Dr. Gretchen Potts’ team of UTC Hearts and Sciences exceeded their goal during the American Heart Association’s Heart Walk. The group raised $1,685, the most among several UTC teams of faculty and staff who participated in the event. Potts is Director of the UTC Achieve Degree/Integrated Studies and UC Foundation Associate Professor of Chemistry.
Anne Wehunt, Dr. Gretchen Potts, Dr. Matt Matthews, Dr. Tammy Garland, and Garland’s son David enjoyed the Heart Walk.
Another group from the UTC Library who called themselves the Cardio Catalogers raised $325 for the American Heart Association. Team leaders Chapel Cowden and Katie Gohn encouraged their colleagues to do more for their own cardiovascular health.
“We used this as a team building activity and a workplace wellness initiative. We wanted to focus on walking more and providing incentives for that,” said Katie Gohn, Assistant Head of Collections in Collection Services at the UTC Library.
Cardio Catalogers from l-r: Ben Jones, student worker at the UTC Library; Natalie Bennett, Carolyn Runyon; Nicole Tekulve; Chapel Cowden and her son Asa; Katie Gohn and her daughter, Jane in the stroller; Brian Rogers; Theresa Liedtka; Bo Baker and his daughter Josephine; Virginia Cairns.
Cowden said while they supported the Heart Walk, they also wanted to “create an atmosphere of positive thinking about health amongst our colleagues” by scheduling healthy living lectures, offering prizes to colleagues who exercised most in a given month, and providing healthy living blog posts.
“Fifteen members of the Library’s staff and faculty and one of our student workers participated in the activities. We found it to be a great team building exercise and a definite success!” said Cowden, Health and Sciences Librarian and Assistant Professor.
Additional UTC teams included: Team CAS Happy Feet; UTC’s Pace Makers; Takin Care of Business; Founders/Race/Hooper Hall; and the UTC Cardio Cruisers.
The American Heart Association is the largest voluntary health organization working to prevent, treat and defeat heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. These diseases, the Nation’s No.1 and No.4 killers, claim more than 813,804 American lives a year.
