private void StartBackgroundTasks(CancellationTokenSource cancelTokenSrc)
{
    void TaskAction()
    {
        DoWork();
    }

    void HeartbeatAction()
    {
        var task = TaskFactory.CreateAndStartLongRunningTask(
            TaskAction, cancelTokenSrc.Token);

        while (true)
        {
            // checks Task.Status to figure out when to stop
            if (!TryPerformHeartbeat(task)) break;

            Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(20)).Wait();
        }
    }

    TaskFactory.CreateAndStartLongRunningTask(HeartbeatAction);
}

internal static class TaskFactory
{
    internal static Task CreateAndStartLongRunningTask(
        Action action, CancellationToken? token = null)
    {
        return Task.Factory.StartNew(
            action,
            token ?? CancellationToken.None,
            TaskCreationOptions.LongRunning,
            TaskScheduler.Default);
    }
}