2025 Kathy Zarling Recipient: Aaron Pergolski
Aaron was nominated for the Kathy Zarling Award of Excellence by coworker Corey Speaker.
Here is what Corey had to say about Aaron and why he nominated him for the award:
“We’ll figure it out.” When you hear these words from Aaron Pergolski, it’s time to buckle up, tighten your bootstraps, or do whatever you need to do, because by the end of the day, you will indeed figure it out. The main reason why is because of Aaron’s leadership and innovation.
Aaron has a way of bringing calm to the storm, whether there’s a last-minute sick call, addressing emergency situations, or when faced with unprecedented challenges such as navigating a pandemic. His ability to pause and think logically during these times and think from multiple standpoints whether it’s patients, therapists, physicians, and the entire healthcare system has allowed Aaron to thrive in the clinic and beyond. How broad is his impact, you might ask? Aaron was asked to take over and enhance the pulmonary rehab program at M Health Fairview Southdale. This was the only program in our system at the time and it was lacking. We have now gone from one site to seven successful sites with pulmonary rehab that continue to grow. We figured it out.
Aaron excels at driving innovation and tackling challenges because he is unafraid to think outside the box. He has been involved in numerous initiatives aimed at ensuring our programs' success.
He brings the same attitude as described above to the board. “We 'll figure it out” and he does. During COVID, Aaron was instrumental in the technology aspect of this conference. “He got it done!” and the MNACVPR successfully delivered their first virtual conference and have not looked back. The MNACVPR continues to look to Aaron to “figure out” the technology aspect of the conference. The board looks to Aaron’s expertise throughout Fairview and values his opinion. I think you get the picture that Aaron is very deserving of being awarded the Kathy Zarling Award of Excellence.