STATE COLLEGE —The 2018 Centre County Heart Walk, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 6, at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, will be among 300 Heart Walks held in communities across the nation. Each year, nearly 1 million people walk in the events, which are fundraisers of the American Heart Association.
“The Heart Walk is still focused on its initial assignment, funding groundbreaking research through the passion of walking together to change lives,’ said Dr. Michael Lesko, chief of cardiology for Geisinger Health System’s Western Region and the 2018 Heart Walk chairman. “I am honored to serve and play a role in the promise of a better future for younger generations to live.”
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.
“The American Heart Association has carved a place in the history of health by saying yes to progressing lifesaving science,” Lesko said. “The science of how we respond to heart disease and stroke has progressed tremendously. With a new generation lacing up their shoes to participate in the Heart Walk, I am excited to see the big solutions to come.”
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.
The Heart Walk is open to the community. Those who walk are committed to funding research that keeps hearts beating. The American Heart Association invested more than $650,000 in six active research projects at Penn State University.
Over the past 25 years the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association have funded $3.4 billion in research.
For more information or to register for the Centre Heart Walk, visit www.heart.org/centrewalk.
