Talk Of The Rock: Central Arkansas Heart Walk 2024

Talking with Kelly Owen, director of the Central Arkansas Heart Walk that's coming up on April 27th with fun for the whole family and a chance to learn more about heart health as well as raise money for the American Heart Association and their fight against heart disease and stroke, the #1 and #5 causes of death in Arkansas.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome and thanks for tuning in forTalk of the Rock public affairs, community
events, and public services for CentralArkansas from the iHeartRadio Studios in Little Rock.
Here's your host, DJ Taylor,and thank you for joining us for
Talk of the Rock. I'm DJTaylor and I'm joined by Kelly Owen.
Now she is the director of theCentral Arkansas Heart Walk, but also the

(00:21):
development director for Heart Challenge in CentralArkansas. Now, that sounds like there
is a whole lot involved in yourduties with the American Heart Association. Tell
me a little bit about that.So the Heart Challenge is just an encompassing
terminology that means a suite of activeevents. So we try to meet people
where they are, create fundraising activitiesand efforts throughout our community that are not

(00:46):
super challenging that everyone can step into, but are also encouraging people to be
active. So this coming year,I'm talking to some folks and companies about
sponsoring pickleball tournament. Nice. Yeah, we're talking to some folks about looking
at sponsoring a top golf event,and of course we have the Walk.

(01:08):
So my goal in this position,first of all, is to raise funds
to fund cardiovascular research that's happening righthere in Arkansas. We have a ton
of fascinating projects that are being executedright now at UAMS that we're very,
very proud of. But it isalso to get people active and moving in

(01:30):
ways that are accessible, because thosesmall little steps really do add up to
huge health outcomes. Absolutely they do. I know, I've just started training
for five k's. I want tostart doing stuff like that this summer.
I've been trying to get the weightoff and get my blood pressure back down
and everything else going on from acardiovascular standpoint. So it makes a whole

(01:53):
lot of sense. Now let meask you about this. You said that
there are a lot of sponsorship opportunities. If you're an area of business and
you wanted to reach out to sponsorone of these events, sort of maybe
find a list of events. What'sthe best way to go about that.
You can reach out to me directlyk E L L Y dot oen w

(02:15):
E N at heart h E Ar T dot org. And like I
said, I'm looking to partner withbusinesses, small businesses, large businesses of
all varieties to really put their nameon these events and champion them and publicize
them in the community. So please, if you're interested in any sponsorship opportunities,

(02:38):
whether it's something that I mentioned interms of pickleball or top golf,
or it's the walk which is happeningjust a couple of weeks April twenty seventh
at the North Shore Riverfront Walk inNorth Little Rock, please reach out to
me because there are a ton ofopportunities for businesses in Central Arkansas to say

(03:00):
I am a champion for the healthof ar Kansas and also get in front
of a lot of new people.So we love to partner with our local
businesses. Another thing about that is, I'm sure there are also lots of
volunteer opportunities for civic groups or organizations, church groups, neighborhood groups, things

(03:21):
like that, if they'd like tovolunteer, even for things like the heart
Walk. There's a lot of componentsto that. Absolutely, there are a
lot of moving pieces for the HeartWalk. I think the number one way
at this point in time that youcan volunteer. It's not too late.
Go do our website Central Arkansas HeartWalk and sign up a team and start

(03:42):
championing health in your community by settingan example of walking raising funds. We
have a lot of ideas on howyou can do that. It is not
too late, and even though thewalk is happening April twenty seventh, you
can continue to walk and fundraise allthe way up to June thirtieth. Well,
and I do want to point outthat walking is a fantastic exercise.

(04:06):
It doesn't sound like much. Imean when you think of getting out and
hitting the sidewalks or whatever, hittingthe treadmill for exercise, you think about
those like marathon ers and stuff likethat. That is not the case myself.
You know, I sit at adesk most of the time. I'm
in the booth here in this chaira lot of times. But just getting

(04:28):
up and walking for like ten minutesevery couple of hours, or you know,
taking a walk in the evening nowthat it's warming up and it's getting
nice outside, you just take afifteen to twenty minute walk. You don't
have to do anything strenuous, youdon't have to jog or run or any
of that. Just walking get yourheart pumping, gets the blood flowing,
and gets you that cardiovascular exercise thatyou need. Absolutely, the reason the

(04:54):
Heart Walk is our signature event isnot just because you know, we like
walking it's because walking is actually goodfor you. And the American Heart Association
is a nonprofit that relies heavily onscience, and so anything that we're putting
out to the public is heavily basedon the science. Much of this that

(05:16):
we're funding that's happening right here inthe community. But the walk is our
signature event because walking is something thatis accessible to almost everyone. It's something
that does not require the purchase ofa lot of expensive equipment. It's something
that you can start today just settinga few minutes. One of the things

(05:36):
that I like to do is whenI'm watching TV and there's a commercial break,
get up and walk around the room. I actually have put a walking
pad in part of our office thatisn't being used, and so if I'm
on a webinar, I'm going togo back to that area and I'm going
to get on my walking pad towatch the webinar. It's something that you

(05:58):
can get a group of folks togetherat work and just walk for fifteen minutes
on your lunch break. We also, you know, we want to focus
on making this accessible even if there'sweather, even if maybe you don't feel
safe in your neighborhood, or therearen't a lot of sidewalks or safe walking
areas. Find a local business.I mean in Little Rock we have park

(06:20):
Plaza, mall, we have theheights, we have so many areas,
and we have some beautiful, beautifulparks in Central Arkansas. So find a
place that feels safe where walking issomething that is easy to do, that
you like to go and take anhour on a Saturday, grab a couple

(06:43):
of friends. It's amazing how healthyyou can get in a really short period
of time by devoting a few hoursa week to walking, and the time
really adds up. And also oneof the additional added benefits I've found is
that when you're walking with friends orgroups of people, you're having time away
from your devices to actually connect ona deeper level. And even if you're

(07:06):
out walking alone, that's a timeto be really self reflective, to be
in nature, to be observant.I think that we so many of us,
I mean both of us here inthe studio sit behind a desk a
lot of the time and answer emailsand write emails and do most of our
work that way. Most of ourrecreation now takes place in a sedentary manner.

(07:30):
We want to slowly change that sothat we're benefiting not just our physical
health with the act of walking,but we're also benefiting our mental health as
well. And our studies have shown, I mean many studies over a long
period of time, that this isbeneficial in lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease,
in lowering the risk of chronic diseaseslike diabetes, and also increasing mental

(07:55):
health. You have a lower incidenceof depression, lower incidence of an anxiety,
and even a lower incidence of dementiajust from adding steps into your daily
and weekly and monthly routine. AndI do want to point out also,
heart disease is the number one causeof death amongst our Kansas, with higher

(08:16):
rates among women than men, andit's something that a lot of times is
treatable, if not preventable. Absolutely, I mean, heart disease remains the
number one killer of our Kansas.It's also the number one killer of Americans.
Eighty percent of heart disease is treatableor preventable. And again I like

(08:37):
to lean into the preventable part,because if we're incorporating activity into our daily
lives on a regular basis, it'svery possible to prevent it. Some of
us just have that genetic component whereit's just no matter how much you know
diet or exercise or lifestyle changes areimplemented, there's still going to be a
piece that requires those regular visits toyour doctor, to your cardiologists to manage

(09:01):
those chronic health conditions. But wefind that you know, again, eighty
percent of this is treatable or preventableif you are one of those people with
that genetic component, like I knowin my family, I come from a
long line of people who have geneticallyhigh blood pressure and issues with diabetes,

(09:24):
regardless of diet and exercise. SoI think one of the number one things
you can do is, first ofall, be aware of your family history
and how your genetics may impact yourhealth, and make your health decisions based
on that information. If you areone of those people who still needs to
see a cardiologist or a doctor,be assertive about being a health champion.

(09:46):
Because and I was out at achurch recently speaking to a group of women,
it's so easy when we have busylives to neglect ourselves. But one
of the number one things that wecan do for ourselves and for people who
may be looking at it like ourkids, like our grandkids, like our
family members. Is set an exampleof being a champion and an advocate for

(10:07):
our health and making it a priority. If you feel like something's wrong,
it's time to go to the doctor. And I think one of the main
things that I love about the AmericanHeart Association is there's so much information available.
Like you said, you were speakingto a group of women at a
church just recently, they can dothe same thing for your civic organization,
your church group, your women's groupmaybe, or your men's group. If

(10:31):
you have a maybe you have awalking club, why not sure make sure
that the information about that is alsoat heart dot org if you'd like to
set something like that up. Andthen of course coming up on April twenty
seventh at north Shore Riverwalk Park,it's the twenty twenty four Central Arkansas Heart
Walk. Now number one, you'rewalking, you're getting your exercise, you're

(10:54):
taking care of your cardiovascular health,but you're also raising money to help promote
cardiovascular health in Arkansas. Like wewere just talking about individuals or teams.
Is that how that works out?Absolutely. We definitely encourage people to sign
up in advance at our website soyou can google Central Arkansas Heart Walk.

(11:16):
It'll be the first result that comesup, and we invite you to join,
to join as a team and startraising funds and start getting active.
But that being said, you canshow up day of. You can wake
up the morning of April twenty seventh, which is a Saturday, and say
hey, I think I want togo out and join the walk today,

(11:37):
and we can sign you up rightthere at the gate. There's plenty of
parking. The closest GPS location,although you will probably be able to see
us, it's going to be abig group of people, but the closest
GPS location is going to be theInland Maritime Museum, which shout out to
them. They're not going to unfortunately, be open that day, but we
do use the same parking lot,so if anyone's like, I'm not sure

(12:01):
where to go that day, theGiant Submarine in North Little Rock on the
River. It is a beautiful walkand you can choose from one, two
or four miles. It's a loopwe're going to start. I do encourage
everyone to be there by eight am. The doors will open. Our program,
our pre program starts at eight tenand then our main program starts at

(12:22):
eight thirty. We have a greatgroup of sponsors who are setting up booths
all related to some kind of healthyactivity, so we have you can grab
a healthy snack at our nutrition tint. You can grab some hydration at our
Hydration Tint. We do have apetting zoo. Arkansas Circus Arts is going

(12:45):
to be performing. We're giving alot of awards for our top walkers.
From the stage. We're going todo something called the T Shirt Strut,
which is a T shirt fashion show. A lot of people who have been
involved with the Heart Walk for along time, we'll remember this while we're
bringing it back. A lot ofour teams make T shirts, so we're
going to have a T shirt fashionshow where all the teams can select a

(13:09):
member to show off their T shirt. Lots of activities for the kids,
lots of learning opportunities for the adults. We're going to be have CCHI Saint
Vincent out there doing CPR demos.Our chair sponsor, Blue Cross Blue Shield
is there at the Nutrition Tint andQual Choice are presenting. A sponsor is

(13:31):
in charge of the kids zone.And if you have a dog on a
leash that gets along while with othersbring them out as well. We have
a whole tint dedicated to our furryfriends, and a limited number of American
Heart Association bandanas will be given outto the doggos as well. So fun
for the whole family. Everybody cancome out, everyone can join us,

(13:52):
everyone can get active. Very cool. So you've got plenty of stuff for
the kiddos to do. You gotyour furry friends taken care of, and
then of course get your team togetherand bring them out for the heart Walk.
North Shore Riverwalk Park is a beautifulwalk, lots and lots of parking
right there off of when you godown Broadway and you cut back. It

(14:13):
is a great time and just reallylooking forward to everything that's going to be
out there. Now. If youdon't have a team yet, you can
still get one together at heart dotorg. Is that right? Yes?
And again, just type into yoursearch bar Central Arkansas Heartwalk and it'll be
the first search result you can.It'll it's very into it. It's an

(14:37):
intuitive website. It'll guide you throughhow to sign up your team and you
can just show up day of.We're gonna have to have you fill out
a quick form before you enter theevent. But we just want everyone to
come out and to join and tohave a lot of fun, you know,
joining with our community to get somehealthy exercise and also reason friends for

(15:00):
the American Heart Association. You canchoose how far and how long you want
to walk. I do encourage everyoneto get there by eight am so they
can get the full suite of activities, the tabling, the CPR trainings,
the activities for the kids and thedogs and the family prior to us beginning

(15:20):
the walk. But the actual walkitself will kick off around nine am.
April twenty seventh, north Shore RiverWalk Park, Central Arkansas Heart Walk with
the American Heart Association. Kelly Owen, thank you so much for coming in
today and talking about this, sharingthis with us. Thank you so much
for having me. Absolutely thanks forlistening to Talk of the Rock public affairs

(15:41):
and community events from the iHeartRadio studiosin Little Rock. Be sure to subscribe
to this podcast and listen next weekas we talk to more guests about public
service, local charities, and eventsgoing on in your neighborhood.