Becky Oatts

Ever since Becky Oatts joined HCA Virginia’s Henrico Doctors’ Hospital in 1987, she has enthusiastically dedicated time and energy to the American Heart Association. What started as supporting a mission that aligned with her profession grew into a personal passion after both her father and brother died from heart complications.

“The reason I started supporting the American Heart Association was because of what I did … I worked with cardiac patients.”

Now, she says she supports the AHA for her family. Oatts’ father, who she called her best friend, suffered a series of strokes and passed away eight years ago, and then her brother died suddenly a year later.

As an exercise physiologist and health wellness coach, she started a team called “Becky’s Zoo” for AHA’s annual heart walk and is known to raise anything from $20K to $50K for the organization in a given year. Complete records don’t exist for the 34 years Oatts has volunteered, but an AHA representative suspects she has raised close to $1M in total.

“She is a top fundraiser for us and the cumulative impact of her efforts is unbelievable,” said Michelle Nostheide, executive director of the Richmond AHA. “She is really great at reaching out to former and current patients and asking if they want to be engaged and explaining why she is involved. She works just as hard for $50 as she does for $5,000.”

Oatts maintains relationships with former patients and their families, and rallies them to join her in the heart walk. But despite the donations that accumulate on her behalf, she remains humble and said she likes to stay in the background.

“My dad always taught me that if there is something you believe in, you should do it well and not be in the limelight,” she said.

Even though she shies away from attention, Nostheide said Oatts is relentless in her passion for the mission.

“She sees people every day who remind her of the impact heart disease and stroke have on people,” Nostheide said. “She is motivated to spend a lot of time and energy to make sure she comes in big for us every year.”