Heart Walk surpasses 2005 goal

Clayton, 22 months old and the son of Tim and Becky Green of Underwood, Iowa, is one of the youngest people at the Heart Walk to wear a Red Cap. His mother holds him while she and her sister, Sarah, register at the Red Cap table.

More than 2,200 people turned out for the 10th annual Omaha-Metro American Heart Walk on May 7 and raised more than $415,000, surpassing the 2005 goal of $375,000. This is the first year the local goal has been reach.

“We are very pleased with the outcome of the walk on all ends,” said Jennifer Redman, director of the Heart Walk for the American Heart Association.

UNMC and University Medical Associates were Red Cap sponsors, hosting a pre-walk breakfast at Chalco Hills Recreation area for approximately 200 heart attack, stroke and heart disease survivors and their families.

The Omaha-Metro American Heart Walk is the largest Nebraska fund-raising event for the American Heart Association.

Team UNMC/NMC/UMA registered 169 walkers and raised $34,931, reported Cynthia Sutton, administrator, cardiology. The team was the second largest corporate fund raising group this year.

Sutton and her co-captain, Becky Paar, manager, cardiac rehabilitation, The Nebraska Medical Center, were recognized as the second and third top fund-raisers for the city, bringing in $3,756 and $3,636, respectively.

Tom Porter, M.D., professor, cardiology, asked all the Red Cap walkers to gather in front of the stage to be recognized as heart attack, stroke or heart disease survivors. More than 200 survivors attended the May 7 walk.

For their efforts, Sutton and Paar were given the honor of throwing and catching the first pitch at Saturday’s Omaha Royals baseball game. The game was sponsored by The Nebraska Medical Center as a “Go Red for Women” night for the American Heart Association.

Heart disease and stroke are the number one and number three killers of Nebraskans. The American Heart Walk educates the Omaha-Metro area of the risk factors of cardiovascular diseases and stroke, and what can be done to prevent it. Funds raised support local medical research and educational programs of the American Heart Association.

Over the last three years, the American Heart Association has provided about $2.3 million to help fund medical research projects involving cardiovascular disease and stroke at the UNMC, Creighton University Medical Center, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska at Omaha.