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TOPIC: Heart Association's 2026 Heart Walk · Pittsburgh Sunday Morning

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: And welcome in.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: This is a public affairs program shedding the light on
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: the interest, issues and concerns of the greater Pittsburgh area.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Good morning, my name is Johnny Hartwell your host.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Today.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: We're going to be talking to the American Heart Association.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: We've got the Heartwalk coming up on September twelfth, which
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: is going to be here before you know it. Let's
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: say hello to Karen Colbert, Say hi, Karen. Hey, she's
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: kind of off microphone. She's gonna correct us if we
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: ever make any mistakes. Let's say good morning to the
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Senior Development Director, Lizzie Zimmerman. Good morning to you.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: Good morning.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Have we met together there, because I know I've hosted
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: the Heartwalk every year.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and we met last fall.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Okay, it's good. And then there's Shannon Berry, who's a
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: VP at BAIRD. You're going to be helping out this
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: year with the Heartwalk.
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Johnny, I'm helping out this year with the Heartwalk
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: and really excited to be here with you in your
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: audience today.
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  Speaker 2: This is one of the most spectacular events of the year.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: And we're not going to say where it was last
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: year because it's back at the old place. It's going
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: to be at Point State Park. September twelfth, is there.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: We're going to be talking a lot about what the
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Heart Association does, but let's kind of focus initially about
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: the Heart Walk September twelfth. It's going to start early
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: in the morning, and for whatever reason, you always have
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: the best day of the year we do.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: We put that order in early to make sure you know.
• 1:22
  Speaker 5: Sunny, no humidity, seventy two degrees, clear skies, So obviously
• 1:26
  Speaker 5: that's going to happen again this year.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Well, it's something about September. September is like the new summer.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Feels like, am I crazy?
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: Pittsburgh's the new North Carolina? Right, It's like perfect in September.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Okay, all right, so tell Lizzy, tell us everything we
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: need to know about the Heart Walk.
• 1:41
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean easy event day details. We do open
• 1:43
  Speaker 5: early that day. Site opens at eight am, so we
• 1:45
  Speaker 5: encourage people to show up early. Partake in some of
• 1:48
  Speaker 5: the fantastic activations, whether it is getting some of your
• 1:53
  Speaker 5: flu shots, getting your blood pressure screen, learning CPR, honoring
• 1:58
  Speaker 5: your survivors or people you've loss to cardiovascular disease, Engage
• 2:02
  Speaker 5: in all the different things we have to offer.
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: The community and enjoin that.
• 2:05
  Speaker 5: The walk will actually start at nine to forty five
• 2:09
  Speaker 5: where we head off in through the park and through
• 2:11
  Speaker 5: the city. Enjoy all the scenes of Pittsburgh with the
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: Great Bridges in the background, the fountain, everything. Can't imagine
• 2:18
  Speaker 5: more Pittsburgh image when you think of anything else other
• 2:21
  Speaker 5: than Point State Park.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: And one of the one of the things that surprises
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: me is the amount of funds that you are able
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: to raise. And I think this year's goal is over
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: one point five million dollars one point five to five
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: And this is an event where Pittsburgh is really embraced
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: and really not only to embraced and participates, but really
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: helps sponsor. And that's what let's talk about sponsorship. So
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: is it Baird or is it your part of your
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: you know, your passion.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: No, it's part of my passion, but also part of
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: Baird's passion. You know, our company has a long history
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: of working with the American Heart Association.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: You know.
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  Speaker 4: The one thing about helping out people with their wealth
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: is all the money in the world's no good if
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: you don't have your health, you know. So in cardiogaphy, For.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Those who aren't familiar with Baird, tell us a little
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: bit about the organization.
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Baird here in Western PA stems from the former
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: Heffron Tillotson company. So we're all one big, happy family
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: here at Baird now. But over the years, our associates
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: really rolled up their sleeves with the American company.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Used to be neighbor. But what is it? We didn't
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: where they left us? What happened?
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, something like that. It was a really great experience
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: being neighbors here up at the Beacon in Bridgeville with iHeartRadio.
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: So we're sad to leave, but we had to move
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: down the road to South Point.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: Okay, well that's a really nice place. You didn't invite
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: us to join you what? What wouldn't you do that here?
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  Speaker 4: Tells me that what you guys did here, you're going
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: to be here for a while.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, all right.
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  Speaker 2: So you know the one thing about heart disease, it's
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: the number one killer of US citizens, and so it's
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: touched just about everybody, and so I think that it's
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: one of the reasons, one of the big reasons why
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  Speaker 2: Pittsburgh has embraced the walk each and every year. But
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: let's but one of the things that you obviously we
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: want to teach people about you know, heart health. But
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: you know, as like Shannon is, he's one of the sponsors.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: Can you mention some of the other main sponsors for
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: the walk?
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely?
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  Speaker 5: We have some of our amazing partners like upmc p
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: and c Mescare Construction, so many companies. You can see
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: the full list on our website. I don't want to
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  Speaker 5: turn into you know, sponsor soup here on the air, but.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's worth mentioning them because the amount of
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: money that they give to support this great cause. And
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: I think what Okay, let's ask let me ask you
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: a question. The research is something that is vital for
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: heart research. Since you guys have been around for over
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: one hundred years, right you just you celebrated your one
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: hundredth birthday twenty four. Yeah, you know you barely look
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: You barely look thirty, let alone over one hundred. You
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: look great. I don't know what your skin regimen is,
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: but it's all.
• 5:06
  Speaker 5: That American Heart Association diet and all the other heart
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: tips we give people.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, so tell us a little bit about what the
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: money is going for research and everything else.
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  Speaker 3: So, Pittsburgh is.
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  Speaker 5: This really unique city in the sense that for every
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: dollar raise, more than four dollars is coming back to
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  Speaker 5: our city because so much research is happening here. We
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: are a research hub, we are a medical hub, so
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  Speaker 5: that next breakthrough in treatment, that next breakthrough and detecting
• 5:34
  Speaker 5: a defect and fixing it, that could be happening in Pittsburgh.
• 5:38
  Speaker 5: So you get a fantastic ROI right when you fundraise,
• 5:41
  Speaker 5: and for our sponsors and the money they're putting into
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  Speaker 5: our community, and not only that, that's something that helps
• 5:48
  Speaker 5: save lives down the road. But a huge focus of
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: the Heart Walk is CPR preparedness and awareness. We are
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: aiming to double the survival rates of out of hospital
• 5:59
  Speaker 5: cardiac arrests by twenty thirty and a big push is
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: through the Heart Walk. We're reaching more than three thousand
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: people that come to this event every year. Those are
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: thousands of households where at least one person is learning CPR,
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: they know what to do if someone has a cardiac arrest.
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  Speaker 5: Because currently, do you happen to know what the survival
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: rate is for out of hospital cardiacorn it's only ten percent?
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: Oh wow, so correct, don't make it correct. So we're
• 6:25
  Speaker 5: trying to double that by twenty thirty. We are well
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: on our way. So when we launched what we call
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: our Nation of Life Savers, this initiative focused on preparing
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: these households, every household in our country. That really started
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: with in twenty three we were all watching a football
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: game on Monday night and tomorrow handling corps in front
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  Speaker 5: of millions of people.
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  Speaker 1: Who's a Pittsburgh He's yes.
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  Speaker 5: Absolutely and very engaged with the Heart Association. Fantastic partner,
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: but that really brought it into people's homes of what
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: it can look like when the chain of survival is
• 6:55
  Speaker 5: right on the sidelines and prepared to step in where
• 6:58
  Speaker 5: someone you have an athletic who begins compressions, they have
• 7:02
  Speaker 5: quick and fast evacuation to a hospital. You have advanced
• 7:05
  Speaker 5: resuscitation and he's doing fantastic. So what can that look
• 7:09
  Speaker 5: like if that's everyone's potential outcome when a cardiac wress happens.
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  Speaker 5: And the way we're doing that is making sure more
• 7:15
  Speaker 5: people know how to step up and perform CPR, because
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: you really are the lifesaver until help arrives. You can't
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: wait for a paramedic to arrive in five, six, fifteen minutes.
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  Speaker 5: You have to take action now knowing that those additional
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: heroes can come in and make advanced resuscitation attempts, but
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: those compressions can double or triple survivorates.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I've taken CPR training probably five or six times.
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  Speaker 3: It's great.
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  Speaker 2: But one thing that is really great about the heart
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  Speaker 2: walk is that you kind of review the process, which
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: is always great as a reminder because there's always kind
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: of little changes that will take place, and it's always
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  Speaker 2: a reminder of oh yeah, yeah, now I remember.
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  Speaker 5: In fact, we do it from the stage at the
• 8:00
  Speaker 5: heart Walk, so you know, if you are someone who
• 8:02
  Speaker 5: didn't have a chance to visit the tent where you
• 8:05
  Speaker 5: got to get kind of personalized attention, we do it
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  Speaker 5: from the stage where they're showing the steps and you're
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: able to get that muscle memory of what to expect
• 8:13
  Speaker 5: when you are performing CPR.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: I got a question for you. You mentioned, you know,
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: football and heart attacks. During the draft, you guys attempted
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: to have the world record. Did you were you able
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: to do the record?
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  Speaker 1: He did?
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, we trained josh I of thirteen hundred people, Shannon
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: was there.
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  Speaker 1: You were there, Yeah, absolutely.
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  Speaker 4: It was incredible to see the effort that went into
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  Speaker 4: that to break that record. What a huge feat that was.
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  Speaker 2: So the actual record is the most people in one
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  Speaker 2: group doing hands on CPR, most people.
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  Speaker 3: In one hour trained in hands only SUPR.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, and we trained on ninety three hundred people to
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: Points State Park on that day because the during the draft,
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  Speaker 5: that's amazing. And all those people that came in they
• 9:01
  Speaker 5: certainly weren't all Pittsburghers that that learned. All the people
• 9:04
  Speaker 5: that were there to support their teams and see what
• 9:06
  Speaker 5: the draft had to offer. We were pulling everyone and
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  Speaker 5: that could participate to learn the skill kids.
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  Speaker 3: Everyone.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: Okay, all right, Shannon, we're talking to Channon Barry of
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: Barrett this year's chairman. What what when were you asked
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: and what made you say yes?
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: You know, when I was asked, I couldn't say no.
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: You know, let me put it that way. When I
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: learned about the work that yeah, no doubt scared. Yeah,
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: she's she's very persuasive. How can you say no to Karen.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: You can't say no to Karen. She's the best and
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: she well, she is the best.
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: And when I was asked to help out, you know,
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: and learned about the work that the American Heart Association
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: is doing here in Western PA, and I heard about
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: the magnification of funds raised here and how those funds
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: flow through our research and educational facilities. You can't say
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: no to almost a five x return, So that was
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: enormously appealing me. In my practice, I have a huge
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: focus on wellness. I was a cancer survivor. I understand
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: that when your health fails, that you have nothing. That's
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: the only thing when your health fails you, So I
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: really try to be a proponent of wellness in general
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: in the American Heart Association. Just with the data that
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: we already talked about, nine out of ten people that
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: suffer cardiac arrests outside of a hospital end up perishing tragically.
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: Over the weekend, one of our associates suffered from a
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: massive heart attack and lost his life. So this year's
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: Heart Walk efforts going to be dedicated to Ray Tyson
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: and his family so that we can all rally around
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: and hopefully get that number to look a lot better
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: by teaching more people. CPR tell me more about Ray.
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: Ray was one of the best people that you'd ever
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: want to meet. He's a guy kind of like you, Johnny.
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: When he comes into a room he lights it up
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: in everybody care Karen, also Lizzie, I don't know whether
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: they're not saying that about you, but.
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: I won't take it personally, no doubt, no doubt.
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: But Ray was so charismatic. He had only retired for
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: one year, and during that year he got to travel
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: around the United States. He was living out his dream
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: with his wife, and he was back home getting ready
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: for another leg of that around the US trip and
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: was walking his dog, as I understand when it happened.
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: And you know, we all loved Ray so much that
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: it hit very hard, you know, to our associates, because
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: he was very well known amongst them. So we're going
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: to dedicate this heartwalk effort to Ray and hopefully that'll
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: help his family heal and help us heal in his departure.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: All Right, we're talking to Shannon and Lizzie talking about
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: the Heart Walk, which is coming up on September twelfth
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: at Points Day Park. So not only is it a
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: way to educate people to raise funds for vital research,
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: but you know, to also remember individuals like Ray and
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: the people that we've lost a heart disease.
• 12:09
  Speaker 5: Absolutely, we have an area at the heart Walk that's
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: called always in our Hearts, where we have that opportunity
• 12:15
  Speaker 5: for people to reflect on the people that they have
• 12:18
  Speaker 5: lost a cardiovascular disease and what that means to them.
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: Oftentimes it is that why for people to be at
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: the event. I know similarly, I walk for my dad
• 12:28
  Speaker 5: who we lost almost a decade ago and getting my
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: family together. It's both a celebration and you know, something
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: that can be a little bit more touching and a
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: little bit of mourning and grieving. But we have all
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: those emotions mixed together, which is what makes the event
• 12:45
  Speaker 5: so special for.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: Those who are just tuning in. Tell us about everything
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: that we need to know about this year's walk and
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: how people can sign up.
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: Absolutely so register online, heart dot org, slash Pittsburgh Walk
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: super easy. If your company is participating, join your company's efforts.
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: We also have so many what we call our friends
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: and families that are just engaging with their loved ones
• 13:07
  Speaker 5: and making a team. You'll join more than three thousand
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: people in the Pittsburgh area that are coming together for
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: this special event. So I encourage you to participate. Where
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: a little less than two months away with the event,
• 13:22
  Speaker 5: which is the perfect time to get your team started.
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: Get registered. If you want a fundraise, you can engage
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: your network. If you also want to engage just by
• 13:31
  Speaker 5: making sure you get a touch up on CPR. That
• 13:33
  Speaker 5: is also a fantastic reason to register and be down there.
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: It's also a home pit game day, so make a
• 13:39
  Speaker 5: day of it in the city and then then avoided Sundays.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: That's that's always a good believe.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I believe. The next day is the Steeler home
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: opener game, so.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: Well, you can stick around points station gartistication exactly. So
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: We've talked a little bit about heart attacks and cardiac
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: arrests and some of the education, but it's it's the
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: Heart Association does so much more. They raise awareness for
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: like stroke awareness. And I say this every time I
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: talk to the Heart Association. I was talking to Karen
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: during an interview that was similar to this, and we
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: started talking about high blood pressure and Karen asked me,
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: do you know your blood pressure? And I was stunned.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: I was like, I do not, found out I was hypertensive,
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: went to the doctor, and now I'm exercising a lot more,
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: three or four times a week and on blood pressure medicine.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: So it's so important to you know that message of
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: not only you know heart health, but stroke awareness, high
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: blood pressure, CPR education, You guys do so much more
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: than just do the walk.
• 14:43
  Speaker 5: Absolutely, and I mean those are all intimately linked, right.
• 14:46
  Speaker 5: So high blood pressure is absolutely a silent killer. It
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: tends to not have symptoms, but it can elevate your
• 14:52
  Speaker 5: risk of a heart attack, It can elevate your risk
• 14:54
  Speaker 5: of a stroke, and so knowing your numbers is really
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: the only way to make sure if you are at
• 14:59
  Speaker 5: heightened risk for That's so I'm so happy that you're
• 15:01
  Speaker 5: taking action with your own health and making sure you're
• 15:04
  Speaker 5: knowing your numbers and exercising. That's fantastic to hear. But yes,
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: CPR education is not the only thing we do. Everything
• 15:12
  Speaker 5: from the research that is finding new ways to detect
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: congenital heart defects and fix them, as well as women's
• 15:20
  Speaker 5: focused health that we know that their risk for cardiovascular
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: disease can look different and they have different stages of
• 15:26
  Speaker 5: life everything from pregnancy through menopause that can elevate their
• 15:30
  Speaker 5: risk for certain cardioval.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: How about that, what's the difference between men and women
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: when it comes to you know, maybe detecting a heart attack?
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: Absolutely, so oftentimes with men you think of those textbook
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: pain in my left arm and a crushing weight in
• 15:46
  Speaker 5: my chest.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: It can feel different. For women.
• 15:50
  Speaker 5: It can be things like feeling faint. It can be
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: things like feeling sick and not that crushing weight that
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: they feel. It can feel like something like indigestion. It
• 16:01
  Speaker 5: can feel different as well. As women, if they do
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: get pregnant, they are heighten us for something called pre acclampsia,
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: which your blood pressure tends to increase with pregnancy, not always,
• 16:12
  Speaker 5: but that puts women at much heightened risk of stroke
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: and death that can actually continue.
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: After delivery as well.
• 16:20
  Speaker 5: So we make sure that women also know certain risk
• 16:24
  Speaker 5: factors and have those conversations with their doctors. We know
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: that women and mothers tend to put ourselves last, sometimes
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: behind everyone else in our family that we're taken care of,
• 16:33
  Speaker 5: so we actually do encourage making sure women put themselves
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: first to get their health checked out and make sure
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: they're keeping track of their cardiovasci.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of women they want to take the
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: world on their shoulders, They want to take on everything,
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: and they sometimes don't take your.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Self care is important.
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: Another thing that we touched on a couple of years ago.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: Is not just hypertension, but also healthy food habits, which
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: I'm not always one hundred percent on. You know, I
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: slip up every once in a while, but I'm more
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: conscious about what I put in my body.
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: Progress not perfection, right, So no one can be perfect
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: all the time. That's going to be really difficult. I think,
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: especially in a city like Pittsburgh, we like our unhealthy
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: choices as well. Today's you know, I believe National Hot
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: Dog Days in July, so there are plenty of Picklesburg
• 17:27
  Speaker 5: number of fried delicacies that are perhaps not heart healthy.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: And then you know with football season just around the
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: corner and tailgating, and there's not a lot of heart
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: healthy food being grilled upon some of the grills out there.
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: Absolutely you got to watch out for that. Let us
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: know too, right, Yeah, salad is not an option?
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Well wow, what is there left to eat? All right?
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: So, all right, so I don't want to get too
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: far without mentioning why we're here. We're talking with the
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: American Heart Association, Lizzie Zimmerman, also Shannon Berry, who is
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: the chairman of this year's Heart Walk. He's with Baird
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: and then Karen Colbert is over here in the distance,
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: laughing at me on occasion, or kind of giving me
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: notes of things to say and do. So when it
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: comes to let me ask you something. How long is Lizzie?
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: How long have you been working for the Heart Associated?
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: About a year and a half okay? And what do
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: you do on a daily basis?
• 18:28
  Speaker 5: I like to think I'm a life saver each and
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: every day with the work that I do. The exciting
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: thing about working development is no two days are the
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: same at all.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: Every time I'm.
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: At a store doing a craft activity to get a
• 18:39
  Speaker 5: team together, I always remind myself of how exciting my
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: job is. So I work to engage a lot of
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: our companies and our community partners with specifically the Heart
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: Walk that's the campaign I oversee, but we also have
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: a variety of other campaigns that I assist with, And
• 18:56
  Speaker 5: I would say on a daily basis, it's a lot
• 18:58
  Speaker 5: of working with our fantastic volunteers, someone like Shannon and
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: our other business leaders who are active in this mission,
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: seeing what they need and how I can make success
• 19:09
  Speaker 5: possible for their company to engage with Heartwalk.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: How did you, how did you? How did the Heart
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: Heart Association team up with Shannon. Were you the one
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: that approached Shannon to ask him?
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: Because that was my boss? Okay, so that Matthew now
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: Kim Fleming.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, as chairman, you know, your ultimate goal is
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: to raise one point five million dollars. That's a that's
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: kind of a daunting task, isn't it.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, And I may have went pale when Lizzy told
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: me that.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: Uh she got a yes first as a volunteer for
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: different chairman. Then then she sprang on, oh, by the way,
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: you're responsible for one point five million dollars, and don't
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: worry that you know that that's a lot of Pittsburgh's
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: lives on the line, you know.
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: And the reason why I said yes is because Lizzie said, Shannon,
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: I promise we will make this as painless for you
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: as possible. She said, our team will support you. We've
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: got you. Just believe in us, and we're going to
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: make this happen. And I looked her in the eyes
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: and I believed you and said yes.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Then, well no, not yet.
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: Your team's done such an amazing job.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: Now did you know that you had to wake up
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: on a Sunday morning to talk about the Heart Association.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: Did you com okay with that? I'm okay with that.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Are you an early riser?
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm an early riser. I'm a five am guy.
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: Every day.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: You you look fit? Do you exercise quite a bit?
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: Every day? I try to do something, you know. So
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: it's it's walk in with you know, my friends or
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: family or whatever, you know, lifting weights or trying to
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: do something just to keep time from from hitting me.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: You're not saying that just because you know Lizzie's here
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: and the Heart Association representatives are here.
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: Right, No, you know I'm doing it because my wife
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: may be listening.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: So you also said you're a cancer survivor.
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, that's right. I was diagnosed to twenty eight,
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: my wife was pregnant with our first child, and I
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: was given a sixteen percent chance of living.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, So you know, my my familiarity with my own frailty,
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: with with my own wellness, and the bounce back from
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: from the moment where I thought I wasn't going to
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: survive to see my child grow up. That that's been
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: a very cathartic journey for me. So I've come to
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: take my wellness very seriously and almost treat it like
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: you know, an asset class like an investment, you know,
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: so every day you've you've got to make sure you
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: cultivate that investment in yourself, your body, your wellness, your mind,
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: your mental state. And you know, I've seen heart disease
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: take way too many of my friends and family from
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: us over the years, and it's it's one of these
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: things that it seems like if we, if we apply
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: resources in education, we can make it better. You know,
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: we can improve on the current state of people like
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: Ray that dies suddenly and tragically, possibly one day unnecessarily.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: Okay, I've got a couple of questions for you, Lizzie.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: What is one heart health myth that you would like
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: to kind of bust? Is there anything out there that
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: you know, is there any myths out there about heart
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: health that you would like to kind of address. I
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: know that's a question is kind of from left field.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: I just think that, you know, since even as I've
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: been hosting the Heart Heart Walk, you know, there's little
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: little things that are different each and every year. Does
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: anything come to mind?
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: I think, you know, one myth might be how much
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: people just say, well, it's genetic and there might not
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: be anything I can do to prevent it, and that
• 22:51
  Speaker 5: eighty percent of heart diseases preventable. So engaging in those
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: healthy behaviors and knowing those health factors that can influence
• 22:59
  Speaker 5: your card of ascal health can make huge differences in
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: outcomes and absolutely extend life.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: What's one of the biggest mistakes people do when it
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: comes to herd health? I know, ignoring going to the
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: doctor and getting your blood pressure was one of my
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: big mistakes.
• 23:18
  Speaker 5: I think sticking your head in the sand can be
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: something that's easy to do right. People don't sometimes, but.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: I do so well.
• 23:26
  Speaker 5: Sometimes people don't want to they're scared of what the
• 23:28
  Speaker 5: answer is going to be, or think that, as I said,
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: if their concern is cardiovascular disease is genetic of well
• 23:34
  Speaker 5: I don't.
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: I don't want to find that outcause then what am I.
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: Going to do?
• 23:36
  Speaker 5: Right instead of saying, you know, kind of what Shannon
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: has done, recognizing I want to invest in my health
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: and make sure I'm here as long as I can
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: be for my loved ones. When you know your numbers,
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: when you invest in your health, when you see your doctor,
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: there are actions that you can take steps to improve
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: your cardiovascular health and make sure that we.
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: Have more and more of our loved ones here with
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: us longer.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: You know, it's funny you said you've only been with
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: a Heart Association less than two years, but you seem
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: very passionate about it. Yeah, and is Yeah, did I
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: read that right?
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: Absolutely?
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: This was when this opportunity came about for me to
• 24:17
  Speaker 5: join the Heart Association. It was It was a dream
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: come true and a very much a love letter to
• 24:21
  Speaker 5: my dad, who we lost almost a decade ago, very
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: suddenly collapsed at work and I was living in Virginia
• 24:29
  Speaker 5: at the time. My brother was in Virginia, my mom
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: was in Florida. I was trying to rush home to
• 24:34
  Speaker 5: someone who unfortunately had already passed, and trying to get
• 24:37
  Speaker 5: home quite traumatic. But when this opportunity came about, I
• 24:42
  Speaker 5: couldn't think of a better way to honor his memory,
• 24:45
  Speaker 5: to make sure more people.
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: Keep their dads longer.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: What was your dad's name?
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: His name was Greg? Yeah, Greg Hand Yeah.
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: And Shannon, you talked about Ray when they asked you
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: to be chairman for this year. Did you think of
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: Ray when you when you said.
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: Yes, Now, Ray, Ray was alive and kicking in on
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: the road. You know, it was just a couple of
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: weeks ago that he passed on.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: No.
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so this is a this is a pretty sudden
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: pivot to this dedication for Ray in his memory. So
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: it's it's unfortunately a really uh a recent occurrence.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Sorry about that.
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: Thanks man.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, Greg and Ray, these are individuals that
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: we remember, and that's one of the reasons why we participate.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: I mean, losing somebody to you know, cardiac arrest, heart
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: attacks or whatever. It touches everybody's life. It's the number
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: one killer in America, and the Heart Association does everything
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: they possibly can do. Now, some of the resources that
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: you know, obviously this is a fundraiser, What are some
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: of the things that that is used one? How are
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: these funds used?
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: It's probably an easier way to ask it.
• 26:04
  Speaker 5: Yeah, And we already kind of alluded a little bit
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: earlier about some of the stuff that is investing in research. Right,
• 26:09
  Speaker 5: the American Heart Association has invested billions with a B
• 26:13
  Speaker 5: over the last century in the new advances in any
• 26:19
  Speaker 5: number of cardiovascular health approaches, everything from treatments to surgeries
• 26:23
  Speaker 5: and things like that. But then there's also that very
• 26:26
  Speaker 5: local approach and the fact that we do have community
• 26:29
  Speaker 5: Impact Staff focused on bringing education to communities where we
• 26:33
  Speaker 5: see higher rates of untreated and undiagnosed high blood pressure
• 26:38
  Speaker 5: or communities that aren't prepared with CPR education. Working with
• 26:42
  Speaker 5: our communities and community centers that say, you know, we
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: really need a cardiac emergency response plan where someone knows
• 26:50
  Speaker 5: CPR is able to train staff, is able to create
• 26:52
  Speaker 5: a succession plan to make sure that this education continues
• 26:57
  Speaker 5: on that if someone collapses at our wine or at
• 27:01
  Speaker 5: our community center, we know what to do and someone
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: doesn't turn into another statistic that has been lost to
• 27:07
  Speaker 5: a cardiac arrest. We work with a lot of food
• 27:10
  Speaker 5: pantries as well. We talked about the importance of healthy eating,
• 27:14
  Speaker 5: working with food pantries to make sure heart healthy choices
• 27:19
  Speaker 5: are promoted and provided and that education is provided. We
• 27:24
  Speaker 5: also work with something we called our Food our X program,
• 27:28
  Speaker 5: providing fantastic fresh food to pregnant and expecting women so
• 27:34
  Speaker 5: that they also are keeping their blood pressure low and
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: keeping their health at the front of mine when those
• 27:42
  Speaker 5: nutrients are also going to their new baby. And that's
• 27:45
  Speaker 5: an incredibly successful program in our communities to improve health.
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: All right, we have less than two minutes left, so
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: the Heart Walk is coming at Point State Park September twelfth.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: What happens at the event.
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: Any number of things.
• 28:00
  Speaker 5: Right, So, we have a new, incredibly new event experience
• 28:05
  Speaker 5: that we're launching this year that we're really excited about
• 28:08
  Speaker 5: called the b Extraordinary Area, where we have an entire
• 28:12
  Speaker 5: area of the event focused on that participant centered.
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: Engagement with the event.
• 28:18
  Speaker 5: So it focuses on our survivors, It focuses on people
• 28:21
  Speaker 5: knowing their health numbers and engaging with those health resources.
• 28:25
  Speaker 5: But even if education isn't your thing and you want
• 28:29
  Speaker 5: to come and enjoy, we have live music, We have
• 28:32
  Speaker 5: a great warm up team that gets people excited and ready.
• 28:35
  Speaker 5: We have opportunities to learn CPR. It is a kid
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: friendly event. Absolutely have a kid event, and it's also a.
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: Dog friendly event.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: All right, So if somebody wants to sign up or
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: become a sponsor, what do you recommend?
• 28:47
  Speaker 5: Go to our website, heart dot org, slash Pittsburgh Walk,
• 28:51
  Speaker 5: or feel free to reach out to any of us
• 28:54
  Speaker 5: here in.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: The appen What about volunteers? Do you need volunteers? Off
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: somebody who can? Yes, you can get more information. Yeah,
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: there's contact info right on our Heart Walk website. All right,
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: let's leave it with Shannon are this year's chair. What
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: else do you want to what else do you want
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: to say?
• 29:07
  Speaker 4: Well, Johnny, I want to thank you your audience for
• 29:11
  Speaker 4: your support of the heart Walk and everything that you
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: do to bring awareness to what we're trying to do
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: here in Pittsburgh. So thank you so much. And you know,
• 29:20
  Speaker 4: to all my friends, family colleagues out there, join us
• 29:23
  Speaker 4: September twelfth for this year's Heartwalk. We're going to have
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: a blast in memory of Ray.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Shannon and Lizzie, thank you so much for the time.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: I'll see you on September twelfth, see you there as always.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: If you have any comments or concern or an idea
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: for our future program, please email us from this radio
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: station's website. Now, I'm Johnny heart Well, thank you so
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: much for listening.
• 29:57
  Speaker 6: Hey, life doesn't stop when cancers starts. Some don't make
• 30:01
  Speaker 6: it to treatment simply because they don't have a ride.
• 30:04
  Speaker 6: You can change that. Volunteer to drive with the American
• 30:07
  Speaker 6: Cancer Society Road to Recovery Program. Visit cancer dot org
• 30:11
  Speaker 6: slash drive to learn more.