The American Heart Association,the world’s leading voluntary health organization dedicated to building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke, is hosting the Quad Cities Heart Walk on June 12. Best part is, YOU get to choose where you want to walk!
The Heart Walk event has been instrumental in helping fund innovative breakthroughs, and since its inception,mortality rates from cardiovascular disease and stroke have plummeted by 45 percent.Each walker and each donation has helped to transform health statistics into lives saved, but there is more work to be done.
Each day, about 2,150 Americans die from heart disease from cardiovascular disease - the No. 1 killer in the United States. Stroke, the No. 5 killer and a leading cause of severe disability, claims the lives of nearly 219,000 each year.
Nearly 1 million people walk each year for a singular mission, to cure heart disease and stroke.The Quad Cities Heart Walk is among 300 Heart Walks held in communities across the nation. The June 12 event will be held digitally, enabling participants to “move where you are” in support of the American Heart Association’s mission.
Each time someone laces up their shoes or forms a team to participate in the Heart Walk they are instrumental in innovative breakthroughs. Every donation helps create new technologies such as the artificial heart valve, cholesterol drugs, stents and the mechanical heart pump which helps extend the life of patients.
Over the past 25 years the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association have funded $3.4 billion in research. But the work is far from done. The American Heart Association is nearing the $5 billion mark as we work to fund big ideas to pioneer breakthroughs in our understanding and treatment of heart disease and stroke.
The Heart Walk is open to the community as all are welcome to participate and change the story of heart disease and stroke in Iowa. Those who walk are committed to funding research that keeps hearts beating. The Association is calling on Iowa’s communities to take a step towards better health.
For more information on the Quad Cities Heart Walk, visitwww.QuadCitiesHeartWalk.org.