From KT – Oct. 12, 2017

Yo DaVitans!

It is Thursday afternoon, I am in the Casa del Mundo in Colorado.  It has been an eventful week since my last blog which was Monday.  I did get a workout in on Monday afternoon, which brought me fresh energy after the 14 hour flight from Dubai.  I had several conference calls, including prep for our upcoming quarterly earnings call. 

Tuesday morning was Tour DaVita day!  585 DaVita teammates riding many miles over 3 days, to raise money for our Medical Missions, which are run by our Bridges of Life team.  It is a beautiful event, for a wonderful cause.  We raised $1.2 million dollars !

But what I love even more is how it puts us all together, doing something healthy and lively, for a good cause.  Tuesday was Day Three and I joined in for the 58 mile ride.  For the first time ever I missed last year’s Tour because I was recovering from a big surgery – so getting back out there felt amazingly good.  The tradition is that when I finish I stay at the finish line to greet others – me along with a couple hundred other teammates from local DaVita neighborhoods, and other riders.  It makes for a glorious finish, live music, people yelling and clapping, quite special.

On Tuesday night we have a closing ceremony where we see a video of the ride, we have some We Are Here contests, and a number of riders get up and share why they are riding, and what they will remember from the Tour.  An almost spiritual evening, after an event in which hundreds of teammates ride more miles than they ever thought they could, or would.  I hope many of you consider trying it in the future — please know that we provide special support to help Patient Care Tech Shining Stars join in.

Then I flew back to Denver, and got home about 1 am.  It was another terrible sleep night, unfortunately, the jet lag is wreaking a bit of havoc.  So I actually skipped a day of exercise to stay in bed one more hour.  Darn!  Then I was off to the Casa, my first time there since September 28.  I had meetings on forecasting, public policy, and some strategy issues. 

Last night was another terrible sleeping night, but I still got up and got a solid workout in.  I will end up having some extra caffeine today, but fortunately the work is engaging enough to help keep me going.   My morning was filled largely with clinical and financial reviews, as well as getting a wonderful thank you call from a US Congressman.  We let him and others hold a meeting in the Casa a month ago, and he was very impressed by the look and feel of our Casa and the culture within it.  That was awfully nice to hear.

On the scores front I am doing pretty well except for the sleeping thing.  My gratitude and connectedness was off the charts on Tour DaVita Day, and I will carry that glow for several more days.

I hope each of you is making good progress towards leading a healthier, more mindful life!   Picture how you are being encouraged by the other 2300 teammates who are in MTM !!   47 states and 9 countries represented.  Let’s do it, together!!!

“Most people go to their graves with their music still inside”.  Don’t do that!

One for All & All for One !      Your Mayor, a most lucky man …….