Over 3500 of us now, banding together to pursue a healthier life!  This is good.

The hotel messed up and did not do my 10 minute follow-up call this am, so I had to hustle and shorten my workout.  21 minutes on lifecycle(medium intensity), and only 6 minutes of stretching, etc.

I had 1.5 green apples for breakfast, so 1.5 servings there.  I had 2 servings of vegetables at lunch.  I had one serving of veggies at dinner.

On the workfront it was back to back meetings at the HCP Torrance office, followed by a dinner with 8 physician leaders, and then a trip to the airport to catch a 9 pm departure.  I will land at midnight Denver time, hope to be in bed by 1:15 or so.  The flight is a wonderful opportunity to put a dent in my email backlog.

I talked to one of our HCP cardiologists yesterday, she disagreed with my counting high fiber/low/no sugar cereal should count as a healthy serving.  I told her this is Mayor’s prerogative!

I hope you all had a good day.  I am a lucky boy to have the job I have.

All the best, KT

Yo Teammates!

Greetings from LA, it is a little after 11 pm and I am winding down my late night email session.

The day started with a 6 am workout followed by heading to the airport.  It was a solid workout, 26 minutes on bike with medium intensity, and 12 minutes of stretching/balance/strength stuff.

Breakfast included all-bran with a banana, so that in my book counts for 2 servings of fruit, as I value that high fiber.  I also had a bowl of mixed berries on the plane flight, probably 1.5 servings it was a pretty good sized bowl.   Lunch was a strong 2 servings of vegetables, with some chicken and shrimp.  At dinner there was a half serving of veggies with my entrée, plus I ordered a side order of spinach.  The spinach was not very good, so I only ate half, so dinner should go down with having one serving of vegetables.  I then ordered mixed berries for dessert, that was at least one full serving.

Not a bad day for MTM.

Also a good day at HealthCare Partners in LA.  The day was booked with consecutive meetings, as usual, with a 15 minute lunch where I held a short meeting with an exec so as not to lose time (usually in denver I use my 15 minutes of eating to answer questions from my assistant).  We did a Town Hall at the end of the day with about 400 HCP teammates, that was fun and the questions were good ones that provoked some good exchanges on important topics.  After the town hall I headed straight to a 6:45 business dinner with 3 HCP execs, which went until 9:30.  It was very productive, although we did not get thru all the items on our agenda.  Then I had a short conversation with one exec, after which I checked into my hotel at about 10 pm.

Since that time it has been an email party, although something is wrong with my laptop and it will not connect to wifi, so you will not get this until I can get it straightened out tomorrow at the office.

I hope you all had a good day with MTM momentum!  I am going to go over my grid with Village Vitality the MTM referees, because I think it is missing some entries, I had not checked it since MTM started.  Until then, take care!

One for All, KT

Quick update – monster vegetable dinner, courtesy of my wife Denise – 3 servings!

Hope you all have a great week!

KT

Greetings to the good people of DaVita HealthCare Partners,

I am back on the grid, ready to rock.  I will need to rally on the MTM front.  Saturday had 2 servings of fruit, and 2.5 more so far today, Sunday.  But the camp served virtually no vegetables at lunch yesterday, and only one serving at dinner.  Yikes.

Saturday exercise was a solid 70 minute hike with several steep trails.   I am on a plane back to Colorado now, will get Sunday exercise once I am home.

I have gone the wrong way on my weight so far.  Yikes.  I will be doing several hours of work today, will have to make sure I don’t reward myself for that by eating bad food or having dessert tonight, a pattern I have been falling into over the last 4 months.

But I know I am placing more emphasis on fruits and vegetables because of Match the Mayor !!!  I hope it is working for you also.  Feel the shared strength!

I will try to submit an addendum later on, I will not get home until about 4 pm, and then fly back to California early tomorrow morning.  I will be going to the LA office of HCP, I am stepping into a much more active role there and am very excited!

One for All, KT