Heart Walk expects 2,000+

The goal of this year’s Heart Walk is $240,000.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — More than 2,000 residents of Mahoning, Columbiana and Trumbull counties are expected to participate in the American Heart Association’s Heart Walk on Saturday at Youngstown State University.

Walkers will assemble at 9 a.m. at the university track on Elm Street at the Madison Avenue Expressway, and the walk will begin at 10 a.m.

With heart disease and stroke survivors wearing Red Caps of Courage, participants will walk a two-mile course around the campus.

Molly McGaffick, 5, of Salem, the 2008 Heart Child, and her family, will lead the walk. A daughter of Claudia and Eric McGaffick, Molly was born with a heart defect known as Tetralogy of Fallot. She has undergone two surgeries, one of them involving the installation of a pacemaker.

The goal of this year’s walk is $240,000. The total raised by more than 2,000 walkers last year was $185,500. Funds raised will go toward the association’s research and education efforts in the Mahoning Valley and statewide.

Participants walk either as individuals or team members. Participants raise money on behalf of their teams from family, friends and co-workers. Some teams conduct bake sales and other fund-raising activities.

“It’s an educational heart-health event that’s also a good time,” said Angela Presutti, communications director for the heart association’s Akron-Canton-Youngstown Division.

Most teams come from area businesses or nonprofit organizations. Among the larger teams will be those from Humility of Mary Health Partners, Forum Health, Salem Community Hospital and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

“These teams are not in competition with each other. Rather, they are joining the fight against heart disease and stroke together,” Presutti said.

Heart Walk is part of the association’s Start! program, which is designed to get people started in walking or some other form of exercise.

“We want people to see that walking is an easy, healthy, low-cost physical activity that almost everyone can do,” Presutti said.

The walk chairman is Bob Shroder, chief executive officer of Humility of Mary Health Partners.

The association says cardiovascular disease kills more people annually than the next five leading causes of death combined.

“Heart disease and stroke are the No. 1 and No. 3 killers in America, and community support is vital to the American Heart Association’s research and education efforts. The money we raise today will help people call themselves survivors in the future,” Presutti said.

The event will also include a health fair at the YSU track, featuring health screenings and exhibits from local agencies and businesses.

For more information, call Allison Mohr, Youngstown Heart Walk director at (330) 318-1002.