2020 heightened my awareness of the value of life and increased my family’s commitment to heart-healthy living. Maintaining a heart-healthy lifestyle is essential - and while it can be so simple, it can also be hard. AHA helps keep it simple.
My work life at Mortenson includes ever-present connections to AHA and all that it represents. Many work friends and peers have experienced heart-related health trauma in their lives and have shared with me and others their personal stories and how the work that AHA does has affected them and their family members.
Beyond these connections – the mission and broader lifestyle focus of AHA resonates with me because of ever-present risks for our construction workforce. I work for a family-owned company in an industry dependent on healthy people doing good work, building buildings. After nearly 30 years in the construction industry it is so clear to me that we would not even have a company without these healthy people feeling good about their lives, circumstances, and the support of the companies that employ them. So much of AHA’s work and educational material is good for people in my industry (who, unfortunately, are at higher risk than average in the US population) that I couldn’t help but do a bit more for the organization.
Closer to home, both my father and my wife’s father live with Atrial Fibrillation and the resources available through AHA allow our extended family to understand the condition, risks, and necessary lifestyle adjustments in an accessible and positive way. Having access to such a clear source of good information is so helpful to us and others who navigate new circumstances like AFib in the family.
All of this is why I Walk and why I agreed to Chair the 2022 Heart Walk. Since agreeing to do so I’ve encountered even more people and conversations that benefit from the foundation of a heart-healthy lifestyle. Mortenson rallied around the mission of the AHA well before I enhanced my own involvement, and will continue to do so going forward because of the clear benefits to those who contribute to our work. I’m proud to be a supporter of AHA, and proud to be at a Company who cares - and I walk because I know that with every step, I’m making a difference in someone’s life.
Donations will fund groundbreaking research that literally keeps hearts beating and helps people have longer, healthier lives.
Have a heart and help me reach my goal today!