When Ricka Stenerson, Director of Total Compensation at the City of Minneapolis, first received her Hello Heart kit in the mail, she almost didn’t open it. “I thought to myself, well, I don’t have high blood pressure. I never have,” she recalled.
But what she didn’t expect was that this moment would impact the course of her own health and help shape how her city supports the well-being of its employees, the majority of which are essential, on-the-ground roles that keep Minneapolis running every day.
Watch the video below to learn more about how the City of Minneapolis uses Hello Heart to drive better health outcomes and lower costs.
From Personal Wake-Up Call to Workforce Wellness Strategy
Ricka’s connection to heart health is deeply personal. Her father died of a heart attack at just 48 years old. “He didn’t know he had heart disease,” she said. “It was devastating. My mother raised four of us on her own.”
That family history pushed her to try Hello Heart’s program herself. Working from home during the stress of the pandemic, she started checking her blood pressure two to three times a day and was shocked by the results.
“I discovered it was very high,” she said. “That was the moment I knew I wanted to do something about it, proactively.”
Over the next year, using Hello Heart’s tools and coaching, Ricka was able to normalize her blood pressure, lower her cholesterol by nearly 100 points, and lose 30 pounds “without GLP-1s,” she noted.
Public Sector, Personal Stakes
For Ricka and her team, preventive health is an essential strategy to help them better serve their community. “In order to keep a city like Minneapolis running, you have to have healthy and productive employees,” she said.
Heart disease remains the number one killer in the U.S., and Minneapolis’s workforce reflects that reality. As a self-insured employer, the city closely monitors claims data and cardiac conditions are consistently among their top three healthcare cost drivers.
“We see high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, pre-diabetes—these are common across our workforce,” she explained. “Hello Heart has been a great fit for our population.”
4 Years In: A Measurable Impact
Now entering their fourth year with Hello Heart, Minneapolis has seen a strong and sustained return on investment—almost 2:1—and even more importantly, long-term engagement.
“Employees have been really happy,” Ricka said. “They have their own blood pressure cuff at home, they’re using the app, and they’re able to make changes on their own, at their own pace.”
She emphasized how critical it is to meet employees where they are: “That means giving them options depending on what they need—when they need it. Hello Heart is a big part of that.”
Prevention Is the Strategy and the Message
More than anything, Hello Heart has helped the city shift its wellness approach toward a prevention-first mindset.
“Whether it’s taking medication, lowering cholesterol, or just reducing stress—these are the steps that impact all aspects of your health,” Ricka said. “Focusing on prevention is the best way to keep costs down and keep people healthy.”
For other public sector leaders, Ricka’s advice is clear: “Study your claims. Think about the message you’re sending by putting a program like this in place. Because it shows employees you care about their health—and it really does make an impact.”
Learn more about how Hello Heart can transform the health of public sector organizations.
