Juli Stone Moran
All in the family: California donor carries on father's passion for heart health
Juli Stone Moran took her first CPR class at just seven years old. With a father who was a professor in exercise science and wellness, it was one of many activities Moran and her siblings did that was focused on heart health.
“I grew up in a household that was all about being active,” Moran said. “My father did a lot of work with the American Heart Association because of his work in cardiac rehabilitation.”
Today, Moran carries on the family tradition of physical activity through running, hiking and an equestrian sport called reining. She also carries on her father’s participation with the American Heart Association.
Moran recently completed her sixth year as a board member for the American Heart Association’s San Diego office, and she has spent nearly 20 years participating in both Go Red for Women and Heart Walk campaigns with Deloitte offices across the country.
“I can’t say enough about the tremendous impact Juli has had on the Heart Association’s work in our community,” said Jessica Newmyer, executive director for the American Heart Association’s San Diego office. “She was an incredible board member, she’s chaired the Go Red for Women campaign multiple times, and she has gone out of her way to host events at Deloitte for the Association and connect incredible new volunteers with our mission.”
Moran said she’s proud of how her company has worked with the Heart Association and leaned into healthy policies.
“Especially given how much we travel at Deloitte, and how our workdays are very long, we are very focused on how to integrate little habits to make a change, from food choices to stand-up desks,” Moran said. “We’ve also done a lot of internal Hands-Only CPR training.”
In several instances, employees who had only recently learned Hands-Only CPR in a company training had to use those skills in real life.
“It’s incredible how often someone will come back to me in a very short time period and say ‘I had the opportunity to use it, and it made a difference,’” she said.
Several years ago, Moran had to use those emergency skills, too.
Someone collapsed at an after-hours event at the office. Moran jumped into action and called 911. Because Moran was calling from an office building, the dispatcher advised her to send two staff people downstairs with badges: one to wave the ambulance over to the correct office tower and one to operate the elevator for first responders.
“When we have after-hours events, we have at least two staff people physically there, because you need to be able to orchestrate that help,” Moran said. “I think that’s something that none of us realize – it takes a village.”
After nearly two decades of volunteering with the American Heart Association, she has realized that almost everybody has a connection to heart disease and stroke.
“I don’t think there’s a single person who can say they don’t have a family member or a friend who hasn’t had a cardiovascular or stroke event, or they’ve been diagnosed themselves,” she said. “We all have a personal connection.”
She also finds herself talking about health conversationally with friends. For example, she’s had several friends mention having migraines with aura, which is associated with a greater risk of stroke in women, and she’s made sure they all know to ask their doctor about it.
Another thing she talks to friends and colleagues about is how simple it can be to include a nonprofit organization in their estate plans. She’s included the American Heart Association in her trust. After a lifetime of keeping heart health top of mind, Moran said it feels good to include the lifesaving work of the Association in her legacy.
“It’s something that’s super easy to do, and it doesn’t cost you anything to name a local organization or nonprofit as a beneficiary of your estate,” Moran said. “It’s a great way to give back to continued research. You know that what you have worked very hard for your whole career will go to something that’s important to you.”