John Mengel, Vice President and General Manager at ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor, is serving as chair of this year’s Northwest Indiana Heart Walks in Lake and Porter County. The American Heart Association is the world’s leading voluntary organization dedicated to building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke.
Heart Walk is the American Heart Association’s national premier event and is as much an awareness raiser as a fundraiser. This event demonstrates the support for the Association’s mission to promote physical activity and heart-healthy living through the community’s involvement.
This year, attendees will have the opportunity to learn how to save a life by participating in a free Hands-Only CPR training. When Mike Lytle of Highland collapsed earlier this year at the gym, he was fortunate enough to be surrounded by people who knew how to perform CPR and saved his life.
“I was one of the lucky ones,” said Lytle. “Fortunately, another gym member knew how to perform CPR and began compressions on me immediately. I can’t stress how thankful I am that this individual took the time to learn CPR. You never know when or where you might need to save a life.”
Mike is one of about 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests that occur every year. Unfortunately, about 90 percent of people who suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrests die. CPR, especially if performed immediately, can double or triple a cardiac arrest victim’s chance of survival. This is why the American Heart Association has partnered with The Times of Northwest Indiana to train thousands of community members in Hands-Only CPR this year.
Attendees are encouraged to participate in this free event. The 30-minute, Hands-Only CPR trainings are available at both the Lake County and Porter County Heart Walks. The training does not include CPR certification, but the demonstration is designed to impart the simple steps one should take once cardiac arrest occurs. Sessions will be held every half hour from 9:00-11:00 a.m..
The Northwest Indiana Heart Walks are an opportunity for people to initiate changes in their health through walking, while raising funds to help prevent heart disease and stroke. The annual event is a non-competitive, one, two, or three-mile walk in which teams are created by employees from local companies or community members, along with friends and family members of all ages. The Heart Walks will take place on September 16, 2017 at Lake County Fairgrounds in Crown Point, IN and again on September 23, 2017 at Coffee Creek in Chesterton, IN.
The activities will kick off at 9:00 am and the walk begins at 10:00 am. Join us as we walk together to raise funds to prevent disability and death from the nation’s number one and number five killers – cardiovascular disease and stroke. For more information or to register your team visit northwestindianaheartwalk.org. For more information or to register for the CPR training email [email protected].
