Published: September 04, 2008 09:47 am      

Walkers raise money for heart health

DANVILLE — This Sunday, area businesses and individuals will fight cardiovascular disease and increase heart awareness at the American Heart Association’s Vermilion County Start! Heart Walk.

Pat Shedlock, Danville Area Community College employee and coordinator for the college’s contribution to the walk, said between 200 and 300 people will participate in the event that begins at 12:30 p.m. with registration and a health fair.

Those interested may still sign up.

An opening ceremony will take place at 1:30 p.m. and the walk steps off at 1:55 p.m. at the gazebo behind the Bremer Conference and Workforce Development Center.

The walk will last about an hour and 20 minutes. It will end at the gazebo.

The walk is different from other walks, such as the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, which collects donations based on completed laps.

“It’s more of a ceremonial event,” said Amanda Beckler, director of the American Heart Association for Champaign, Vermilion and Coles counties. The Heart Walk is the signature fundraising event for the AHA.

The Heart Walk has both a short and long course, but the walkers’ presence is the essence of the event, she said.

“Each year we do about 600 across the United States,” Beckler said.

The walks not only raise money for the association, but enhance cardio health awareness. Almost 38 percent of all deaths in Vermilion County are due to cardiovascular disease or heart attacks, Beckler said.

The fundraising goal for the Vermilion County walk is $40,000. Some of the money will go to local university heart studies.

During the last five years, the University of Illinois has received more than $3 million for research and Illinois State University has received about $50,000.

Research dollars make up almost 22 percent of the AHA’s expenditures; public health education is 39.3 percent; fundraising is 12.8 percent; community service makes up 6.3 percent and professional education, training and other expenses make up the remainder.

Public education includes cardiopulmonary resuscitation education and other initiatives that teach people how to save lives, Beckler said. Modifications in CPR procedures have led to more effective life-saving techniques in recent years, she added.

Such knowledge wouldn’t be possible without donations and fundraisers like the Heart Walk.

COMING UP

The American Heart Association’s annual Heart Walk on the grounds of Danville Area Community College and the Veterans Affairs Illiana Health Care System will begin at 12:30 p.m. Sunday at the DACC gazebo. Those interested in more information, or who would like to sign up should call 355-5119 or visit http://www.heartwalk.kintera.org/vermilion.