GREENSBORO, N.C. — People gathered this weekend to raise awareness and money to fight cardiovascular disease, which the America Heart Association says is the leading cause of death in the United States.
The Triad Heart Walk was held at Triad Park in Kernersville on Saturday. It’s one of six Heart Walks held across the state each year.
Greg Stump served as the chairperson of this year’s walk and said his community connections helped to recruit companies and organizations to take part in the walk and raise money.
Stump is a vice president with the Budd Group, a facilities services company. His company is a sponsor, and employees take part in the walk.
“I cannot count the number of times that we’ve had employees that have had to be taken into care because of high blood pressure or what became later learned is a heart attack. And, it’s a need for our employees to be able to know where they can get health care and how having health care can prevent the heart diseases that the American Heart Association is focused on working with,” he said.
It’s not just a professional endeavor for Stump. It’s personal.
His mother suffered a stroke in 2009.
“The prognosis was not good,” Stump said.
She spent eight weeks in a hospital, but Stump said his dad got her the care she needed.
“After about three and a half months or so, she walked out of the rehab center and returned home and of course, she is still with us today,” he said. Stump said she has even written a book about her experience with having a stroke.
“The research and work that’s done by the Heart Association was a part of her recovery and understanding how to prevent this from happening again,” he said.
Stump said his family started participating in Heart Walks about 15 years ago. The importance of heart health hit the family again, however, when two of his wife’s cousins died in recent years in their early 60s.
“It was really a wake-up call for us to think about how, you know, we can do all the right things, but we just don’t know if we haven’t gone and sought the right medical care,” Stump said.
Now, he’s trying to do all he can to educate and protect his team and others.
“One thing that we want to do is not only be working to provide healthy lifestyles for our employees but also bring people together as a community.
Stump said people who signed up for the Heart Walk had access to a video teaching CPR skills. That training and education is a big part of the American Heart Association’s efforts.
The organization says CPR can double or triple the chances of survival.
Stump has also been involved in a campaign called “Doctor, it’s been too long.”
The message is simple: if you feel bad, you need to go to the doctor. If not, you don’t know what you’re dealing with.
Justin Quesinberry
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