Red River Valley Heart Walk date set

The American Heart Association, the world’s leading voluntary health organization dedicated to building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke, is celebrating the 26th anniversary of the Heart Walk, an event that has been instrumental in innovative breakthroughs over the last 26 years. Since the inception of the Heart Walk in 1993, 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. 

The Red River Valley Heart Walk is among 300 Heart Walks held in communities across the nation. Nearly 1 million people walk each year walk for a singular mission, to cure heart disease and stroke. This year the Red River Valley Heart Walk will be held on September 12 at Urban Plains Park. Individuals and teams can register online atwww.RedRiverValleyHeartWalk.org.  

Each time someone laces up their shoes or forms a team to participate in the Heart Walk they are influential in groundbreaking breakthroughs that have taken place in the last 25 years. 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,” said Brad Hintermeyer, CEP ACSM, medical fitness manager for the Sanford Health Cardiac Rehab and Center for Screening. “The science of how we respond to heart disease and stroke has progressed tremendously in the past 26 years. 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 as all are welcome to participate and change the story of heart disease and stroke in Fargo-Moorhead. Those who walk are committed to funding research that keeps hearts beating.

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.

For more information or to register for the Red River Valley Heart Walk, visit www.RedRiverValleyHeartWalk.org.