anaerobe lynda: The big, bad storm in our community is heart disease

Friday, July 26, 2013

The big, bad storm in our community is heart disease | Tallahassee ...

If I told you there was a big, bad storm out in the Gulf headed our way, would you pay attention?

Of course, you would.

You would do all the right things to protect your home and family. You?d have a plan for backup food supplies, fuel and maybe a generator.

Well, there?s not one in the Gulf now, so don?t worry. And we?re keeping a careful watch on Tropical Storm Dorian, which has formed in the Atlantic and is expected to sweep west toward the coast.

We?ll know more in the next few days, so stay tuned on that. Right now, we?re not even sure if it will reach the United States; most of the computer models thus far show it curving hard to the north before reaching us. That is subject to change, as we all know. We?ll keep watching and see.

But alerting you to other big, bad things in the community is not always met with the same level of urgency.

The truth is heart-related diseases are more of a threat than any tropical storm.

We know you are passionate about health and fitness issues. We know you worry about every sniffle, scrape and bruise your child gets. We know you want a healthy lifestyle for your spouse and family.

And we know you buckle your seat belt, drive with extra care with loved ones in the car and do your best to obey traffic safety laws.

But did you know that someone dies from cardiovascular disease about every 39 seconds? Did you know that heart disease kills more women than all forms of cancer combined?

And did you know that congenital cardiovascular defects are the leading cause of infant deaths due to birth defects?

Helping you meet your health and fitness goals is one reason we?ve started Move.Tallahassee.com.

But knowing you are so passionate about the health of your family is also a reason I agreed to chair this year?s American Heart Association?s Big Bend Heart Walk.

I want you to mark this down:? 8 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 28 at Tom Brown Park. Put it in your calendar.

More to the point, go to this website, register and donate or pledge as much as you can.

I can promise you that the American Heart Association gives back to Tallahassee a lot more than we give, and our goal for giving is huge this year: $265,000. We?ve raised only $80,000 so far.

As a survivor of cardiovascular disease, I thank you for helping to save my life.

As someone who loves this community and how much we do to make it a better place, I invite you to join us on a community walk and on the Move.Tallahassee.com website.

As chairman of this year?s walk, I thank you for anything you can do to help. ??????

You can send comments by clicking on my blogs on Tallahassee.com and Move.Tallahassee.com , e-mailing me at bgabordi@tallahassee.com or sending a private message on Facebook, Tallahassee.com or Twitter @bgabordi. My mailing address is Bob Gabordi, Executive Editor, Tallahassee Democrat, P.O. Box 990, Tallahassee, FL 32302. Call me at 850-599-2177.

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