How do top health execs feed their brains?
Get into the heads of top Treasure Valley health care execs. What is their best health advice? How do they indulge their taste buds?
Joe Messmer
CEO of Mercy Medical Center, Nampa
Recommended health Web site: WebMD
Favorite health-related book: Health Care Meltdown, by the late Dr. Bob LeBow, a Nampa physician who died in 2003 after a bicycle accident left him a quadriplegic.
Best health tip you've ever heard or read, or motto for healthy living: Exercise ... easier said than done!
Favorite healthy snack: I have to admit that my snacks are not healthy.
Favorite food indulgence: Ice cream with lots of chocolate syrup and nuts.
Hardest workout/adventure you've ever undertaken: A trip to Ghana, Africa, with a native physician of Ghana, family and friends. A real eye-opener as to the need in Third World countries and made me appreciate this great country we live in.
Biggest personal health care obstacle: My two elderly parents, living 1,200 miles away, both with significant health issues. God bless my two sisters for what they do for them.
Sister Patricia Mulvaney
Mission adviser and former CEO of Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, Boise
Recommended health Web sites: MedlinePlus: In English and in Spanish
Favorite health-related book: Man With the Iron Tattoo and Other True Tales of Uncommon Wisdom: What Our Patients Have Taught Us About Love, Faith and Healing, by Dr. John E. Castaldo and Dr. Lawrence P. Levitt.
Best health tip you've ever heard or read: Slow down when you eat.
Motto for healthy living: The main thing is to know what is the main thing and to keep the main thing the main thing - Bishop Robert F. Morneau, author and lecturer.
Favorite healthy snack: Raspberry yogurt.
Favorite food indulgence: Chocolate cake.
Hardest workout/adventure you've ever undertaken: Cross-country skiing.
Biggest personal health care obstacle: Self.
Gary Fletcher
CEO of St. Luke's Boise and St. Luke's Meridian medical centers
Recommended health Web sites: medlineplus.gov, healthwise.org
Favorite health-related book: Results That Last: Hardwiring Behaviors That Will Take Your Company to the Top, by Quint Studer.
Best health tip you've ever heard or read: Rest and eat right.
Motto for healthy living: Keeping everything balanced.
Favorite healthy snack: Nuts.
Favorite food indulgence: Asian food and desserts.
Hardest workout/adventure you've ever undertaken: A sea kayaking trip.
Biggest personal health care obstacle: Maintaining a healthy weight.
Kathy Moore
CEO of West Valley Medical Center, Caldwell
Recommended health Web sites: American College of Healthcare Executives; the health publication, Modern Healthcare
Favorite health-related book: What's Right In Health Care: 365 Stories of Purpose, Worthwhile Work, and Making a Difference, compiled by Studer Group.
Best health tip you've ever heard or read: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Motto for healthy living: 'Laugh a lot.' Studies show those who laugh often are generally healthier.
Favorite healthy snack: Fruit, especially bananas.
Favorite food indulgence: Oatmeal raisin cookies from the West Valley Medical Center cafeteria.
Hardest workout/adventure you've ever undertaken: Extreme ATV riding in Idaho, Colorado and Utah.
Biggest personal health care obstacle: Managing the care of my aging parents.
Jim Everett
CEO of the Treasure Valley Family YMCA and a member of the board of directors for Healthwise, a health-information company.
Recommended health Web site: http://www.healthwise.org
Favorite health-related books: YOU: The Owners Manual by Drs. Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet Oz, Ageless Body, Timeless Mind by Deepak Chopra, and, of course, the Healthwise Handbook, a self-care book by the Boise-based company Healthwise.
Best health tip you've ever heard or read: Work like you don't need the money; dance like no one is watching; and love like you've never been hurt. - Mark Twain.
You have to do well before you can do good. I am a proud do-gooder. I must take care of myself, so that I can try to do some good for others. While fitness and good nutrition are big pieces of this, so are sleep, reading for pleasure and time outdoors and with family for me.
Motto/philosophy for healthy living: Laugh often, be positive, focus on possibilities and what can be done, hope and dream, walk or ride a bike anyplace you reasonably can, spend time with family, have some pets and try to be kind to everyone and everything.
Favorite healthy snack: Adams crunchy peanut butter on just about anything.
Favorite food indulgence: A strawberry/banana/raspberry/blueberry smoothie.
Hardest workout/adventure you've ever undertaken: I love exercise. I have done some triathlons, Robie and a marathon and play water polo, but probably the hardest workouts have been some long hikes with my wife. One that stands out is the entire Toxaway Loop in the Sawtooths in a day after getting a late start. We also just had a tough one, due to my getting us lost and off-trail, coming out of Cly Lakes off of Lick Creek.
Biggest personal health care obstacle: Time is the biggest obstacle, even working at the Y. Exercise is a habit, though, so I find a way to fit it in. Sometimes my exercise is the 21-mile round-trip daily commute to work and home on my road bike.
Compiled by Colleen LaMay