Participants walk around Parkland’s campus during the Heart Walk on Sept. 16.
Alex Davidson
Staff Writer
On Sept. 16, 2017, the American Heart Association’s annual Heart Walk in Champaign was held on Parkland’s campus, with crowds nearly twice as big as last year.
“Our attendance was almost double from last year,” said Carol Floyd, regional director of the American Heart Association. “That [has] a lot to do with just the input with some new companies and also the help of the Parkland students in general.”
Local businesses around Champaign brought in teams of people to walk. The largest team came from Presence Health, but there were people from every background at the event, including several survivors of heart complications and relatives of victims.
Check-in was at 8 a.m., and from then until 9 a.m., the participants were free to roam the tents before a few speakers took the stage to provide encouragement and warm up with everyone else.
The actual walk took the crowds from Parking Lot B around the D-wing, before splitting off into two paths: one heading back to the main event area and one that ran an extra few miles around Dodds Park and then back to the main event.
There were several different booths set up, each one offering something different. There was a massage booth, a booth offering water bottles to the walkers, as well as educational booths.
One booth offered blood pressure measurements, as well as warning signs for heart attacks. It included information on signs of heart attacks in both men and women, as well as ways to reduce the risk of a heart attack. Tips included cutting down on cholesterol-increasing and other generally unhealthy foods, becoming active, and monitoring blood pressure to make sure it doesn’t cause any problems.
Parkland’s dentistry program also offered information on how to prevent heart disease and heart attacks. Explained by them, heart health is directly connected to how healthy your mouth is. If you have gingivitis, a form of gum disease, you are more likely to acquire health complications when you get older. This is because the mouth is directly connected to the heart via blood vessels.
You can tell if you have gingivitis if your gums are red and swollen and hurt when you touch them. Bleeding in the gums is a sign as well. They also offered ways to take care of your teeth, such as brushing twice per day and utilizing different services the Parkland clinic offers, such as examinations, hygiene instruction, and X-rays.
There was also a table giving general tips on how to avoid heart complications, such as pacing yourself throughout the day so that you don’t overexert yourself and making plans to decrease stress.
Heart health wasn’t the only thing showcased at the walk. One of the booths was dedicated to teaching about signs of a stroke and how to prevent it. Tips included keeping low blood pressure and cholesterol, being physically active, and lowering salt and alcohol consumption.
The Heart Walk was put together in order to raise awareness of heart attacks and other heart complications, while also trying to make an enjoyable and fun event for the entire family and teaching about how important it is to keep your heart healthy. Champaign’s was just one of many held around the country.
“It was a great experience to be involved in,” said Amy Reitmeier, a heart attack survivor. “I think it raises awareness for heart health in general.”
