“I want to applaud all of you because you’re giving your attention to your health, and the health of your family and loved ones. Improving cardiovascular health for all of us and reducing deaths from heart disease and stroke are driving motivations of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association,” she said. “We continue to push forward those goals while laying the foundation for the future. Improving our health now—knowing our numbers, knowing how we can improve our health—will positively affect the health of our children and our grandchildren. It’s important that we do this now for them later.”
The afternoon’s program, which featured gospel icon Vickie Winans and was hosted by WAMO 100.1 FM’s Marlon Martin, also known as Brother Marlon, included entertainment by the Family & Friends Choir of Pittsburgh, led by Parrish Davenport; a presentation of the 2016 Salute to Volunteerism award to Jerry Ann Allen, co-founder and executive director of Allen Place Community Services, Inc., for her more than 30 years of dedication to promoting health education and prevention programs in the North Side.; a plea to join the fight to incorporate CPR classes in Pennsylvania high schools; and a few words from honorary event chairs Charlie and Latasha Batch of the Best of the Batch Foundation.
[pullquote]“We are proud to be apart of such an important event,” Charlie Batch, former Steelers quarterback, said. “Latasha and I are both passionate about physical activity and healthy living, so we are happy to share the message of the American Heart Association in creating a culture of health.”[/pullquote]
Following a delicious, heart-healthy meal, was the informative workshop entitled, When Your Heart Flutters It May Not Be Love, which was facilitated by Dr. Christopher Allen, a clinical associate professor of Medicine at UPMC. He educated guests about strokes, the risk factors, how to spot if someone is having one and what to do in the event that one is taking place. He also stressed the importance of spotting a stroke F.A.S.T, an acronym used to for the warning signs to look for if someone is having a stroke and what to do. It stands for Face drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulty and Time to call 911.
During the presentation, Allen relayed a few alarming statistics. According to him, approximately 795,000 Americans each year suffer a new or recurrent stroke; African Americans, followed by Hispanics and Asians, are more impacted by strokes; strokes are the number one cause of disability in the United States; and a stroke occurs every 53 seconds.
While the workshop was an important part of the event, it was Winans who was the main show. The gospel artist turned comedian kept many in the audience laughing with stories about her family and growing up as one of 12 children, and said, “It’s not our hearts, it’s our choices… We need to change the statistics.”
Bishop Loran Mann, senior pastor of Pentecostal Temple COGIC and who gave the invocation at the luncheon, said, “Heart problems are almost indigenous in the Black community and it’s about time we aggressively tackle this issue.” He went on to say, “when you mix in the factors of lifestyle, diet, everyday stress, it makes us even more prone and subject to this. We need to spread the word throughout our community and do something about the issues of the heart.”
Next year’s luncheon will take place Sept. 16, 2017.
(For more information on the American Heart Association, visit www.heart.org.)
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