Kathy Zarling Award of Excellence

The Kathy Zarling Award of Excellence is a yearly award given in recognition of outstanding contributions by an individual currently working or who has worked in cardiac and/or pulmonary rehabilitation. 

In 2023, we renamed the award of excellence to honor Kathy Zarling. Kathy was a chart member of MNACPVR starting back in 1990. She served as a Board member, President, Chair and on numerous committees. She has worked in nursing since 1970 and although she is retired, continues to work for Mayo as a Smoking Cessation Specialist and as a parish nurse. 

2025 Award of Excellence Nominations

Criteria: 

  • A nominee should have made significant and unique professional contribution(s), which have had an impact on cardiac and/or pulmonary rehabilitation.
  • A nominee could be recognized for expertise in the areas of clinical practice, research, leadership, professional education, or a combination of these.
  • A nominee should be a professional in the field of cardiac and/or pulmonary rehabilitation.
  • A nominee may or may not be a current member of AACVPR/MNACVPR.

Nomination Requirements:

  • A brief nomination letter explaining why the person is being nominated e-mailed to aacvpr@gmail.com by 2/28/25.

The winner will be announced and presented with their award at the Spring MNACVPR Conference.

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.

Previous Recipients

2024: Anita LaHaye

2023: Kris Mrosak

2022: Karen Hodgeman

2020: Whitney Quast

2019: Dennis Angellotti

2018: Paul Spilde

2017: Sharon Madson

2015: Teresa Fietek

2011: John Inkster

2010: Peg Bear

2009: Kathy Zarling