March 18, 2025 • 30 mins
“Five Harrisburg area women join a nationwide effort to combat the number one killer of women.” www.heart.org
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I am Sylvia Moss. This is in Sight, a
presentation of iHeartMedia where we really do care about a
look of communities and all our listeners who live here.
If you were a woman, if you know a woman,
or even if you love a woman, this program is
for you.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
For as much as.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Women have accomplished in many areas of our lives over
the last few decades, there's one major life lesson for
which we still struggle, and I'll admit on one of them,
we've been conditioning to put everybody else's needs before our
own and consider self care as being selfish. Well, all
the confidently running around or take care of our kids,
our spouses, aging parents, our jobs, our friends, our neighbors,
(00:41):
and on and on and on has left us stressed
out as well as emotionally and physically exhausted. Add to this,
not eating rank I'll grab something at a fast food place,
and no time for exercise. Girls, something's got to give,
and it has. We used to think that only a
man could have a hearted time. Well, the actual truth
(01:01):
is that men and women are equally likely to have
a heart attack, but women women are more likely to
die from a heart attack than men. In addition, the
symptoms of a heart attack often present differently in women
than they do in men. And well, all this said,
you should know that heart disease is the number one
killer of women worldwide, and it affects women of all ages.
(01:25):
And that's what upsets me is getting younger. You should
also know that one in three women are going to
die from a heart attack each year. A great deal
of what we have learned about heart disease is because
of the American Heart Association. Since nineteen twenty four, that's
one hundred years ago, when the American Heart Association was established. You,
(01:46):
my listeners, people and radio and TV, everybody out there
who hears this call, you have raised over five billion
dollars for research for the Heart Association. And because of
your generosity, cases of heart art disease have been cut
in half. But there's a heck of a lot that
we have to do more that we're going to learn
about today women and heart disease, as well as the
(02:09):
five local women who are raising funds that will advance
research and educate initiatives that will better identify, diagnose, treat,
and prevent art disease. And women are well, they can't
be here, but they're representative a wonderful guy. His name
is Blake Milbrand. He is the development director for the
American Heart Association. And this guy knows it inside and
(02:29):
out because first of all, I gotta tell you Blake
has a huge art because what he does is how
can I say this? This is part of who he
is and I love to talk to people like that.
Before he was here, he was with the Four Diamonds.
Tell us about that, Blake. And by the way, thanks
a lot for coming in for waiting for me.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Yeah, absolutely, thanks so much for having me on today
and I'm really really excited to get to talk to you.
So yeah, to start, you know, I started with Four
Diamonds as a postgraduate intern when I graduated college. So
being involved with on at Penn State really got me
involved into this philanthropic space. And being able to learn
(03:11):
the ins and the outs of what it was like
to work for a nonprofit as opposed to fundraise for
a nonprofit was really interesting to me. And being able
to really work on the stewardship of people that are
raising so much money for, like you said, research, because
research is what makes the world go round. In the
health and wellness space. So you know, I got to
(03:31):
give tours of the children's hospital three days a week
and even got put into some of the corporate and
community partner tours as well, and got to introduce them
to some of the care providers and you know, additional
folks that Ford Diamonds was funding at the time and
still are funding. And that really got me into my
career pace. Yes, absolutely, absolutely so. I've been with the
(03:53):
American Heart Association about three years now and my position
has really grown over the last three years. You know,
started just working on the Heartball campaign in Harrisburg, which
typically takes place in September on City Island, but being
able then to bring in Leaders of Impact, which is
affiliated with our Heartball campaign, and Women of Impact, which
(04:14):
is affiliated with Go Red for Women. And that's really
what we're going to talk about today is our Woman
of Impact nominees and all the great things they're doing
for our local community to really bring awareness to women's
heart health specifically.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
This goes on all year long. Yes, where and when
does this start?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yeah? So, our Go Red for Women movement is our
year long fundraising campaign really focused on the women's heart
health piece of the American Heart Association, and you know,
you rattled off some really great facts and figures at
the beginning of this, and you know it. That's why
this is so important, and that's why go red was
created about twenty one years ago.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Proud of you.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
She is. She definitely is. So women have impact specifically,
so the five ladies that we have yea, yeah, yeah,
they're great. So so they are concurrently taking part in
a nine week blind fundraising competition, so none of them
know where the other nominee stands in the uh in
(05:11):
the fundraising space. So you know, it's really great. I
get to meet with them every week and we talk
about their campaign. We talk about how, you know, they
can really make an impact, and you know, like I said,
they don't know where they're at. They're about halfway through
a little over halfway through now their campaign, so they've
just moved into week six.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Did I read that they're doing this in one hundred
cities across the country.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah, just women, just about one hundred cities. So what's
happening right here in the capital region. We have, you know,
in the state of Pennsylvania, we have women of Impact
happening in the Lehigh Valley. Our Northeast PA, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh,
our Central PA, Blair County, as well as you know,
South central PA in the Capital Region. So just in Pennsylvania,
(05:53):
this is all happening here, but you know, it's happening
across the country in New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles.
We have a campaign happening in Hawaii. So it's really
really cool to see just how much these ladies are
able to really spread spread the mission of the American
Heart Association and specifically go red for one.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Well, how did these girls? Are they chosen? Are they
did they volunteer? Are they nominated?
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah? Absolutely so they are. They're nominated from you know,
peers in their community, peers in the peers in their space,
or people who they've worked with in the past. So
we go through what we call a nomination task force.
So we start, we get you know, some of the
key key folks in the Capital region where they come together,
and we go through a whole kind of a program
(06:36):
so to speak, where you know, we start to really
generate some of those names. We start off with a
fun activity where on their post it note they write
the most famous person they've ever met, and you know,
that's their color of post it notes. Then we put
those all up around the room and they're then able
to talk about the person that they met. And then
we get into the nomination nomination process where they write
(07:00):
down as many you know, women that they think would
be a candidate for this campaign, and you know, we
get to see the room filled. In this past year,
we had over fifty five nominations, which was really really
great to see. Yeah, absolutely, it was. So it was
really funny narrowed down to five. Then, so then we
work with those nominators to set up individual meetings with
(07:22):
these women to see, you know, is this a campaign
that really speaks to them, is this something that they
would want to participate in? And you know, we we
obviously experienced some attrition from the you know, immediate fifty
five nominees down to having five in the Capitol region
this year. But you know, these five ladies are they're
a force to be reckoned with.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Oh well, I know, I mean the first one we
want to talk about is Patty. Yes, Patty Hill, Oh
my god, amazing. I mean, oh, Patty was the editor
and publisher of Harrisburg Magazine in heyday and she I
mean when you think Kyrisberger used to think Carrisburg Magazine
you thought Patty, right, And Patty is like an extension
(08:02):
of everything in Central Pennsylvania. She's involved in so much.
And I'm sure she wouldn't mind me mentioning that she
lost her son last year, just a few months ago
to heart disease, and it was a shock. And how
you go forward with that, I don't know. But Patty
is a strong woman and she's involved in this. And
what is she doing now? She works for Scary.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah, she's working for Trust Gary And she always says
she's retired, but she's now back for time tired.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
She had her knee surgery last summer, so she can
go if I to all right, issues with my knees.
And now she's preaching about you know, get that done,
get that done. Well, maybe I don't wonder Patty. You
know she doesn't sit on a rerent. No, She's always
so community minded.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Right, She's always moving a groove. And and when we have
our meetings every week, you know, she's always bringing in
new ideas. She's seeing who else she can reach out to.
And the reason why go Red for Women is here
in the Capital region. You can attributed to Patty. You know,
she saw it in New York City right around the
time that it had launched, and she was looking. I
(09:08):
forget who she was with, but she was with somebody
else within the community and you know, just walked up
to the individuals she saw it and she said, what's
going on here? And they said, it's Go Red for women,
and Patty said, well, that's something we need to do
here in Harrisburg. So she was definitely a key player
in bringing Go Red here. So we can really really
give her some props for that because she's a very
(09:30):
very strong connection to the mission and I would say,
you know, she's definitely a driving force behind, you know,
bringing that to to our area.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Who well and talked just about some of the other ladies.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Absolutely yes. So we have Paula Bellick of PA Chamber Insurance.
We also have Kate Beck of Perry's Strength and Fitness.
She is our first ever Perry County nominee for Woman
of Impact. So we've had Woman of Impact here for
around five years and our nominees have really matriculated from
Umberland Adolphin County. But we're really excited that we were
able to bridge into you know, the third county that
(10:05):
is considered capital region. So really excited to have Cato
on with us as well. We have Laura Kennedy from
Belko Community Credit Union, and we also have Beth Layer
from Kick House. She's the general manager of two Kick
House locations, which is, you know, a boxing studio in
York and in Hershey. Yeah, so you know we've got
some Oh.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Don't let Pagan involve. Can you imagine that? Oh?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Oh, man, I would fear for my life.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Yeah, give me an idea of like this is going
down over the last couple of years, so you wouldn't
know what people What have women done over the years
to raise these funds?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Give me an idea? Yeah, absolutely. So the beautiful thing
about Woman of Impact is our nominees are able to
kind of create their own journey of what they want
their nine weeks to look like. So they are hosting
fundraising events. They are able to spread the mission through
our impact opportunities as well.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Like what you're saying, what are your impact opportunities?
Speaker 2 (10:59):
So each they have a what we call a direct
impact opportunity where we break down a different segment of
the mission of the American Heart Association into a bite
sized piece for them to watch a video or engage
locally and post about it, and they earn impact points
which go on top of their fundraising total to really
make a difference, and you know, they're they're getting a
(11:21):
little bit more bang for their buck, so to speak.
From the fundraising, they're also learning a little bit more
about the American Heart Association as well. So you know,
some of the fundraisers that they've done this year, we've
had food truck give back nights. We've had a couple
pop up celebrity bartenders or happy hour events. We had
(11:42):
a a bingo night up at Sherman's Creek in which
was a lot of fun to see it. You know,
we've had some local restaurant give back nights as well,
and each of the ladies is designing a kind of
a direct packed event as well where they're able to
really hone in on the mission moments of the American
(12:04):
Heart Association. So they're either bringing in local women who
are impacted by heart disease or stroke, different care providers
or you know, people that are working with these individuals
day in and day out and really bringing that mission home,
which has been really cool to see you.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
So they're not just raising money, right, they're affecting people's
lives every time they get involved in something.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Correct. Absolutely, So it's great. It's a lot to pack
into nine weeks, but I think that they're doing a
thing with full time jobs, right, right, So this is
this is added on top of you know, sometimes they're
forty to fifty hour work week. They're taking this on
on top of that.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Sort. So these are the women that usually do it.
You don't see somebody with the I mean, usually somebody's
focused like that. Well, typically you don't give them amount
of money that they have to raise within certain period,
or do you.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
So we walk through kind of an onboarding process where
we sit down and we say, you know what, if
the sky is the limit, what do you want to
accomplish in your nine weeks? And then we turn it
into their goal setting period. So they go through two
hour long meetings with me where we talk really big
(13:20):
ticket this is what I'd love to see, and then
I give them about a week. They digest it and
then they're like, what did.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
I when I said that out from one of my fundraisers? Right?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
What did I just sign up for? And then you know,
once we revisit that second week. That's where you know,
at the end of the first week, I say, right,
so we have all of these ideas here, we get
them all down on paper and then I say, you know,
pick your top five what is your highest impact? But
what is your event that's going to be the most
lift for you? And let's talk about that one first.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
And let's be Must they be events or can they
glunt listed businesses in the community.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
They can do whatever they like. Yeah, so they can
solicit businesses, they can solicit individuals, or you know, they
can set up these fundraising events, which is a great
way to bring everybody together. So the ladies did just
compete in a Hearts across the Nation challenge over the
last two weeks, and that was a challenge that is
(14:20):
designed to get as many donations from as many states
as possible. So over the last two weeks they were
able to bring in donations from thirteen states all across
the country, from California to Florida. You know, we had
a donation come in from Colorado, We had a donation
come in from Oklahoma.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Say, my cousin is a doctor in Florida. Get him
on the phone. He's going to give a thousand bucks.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Is that how work? Yeah? Absolutely, And you know they
have their own individual fundraising websites that they can drive
people to, or you know, if they mail in a
donation or if they get that from you know, a person,
say it's a check, they get it mailed to them,
they give it to me, We get it cashed right
onto their pay and then I'm able to pull a
report on the back end to see where the donations
(15:04):
came in and you know what time Because let's say
two nominees got a donation from Florida, whichever one was
time stamped first, that's who got the point. And you know,
at the end, I was able to kind of award
the some bonus points for the for the campaign. For
the woman who brought in the most states. So she
(15:25):
brought in eight states, which was amazing. Her name Beth.
She brought in eight states between her and her team.
So that's another really interesting piece of this is these
ladies are able to form teams as well. So my
main campaign that I oversee is the Heart Walk in Harrisburg,
So it's very similar to where people are able to
(15:46):
create teams from a company or from someone in the
community who is impacted by heart disease or stroke, and
they bring them on to assist with the fundraising. It's
the same concept with Women of Impact, so they're able
to recruit team members who will participate in the direct
impact opportunities or to you know, share their own stories,
share their fundraising links, and you really broaden their reach.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
And in the meantime, they're educating women about these because
you know, I, Patty and I were talking about this
the one time. It's like, you keep going and going going,
you think you're gonna bingo. You know, you can't be
everything to everybody. It's just kind of that old story
about when you're an airplane and the airplane's going down,
you've got a child sitting next to you, better put
(16:30):
that think that mask over your face, because how heck
are you going to take care of the kid if
you can't take care of yourself first.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Absolutely, And that kind of circles back to a little
bit of what you said before with you know, women
and heart disease. A lot of times they will experience
symptoms of a heart attack or a stroke that could
be mistaken for another, you know, another condition, whether it's anxiety,
or well, let's talk about that.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
We'll get back to the event in a little while,
but I want to make sure we get that in now.
There are certain things that make us sort of what
would you call it, predisposed to having heart issues, things
like menopause. Thinks that men generally don't go through. Well,
I think some men go through menopause anyway, I'm kidding,
(17:14):
So I kind of thrill that in the mood swings.
But there are things. Can we talk about some of
those things?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Yeah? Absolutely, so, you know, I think it's important to say.
You know, menopause is not a cause of cardiovascular disease. However,
the changes that women go through when they hit menopause
or mode changes, right, you know, impact their cardiovascular health.
You know, women who reach menopausal age before the age
of forty five, so they hit that you know, magical
time of their life. You know it'll be fine, they
(17:42):
have a significantly higher risk of coronary heart disease. You know,
it can be the age of menopause can be influenced
by the length of their menstrual cycle, worst code, cardiovascular
health during reproductive years, and some additional socioeconomic factors. So
you know, race and fnicity also play a role.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
So tell me about that, like our one race gets
it more than another, are affected buy it more than another.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
So when we look at, you know, the different communities,
we see greater risk of cardiovascular disease in women in
the Hispanic and the Black communities, and it's impacting them
at younger ages. And part of what the American Heart
Association is really looking for is, you know, as as
you said, we've been around for over one hundred years now,
(18:30):
so after after one hundred years, you kind of have
to innovate a little bit. You have to think a
little bit outside the box. So they're looking for some
of those socioeconomic factors. Do they have access to healthy food?
Do they know? Do these communities know what to do
should they get healthy food from say a food bank
or something like that. It was really impactful. I was
(18:50):
having a conversation with a volunteer a few just a
few months ago now where she was volunteering at a
food bank and a little girl came up to her
and she is putting zucchini into their bags to take home,
and you know, the little girl said, you know, we
don't we don't want that. We my mom doesn't know
(19:10):
what to do with that, she throws it away and
that was really impactful to her. And when I heard
that story, that was really impactful to me as well,
because when you think about getting fresh produce donated too
a food bank or you know, some of these other
facilities that really really impact these individuals, do they know
what to do with it? So we have different programs
(19:31):
within the American Heart Association that takes it a step
further where they're able to engage in healthy eating or
healthy cooking classes where they're given, you know, a multitude
of fruits and vegetables and they say, these are things
that you can do with these. Here's how you can
prepare these for yourself, for your families, And you know,
they leave knowing that the next time they get a zucchini,
(19:51):
you know what to do with it, and you know
how you can incorporate it into your everyday diet or
you know, turn it into something a little bit more fun.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
We know you mentioned the fact that women Spanish, our
Hispanic and Afro American women are more susceptible. They're also
finding that out about breast cancer, about stroke, and it
really upsets me that in general, younger people are having
strokes and heart attacks that never had it before, and
(20:19):
it's got to be I mean, all these other things
you mentioned always existed with women, but stress seems to
be the number one thing.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah, And I would say stress levels are higher than
they've ever been exact, and that's definitely contributing to you know,
some of these some of these instances of early onset
stroke or heart disease.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Diabetes is an issue, yes.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Absolutely, and that's where it's kind of all linked together.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
You know.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
I always like to say when we talk about heart disease, stroke,
you know, the heart. Everyone has a heart, Everyone has
a reason to keep it healthy, and you know, everyone
has a reason to really take their own health into
their own hands. And that's where you know, go Right
for women is so powerful and such a powerful movement
for you know, women everywhere because it advocates for them
(21:06):
to take their health into their own hands and to
be their best advocate when they're in their doctor's appointments,
when they're having conversations about, hey, this isn't right. I
need to be able to you know, be taken seriously
with my symptoms and things that are happening.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
You know, Yeah, we have to take it seriously ourselves
before somebody else does, because you know that is yes,
and now moms are I mean, it's ridiculous how we
keep but because we I don't know, because I know
some people that are not supposed shouldn't be mothers. But
we're mother's nurture, women nurture.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
That's always been our role absolutely, and you know a
lot of times we experience even with my own mom,
she always puts everyone else ahead of herself. She's a
middle school teacher, so she has upwards of one hundred
and twenty kids every year that you know, go to
her with their you know, their school problems, sure their
home problems, and she she really does a great job of,
(22:07):
you know, being that that motherly figure to her students,
and you know, they really she builds those relationships with them.
But at the same time, there are times where I
have to remind her, like, hey, mom, you you have
to take care of your own health. And if this
is really starting to weigh on you, right or you're
starting to have, you know, physical symptoms or things you
cannot you can't dismiss those.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Well, let's talk a little bit about those physical symptoms
that seem to be different. I was surprised when I heard, oh,
maybe ten fifteen years ago, somebody started talking about when
the symptoms of a heart attack are you're you feel
it in your jaw or your neck. Is that specific
to women or is that for anyone?
Speaker 2 (22:46):
So it's actually crazy that women could experience up to
double the amount of symptoms for a heart attack then
a man will, and a lot of them could be
mistaken for other things. Yeah, we have. There was a
girl who she was a feature speaker for the American
Heart Association out of Lancaster a few years ago, who
had a heart attack at age I believe it was fourteen,
(23:10):
and it was dismissed as teenage anxiety for you know,
up to two weeks and finally, you know, it got
to the point where she needed surgical intervention and she
had to have open heart surgery at age fourteen. And
she was then, you know, flash forward seven years, was
having similar symptoms and again it was anxiety, you know,
(23:33):
manifesting and you know, leading up to her wedding she
was getting married. It was in the midst of COVID
and she had to advocate for herself and say, no,
I've been through this once. Already. And you know, she
did have to have a second open heart surgery before
her wedding. But she's doing great now she's married. You know,
things are, things are on the up and up for her.
(23:54):
But again, that's a perfect opportunity to highlight the importance
of advocating for yourself.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
You know what I think too, And this is tell
me about my own business. But I've been saying this
about kids and volunteering. Get kids when they're a little
to volunteer. But maybe what we should be doing in
health classes if they still have them in schools. I
don't know if they still not, but maybe there should
be something because they're happening to young, to people young
and younger, maybe we should be addressing the in schools
(24:22):
and health classes.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
I agree, I agree, and you know, to take it
one step further into to health classes and starting younger.
A focus of the American Heart Association with our Nation
of Life Savers is getting people familiarized with hands only
CPR and recognizing when those life saving tactics are needed.
(24:45):
And back in June of twenty nineteen, it was great
the American Heart Association was able to work alongside the
Pennsylvania State legislature to get some legislation passed to that
all graduating seniors need to have at least thirty minutes
of hand It is only CPR training to graduate.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
So that's one you guys should partner with. Julie Walker. Yes, oh,
I know, she's phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
She's doing amazing work in the community.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Oh my god, all over the place she's yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
I mean, yes, they they are. They're a great community
partner and I know they're doing wonderful things in they.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
She's been doing this for like ten years, making people
aware of sudden cardiac rested and young people. I mean,
it's it's amazing. It's the number one killer kids on
college campuses. Who knew that? You know, it's about education.
It's all about education and that besides helping to get
direct people who As far as fundraising, you're like the
(25:42):
what would you be the grandpoo pat of this? Right,
it's a team got next to your thing on your
risbond Grandpa.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Park throw LinkedIn real quick? Yeah cool? Oh yeah, it's
it's a team effort at the American Heart Association. You know,
we have great, great individuals on our team that are
doing you know, the fundraising work, the advocacy work, the
community impact work. We have a great team not only
here in the Capital region, but all across the state
(26:09):
and even all across the country of people that are
dedicated to improving the overall health and well being of
their local communities.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
You know, I'd like to talk a little bit about
the impact that the Heart Association. I said, I remember
having a disagreement with somebody when they said they wanted
to close the Space program down. And I also read
about if it weren't for the Space program, there would
be no artificial valves for heart disease for people who
have replacement. But when I think my mom had artificial
(26:39):
valves replaced in the early seventies and they cracked their
chest open, it was it was awful, you know, at
the Jefferson in Philadelphia. Now I understand they go up
through your growing to replace a heart valve. This is
all with this money that these ladies are generating. Is
these are the kind of things that are happening because
of that, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Absolute. So the innovations in research for this invasive treatment options,
you know, different treatment options that have been updated over
over the years. You know, it's really really important and
that's why, you know, the funding that is generated through
contributions made through our Woman of Impact or our Heart
Walk or donations to our heart Balls or you know
(27:21):
things along those lines. You know, once that money is received,
it's put to work in the community immediately.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Does a lot of it stay in Central Pennsylvania?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
How does that?
Speaker 1 (27:29):
How did they decide on that?
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Yeah, so that's a great question because a lot of
times I get the question of you know, why why
support the American Heart Association. You know, it's a national organization.
But the really great thing about research is that money
is put in uh, into work right away for you know,
our local teaching hospitals are you know, doctors and researchers
(27:52):
that are on grants from the American Heart Association to
continue their work. And that work is happening here in
south central Pennsylvania. Penn State Health is a great research
partner with the American Heart Association. You know, when you
think when you think research at in Pennsylvania, you know
we're a very research heavy state. So there's research that's
happening in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh right here in south central PA.
(28:15):
And the beautiful, beautiful thing about medical research is I
always like to say, everybody plays in the same sandbox.
You know, everyone is, you know, working towards a common goal.
It's not as competitive or anything of those those sorts.
You know, you're really just working towards a common goal.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Well, I've said this before, I'll say it against Central Pennsylvania,
you always come through. How can our listeners support these ladies?
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Absolutely? Yes, So Women of Impact wraps up on April tenth,
So if you I can have the link sent over
to support these ladies for the Capital region. But you
can make a contribution directly to their website, or you
can reach out to us, the American Heart Association, and
we can make sure that your gift is directed where
you'd like.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
So I can say, I can call you int hey,
where's this girl going to be? What's her active? How
do we find out about that?
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Yeah? Absolutely, so if you if you reach out to me,
you know, I'm happy to let you know where they are.
I know our ladies are really good on social media
about posting where their events are going to be. So
just keep your eyes peeled. You'll see Woman of Impact
in the South Central Pia region. That's that's where they'll
be awesome.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Awesome, Blake, thanks so much for coming to My guest
again has been Blake Milbrand, the director of Development for
the American Heart Association. Don't forget to catch insight every
weekend all in whenever I heart stations there's ten of them,
or any time in your favorite podcast step. I'm Sylvia Moss.
This has been insight. Thanks so much for listening. See
you next week.
Hi, I am Sylvia Moss. This is in Sight, a
presentation of iHeartMedia where we really do care about a
look of communities and all our listeners who live here.
If you were a woman, if you know a woman,
or even if you love a woman, this program is
for you.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
For as much as.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Women have accomplished in many areas of our lives over
the last few decades, there's one major life lesson for
which we still struggle, and I'll admit on one of them,
we've been conditioning to put everybody else's needs before our
own and consider self care as being selfish. Well, all
the confidently running around or take care of our kids,
our spouses, aging parents, our jobs, our friends, our neighbors,
(00:41):
and on and on and on has left us stressed
out as well as emotionally and physically exhausted. Add to this,
not eating rank I'll grab something at a fast food place,
and no time for exercise. Girls, something's got to give,
and it has. We used to think that only a
man could have a hearted time. Well, the actual truth
(01:01):
is that men and women are equally likely to have
a heart attack, but women women are more likely to
die from a heart attack than men. In addition, the
symptoms of a heart attack often present differently in women
than they do in men. And well, all this said,
you should know that heart disease is the number one
killer of women worldwide, and it affects women of all ages.
(01:25):
And that's what upsets me is getting younger. You should
also know that one in three women are going to
die from a heart attack each year. A great deal
of what we have learned about heart disease is because
of the American Heart Association. Since nineteen twenty four, that's
one hundred years ago, when the American Heart Association was established. You,
(01:46):
my listeners, people and radio and TV, everybody out there
who hears this call, you have raised over five billion
dollars for research for the Heart Association. And because of
your generosity, cases of heart art disease have been cut
in half. But there's a heck of a lot that
we have to do more that we're going to learn
about today women and heart disease, as well as the
(02:09):
five local women who are raising funds that will advance
research and educate initiatives that will better identify, diagnose, treat,
and prevent art disease. And women are well, they can't
be here, but they're representative a wonderful guy. His name
is Blake Milbrand. He is the development director for the
American Heart Association. And this guy knows it inside and
(02:29):
out because first of all, I gotta tell you Blake
has a huge art because what he does is how
can I say this? This is part of who he
is and I love to talk to people like that.
Before he was here, he was with the Four Diamonds.
Tell us about that, Blake. And by the way, thanks
a lot for coming in for waiting for me.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Yeah, absolutely, thanks so much for having me on today
and I'm really really excited to get to talk to you.
So yeah, to start, you know, I started with Four
Diamonds as a postgraduate intern when I graduated college. So
being involved with on at Penn State really got me
involved into this philanthropic space. And being able to learn
(03:11):
the ins and the outs of what it was like
to work for a nonprofit as opposed to fundraise for
a nonprofit was really interesting to me. And being able
to really work on the stewardship of people that are
raising so much money for, like you said, research, because
research is what makes the world go round. In the
health and wellness space. So you know, I got to
(03:31):
give tours of the children's hospital three days a week
and even got put into some of the corporate and
community partner tours as well, and got to introduce them
to some of the care providers and you know, additional
folks that Ford Diamonds was funding at the time and
still are funding. And that really got me into my
career pace. Yes, absolutely, absolutely so. I've been with the
(03:53):
American Heart Association about three years now and my position
has really grown over the last three years. You know,
started just working on the Heartball campaign in Harrisburg, which
typically takes place in September on City Island, but being
able then to bring in Leaders of Impact, which is
affiliated with our Heartball campaign, and Women of Impact, which
(04:14):
is affiliated with Go Red for Women. And that's really
what we're going to talk about today is our Woman
of Impact nominees and all the great things they're doing
for our local community to really bring awareness to women's
heart health specifically.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
This goes on all year long. Yes, where and when
does this start?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yeah? So, our Go Red for Women movement is our
year long fundraising campaign really focused on the women's heart
health piece of the American Heart Association, and you know,
you rattled off some really great facts and figures at
the beginning of this, and you know it. That's why
this is so important, and that's why go red was
created about twenty one years ago.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Proud of you.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
She is. She definitely is. So women have impact specifically,
so the five ladies that we have yea, yeah, yeah,
they're great. So so they are concurrently taking part in
a nine week blind fundraising competition, so none of them
know where the other nominee stands in the uh in
(05:11):
the fundraising space. So you know, it's really great. I
get to meet with them every week and we talk
about their campaign. We talk about how, you know, they
can really make an impact, and you know, like I said,
they don't know where they're at. They're about halfway through
a little over halfway through now their campaign, so they've
just moved into week six.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Did I read that they're doing this in one hundred
cities across the country.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah, just women, just about one hundred cities. So what's
happening right here in the capital region. We have, you know,
in the state of Pennsylvania, we have women of Impact
happening in the Lehigh Valley. Our Northeast PA, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh,
our Central PA, Blair County, as well as you know,
South central PA in the Capital Region. So just in Pennsylvania,
(05:53):
this is all happening here, but you know, it's happening
across the country in New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles.
We have a campaign happening in Hawaii. So it's really
really cool to see just how much these ladies are
able to really spread spread the mission of the American
Heart Association and specifically go red for one.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Well, how did these girls? Are they chosen? Are they
did they volunteer? Are they nominated?
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah? Absolutely so they are. They're nominated from you know,
peers in their community, peers in the peers in their space,
or people who they've worked with in the past. So
we go through what we call a nomination task force.
So we start, we get you know, some of the
key key folks in the Capital region where they come together,
and we go through a whole kind of a program
(06:36):
so to speak, where you know, we start to really
generate some of those names. We start off with a
fun activity where on their post it note they write
the most famous person they've ever met, and you know,
that's their color of post it notes. Then we put
those all up around the room and they're then able
to talk about the person that they met. And then
we get into the nomination nomination process where they write
(07:00):
down as many you know, women that they think would
be a candidate for this campaign, and you know, we
get to see the room filled. In this past year,
we had over fifty five nominations, which was really really
great to see. Yeah, absolutely, it was. So it was
really funny narrowed down to five. Then, so then we
work with those nominators to set up individual meetings with
(07:22):
these women to see, you know, is this a campaign
that really speaks to them, is this something that they
would want to participate in? And you know, we we
obviously experienced some attrition from the you know, immediate fifty
five nominees down to having five in the Capitol region
this year. But you know, these five ladies are they're
a force to be reckoned with.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Oh well, I know, I mean the first one we
want to talk about is Patty. Yes, Patty Hill, Oh
my god, amazing. I mean, oh, Patty was the editor
and publisher of Harrisburg Magazine in heyday and she I
mean when you think Kyrisberger used to think Carrisburg Magazine
you thought Patty, right, And Patty is like an extension
(08:02):
of everything in Central Pennsylvania. She's involved in so much.
And I'm sure she wouldn't mind me mentioning that she
lost her son last year, just a few months ago
to heart disease, and it was a shock. And how
you go forward with that, I don't know. But Patty
is a strong woman and she's involved in this. And
what is she doing now? She works for Scary.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah, she's working for Trust Gary And she always says
she's retired, but she's now back for time tired.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
She had her knee surgery last summer, so she can
go if I to all right, issues with my knees.
And now she's preaching about you know, get that done,
get that done. Well, maybe I don't wonder Patty. You
know she doesn't sit on a rerent. No, She's always
so community minded.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Right, She's always moving a groove. And and when we have
our meetings every week, you know, she's always bringing in
new ideas. She's seeing who else she can reach out to.
And the reason why go Red for Women is here
in the Capital region. You can attributed to Patty. You know,
she saw it in New York City right around the
time that it had launched, and she was looking. I
(09:08):
forget who she was with, but she was with somebody
else within the community and you know, just walked up
to the individuals she saw it and she said, what's
going on here? And they said, it's Go Red for women,
and Patty said, well, that's something we need to do
here in Harrisburg. So she was definitely a key player
in bringing Go Red here. So we can really really
give her some props for that because she's a very
(09:30):
very strong connection to the mission and I would say,
you know, she's definitely a driving force behind, you know,
bringing that to to our area.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Who well and talked just about some of the other ladies.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Absolutely yes. So we have Paula Bellick of PA Chamber Insurance.
We also have Kate Beck of Perry's Strength and Fitness.
She is our first ever Perry County nominee for Woman
of Impact. So we've had Woman of Impact here for
around five years and our nominees have really matriculated from
Umberland Adolphin County. But we're really excited that we were
able to bridge into you know, the third county that
(10:05):
is considered capital region. So really excited to have Cato
on with us as well. We have Laura Kennedy from
Belko Community Credit Union, and we also have Beth Layer
from Kick House. She's the general manager of two Kick
House locations, which is, you know, a boxing studio in
York and in Hershey. Yeah, so you know we've got
some Oh.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Don't let Pagan involve. Can you imagine that? Oh?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Oh, man, I would fear for my life.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Yeah, give me an idea of like this is going
down over the last couple of years, so you wouldn't
know what people What have women done over the years
to raise these funds?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Give me an idea? Yeah, absolutely. So the beautiful thing
about Woman of Impact is our nominees are able to
kind of create their own journey of what they want
their nine weeks to look like. So they are hosting
fundraising events. They are able to spread the mission through
our impact opportunities as well.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Like what you're saying, what are your impact opportunities?
Speaker 2 (10:59):
So each they have a what we call a direct
impact opportunity where we break down a different segment of
the mission of the American Heart Association into a bite
sized piece for them to watch a video or engage
locally and post about it, and they earn impact points
which go on top of their fundraising total to really
make a difference, and you know, they're they're getting a
(11:21):
little bit more bang for their buck, so to speak.
From the fundraising, they're also learning a little bit more
about the American Heart Association as well. So you know,
some of the fundraisers that they've done this year, we've
had food truck give back nights. We've had a couple
pop up celebrity bartenders or happy hour events. We had
(11:42):
a a bingo night up at Sherman's Creek in which
was a lot of fun to see it. You know,
we've had some local restaurant give back nights as well,
and each of the ladies is designing a kind of
a direct packed event as well where they're able to
really hone in on the mission moments of the American
(12:04):
Heart Association. So they're either bringing in local women who
are impacted by heart disease or stroke, different care providers
or you know, people that are working with these individuals
day in and day out and really bringing that mission home,
which has been really cool to see you.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
So they're not just raising money, right, they're affecting people's
lives every time they get involved in something.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Correct. Absolutely, So it's great. It's a lot to pack
into nine weeks, but I think that they're doing a
thing with full time jobs, right, right, So this is
this is added on top of you know, sometimes they're
forty to fifty hour work week. They're taking this on
on top of that.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Sort. So these are the women that usually do it.
You don't see somebody with the I mean, usually somebody's
focused like that. Well, typically you don't give them amount
of money that they have to raise within certain period,
or do you.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
So we walk through kind of an onboarding process where
we sit down and we say, you know what, if
the sky is the limit, what do you want to
accomplish in your nine weeks? And then we turn it
into their goal setting period. So they go through two
hour long meetings with me where we talk really big
(13:20):
ticket this is what I'd love to see, and then
I give them about a week. They digest it and
then they're like, what did.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
I when I said that out from one of my fundraisers? Right?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
What did I just sign up for? And then you know,
once we revisit that second week. That's where you know,
at the end of the first week, I say, right,
so we have all of these ideas here, we get
them all down on paper and then I say, you know,
pick your top five what is your highest impact? But
what is your event that's going to be the most
lift for you? And let's talk about that one first.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
And let's be Must they be events or can they
glunt listed businesses in the community.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
They can do whatever they like. Yeah, so they can
solicit businesses, they can solicit individuals, or you know, they
can set up these fundraising events, which is a great
way to bring everybody together. So the ladies did just
compete in a Hearts across the Nation challenge over the
last two weeks, and that was a challenge that is
(14:20):
designed to get as many donations from as many states
as possible. So over the last two weeks they were
able to bring in donations from thirteen states all across
the country, from California to Florida. You know, we had
a donation come in from Colorado, We had a donation
come in from Oklahoma.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Say, my cousin is a doctor in Florida. Get him
on the phone. He's going to give a thousand bucks.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Is that how work? Yeah? Absolutely, And you know they
have their own individual fundraising websites that they can drive
people to, or you know, if they mail in a
donation or if they get that from you know, a person,
say it's a check, they get it mailed to them,
they give it to me, We get it cashed right
onto their pay and then I'm able to pull a
report on the back end to see where the donations
(15:04):
came in and you know what time Because let's say
two nominees got a donation from Florida, whichever one was
time stamped first, that's who got the point. And you know,
at the end, I was able to kind of award
the some bonus points for the for the campaign. For
the woman who brought in the most states. So she
(15:25):
brought in eight states, which was amazing. Her name Beth.
She brought in eight states between her and her team.
So that's another really interesting piece of this is these
ladies are able to form teams as well. So my
main campaign that I oversee is the Heart Walk in Harrisburg,
So it's very similar to where people are able to
(15:46):
create teams from a company or from someone in the
community who is impacted by heart disease or stroke, and
they bring them on to assist with the fundraising. It's
the same concept with Women of Impact, so they're able
to recruit team members who will participate in the direct
impact opportunities or to you know, share their own stories,
share their fundraising links, and you really broaden their reach.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
And in the meantime, they're educating women about these because
you know, I, Patty and I were talking about this
the one time. It's like, you keep going and going going,
you think you're gonna bingo. You know, you can't be
everything to everybody. It's just kind of that old story
about when you're an airplane and the airplane's going down,
you've got a child sitting next to you, better put
(16:30):
that think that mask over your face, because how heck
are you going to take care of the kid if
you can't take care of yourself first.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Absolutely, And that kind of circles back to a little
bit of what you said before with you know, women
and heart disease. A lot of times they will experience
symptoms of a heart attack or a stroke that could
be mistaken for another, you know, another condition, whether it's anxiety,
or well, let's talk about that.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
We'll get back to the event in a little while,
but I want to make sure we get that in now.
There are certain things that make us sort of what
would you call it, predisposed to having heart issues, things
like menopause. Thinks that men generally don't go through. Well,
I think some men go through menopause anyway, I'm kidding,
(17:14):
So I kind of thrill that in the mood swings.
But there are things. Can we talk about some of
those things?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Yeah? Absolutely, so, you know, I think it's important to say.
You know, menopause is not a cause of cardiovascular disease. However,
the changes that women go through when they hit menopause
or mode changes, right, you know, impact their cardiovascular health.
You know, women who reach menopausal age before the age
of forty five, so they hit that you know, magical
time of their life. You know it'll be fine, they
(17:42):
have a significantly higher risk of coronary heart disease. You know,
it can be the age of menopause can be influenced
by the length of their menstrual cycle, worst code, cardiovascular
health during reproductive years, and some additional socioeconomic factors. So
you know, race and fnicity also play a role.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
So tell me about that, like our one race gets
it more than another, are affected buy it more than another.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
So when we look at, you know, the different communities,
we see greater risk of cardiovascular disease in women in
the Hispanic and the Black communities, and it's impacting them
at younger ages. And part of what the American Heart
Association is really looking for is, you know, as as
you said, we've been around for over one hundred years now,
(18:30):
so after after one hundred years, you kind of have
to innovate a little bit. You have to think a
little bit outside the box. So they're looking for some
of those socioeconomic factors. Do they have access to healthy food?
Do they know? Do these communities know what to do
should they get healthy food from say a food bank
or something like that. It was really impactful. I was
(18:50):
having a conversation with a volunteer a few just a
few months ago now where she was volunteering at a
food bank and a little girl came up to her
and she is putting zucchini into their bags to take home,
and you know, the little girl said, you know, we
don't we don't want that. We my mom doesn't know
(19:10):
what to do with that, she throws it away and
that was really impactful to her. And when I heard
that story, that was really impactful to me as well,
because when you think about getting fresh produce donated too
a food bank or you know, some of these other
facilities that really really impact these individuals, do they know
what to do with it? So we have different programs
(19:31):
within the American Heart Association that takes it a step
further where they're able to engage in healthy eating or
healthy cooking classes where they're given, you know, a multitude
of fruits and vegetables and they say, these are things
that you can do with these. Here's how you can
prepare these for yourself, for your families, And you know,
they leave knowing that the next time they get a zucchini,
(19:51):
you know what to do with it, and you know
how you can incorporate it into your everyday diet or
you know, turn it into something a little bit more fun.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
We know you mentioned the fact that women Spanish, our
Hispanic and Afro American women are more susceptible. They're also
finding that out about breast cancer, about stroke, and it
really upsets me that in general, younger people are having
strokes and heart attacks that never had it before, and
(20:19):
it's got to be I mean, all these other things
you mentioned always existed with women, but stress seems to
be the number one thing.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yeah, And I would say stress levels are higher than
they've ever been exact, and that's definitely contributing to you know,
some of these some of these instances of early onset
stroke or heart disease.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Diabetes is an issue, yes.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Absolutely, and that's where it's kind of all linked together.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
You know.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
I always like to say when we talk about heart disease, stroke,
you know, the heart. Everyone has a heart, Everyone has
a reason to keep it healthy, and you know, everyone
has a reason to really take their own health into
their own hands. And that's where you know, go Right
for women is so powerful and such a powerful movement
for you know, women everywhere because it advocates for them
(21:06):
to take their health into their own hands and to
be their best advocate when they're in their doctor's appointments,
when they're having conversations about, hey, this isn't right. I
need to be able to you know, be taken seriously
with my symptoms and things that are happening.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
You know, Yeah, we have to take it seriously ourselves
before somebody else does, because you know that is yes,
and now moms are I mean, it's ridiculous how we
keep but because we I don't know, because I know
some people that are not supposed shouldn't be mothers. But
we're mother's nurture, women nurture.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
That's always been our role absolutely, and you know a
lot of times we experience even with my own mom,
she always puts everyone else ahead of herself. She's a
middle school teacher, so she has upwards of one hundred
and twenty kids every year that you know, go to
her with their you know, their school problems, sure their
home problems, and she she really does a great job of,
(22:07):
you know, being that that motherly figure to her students,
and you know, they really she builds those relationships with them.
But at the same time, there are times where I
have to remind her, like, hey, mom, you you have
to take care of your own health. And if this
is really starting to weigh on you, right or you're
starting to have, you know, physical symptoms or things you
cannot you can't dismiss those.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Well, let's talk a little bit about those physical symptoms
that seem to be different. I was surprised when I heard, oh,
maybe ten fifteen years ago, somebody started talking about when
the symptoms of a heart attack are you're you feel
it in your jaw or your neck. Is that specific
to women or is that for anyone?
Speaker 2 (22:46):
So it's actually crazy that women could experience up to
double the amount of symptoms for a heart attack then
a man will, and a lot of them could be
mistaken for other things. Yeah, we have. There was a
girl who she was a feature speaker for the American
Heart Association out of Lancaster a few years ago, who
had a heart attack at age I believe it was fourteen,
(23:10):
and it was dismissed as teenage anxiety for you know,
up to two weeks and finally, you know, it got
to the point where she needed surgical intervention and she
had to have open heart surgery at age fourteen. And
she was then, you know, flash forward seven years, was
having similar symptoms and again it was anxiety, you know,
(23:33):
manifesting and you know, leading up to her wedding she
was getting married. It was in the midst of COVID
and she had to advocate for herself and say, no,
I've been through this once. Already. And you know, she
did have to have a second open heart surgery before
her wedding. But she's doing great now she's married. You know,
things are, things are on the up and up for her.
(23:54):
But again, that's a perfect opportunity to highlight the importance
of advocating for yourself.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
You know what I think too, And this is tell
me about my own business. But I've been saying this
about kids and volunteering. Get kids when they're a little
to volunteer. But maybe what we should be doing in
health classes if they still have them in schools. I
don't know if they still not, but maybe there should
be something because they're happening to young, to people young
and younger, maybe we should be addressing the in schools
(24:22):
and health classes.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
I agree, I agree, and you know, to take it
one step further into to health classes and starting younger.
A focus of the American Heart Association with our Nation
of Life Savers is getting people familiarized with hands only
CPR and recognizing when those life saving tactics are needed.
(24:45):
And back in June of twenty nineteen, it was great
the American Heart Association was able to work alongside the
Pennsylvania State legislature to get some legislation passed to that
all graduating seniors need to have at least thirty minutes
of hand It is only CPR training to graduate.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
So that's one you guys should partner with. Julie Walker. Yes, oh,
I know, she's phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
She's doing amazing work in the community.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Oh my god, all over the place she's yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
I mean, yes, they they are. They're a great community
partner and I know they're doing wonderful things in they.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
She's been doing this for like ten years, making people
aware of sudden cardiac rested and young people. I mean,
it's it's amazing. It's the number one killer kids on
college campuses. Who knew that? You know, it's about education.
It's all about education and that besides helping to get
direct people who As far as fundraising, you're like the
(25:42):
what would you be the grandpoo pat of this? Right,
it's a team got next to your thing on your
risbond Grandpa.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Park throw LinkedIn real quick? Yeah cool? Oh yeah, it's
it's a team effort at the American Heart Association. You know,
we have great, great individuals on our team that are
doing you know, the fundraising work, the advocacy work, the
community impact work. We have a great team not only
here in the Capital region, but all across the state
(26:09):
and even all across the country of people that are
dedicated to improving the overall health and well being of
their local communities.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
You know, I'd like to talk a little bit about
the impact that the Heart Association. I said, I remember
having a disagreement with somebody when they said they wanted
to close the Space program down. And I also read
about if it weren't for the Space program, there would
be no artificial valves for heart disease for people who
have replacement. But when I think my mom had artificial
(26:39):
valves replaced in the early seventies and they cracked their
chest open, it was it was awful, you know, at
the Jefferson in Philadelphia. Now I understand they go up
through your growing to replace a heart valve. This is
all with this money that these ladies are generating. Is
these are the kind of things that are happening because
of that, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Absolute. So the innovations in research for this invasive treatment options,
you know, different treatment options that have been updated over
over the years. You know, it's really really important and
that's why, you know, the funding that is generated through
contributions made through our Woman of Impact or our Heart
Walk or donations to our heart Balls or you know
(27:21):
things along those lines. You know, once that money is received,
it's put to work in the community immediately.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Does a lot of it stay in Central Pennsylvania?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
How does that?
Speaker 1 (27:29):
How did they decide on that?
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Yeah, so that's a great question because a lot of
times I get the question of you know, why why
support the American Heart Association. You know, it's a national organization.
But the really great thing about research is that money
is put in uh, into work right away for you know,
our local teaching hospitals are you know, doctors and researchers
(27:52):
that are on grants from the American Heart Association to
continue their work. And that work is happening here in
south central Pennsylvania. Penn State Health is a great research
partner with the American Heart Association. You know, when you
think when you think research at in Pennsylvania, you know
we're a very research heavy state. So there's research that's
happening in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh right here in south central PA.
(28:15):
And the beautiful, beautiful thing about medical research is I
always like to say, everybody plays in the same sandbox.
You know, everyone is, you know, working towards a common goal.
It's not as competitive or anything of those those sorts.
You know, you're really just working towards a common goal.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Well, I've said this before, I'll say it against Central Pennsylvania,
you always come through. How can our listeners support these ladies?
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Absolutely? Yes, So Women of Impact wraps up on April tenth,
So if you I can have the link sent over
to support these ladies for the Capital region. But you
can make a contribution directly to their website, or you
can reach out to us, the American Heart Association, and
we can make sure that your gift is directed where
you'd like.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
So I can say, I can call you int hey,
where's this girl going to be? What's her active? How
do we find out about that?
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Yeah? Absolutely, so if you if you reach out to me,
you know, I'm happy to let you know where they are.
I know our ladies are really good on social media
about posting where their events are going to be. So
just keep your eyes peeled. You'll see Woman of Impact
in the South Central Pia region. That's that's where they'll
be awesome.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Awesome, Blake, thanks so much for coming to My guest
again has been Blake Milbrand, the director of Development for
the American Heart Association. Don't forget to catch insight every
weekend all in whenever I heart stations there's ten of them,
or any time in your favorite podcast step. I'm Sylvia Moss.
This has been insight. Thanks so much for listening. See
you next week.
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