‘Go Red’ event at Mat-Su Regional advocates heart health for everyone

PALMER — Scores showed up adorned in red for the annual ‘Go Red’ event at the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center (MSRMC) on Friday, all to learn about heart health and help raise awareness

From Hands-Free CPR workshops to Dr. Barbara Doty’s presentation on cardiovascular health, this event was an effort to educate residents of the Mat-Su Valley, helping curb the staggering number of preventable heart troubles.

“Heart health starts from birth,” Dr. Doty said.

A majority of the attendees were up in their years, with just a handful of young people passing through, which stands to reason. As people get older, they already have a lifetime of habits and circumstances that practically forces them to think about their health more often than not. So events like this — especially those free to the public — make perfect sense to attend. Pat Campbell is a volunteer for Mat-Su Regional and she attended the whole ‘Go Red’ event.

“I loved it!” she exclaimed.

Like many others, she walked away with a free CPR dummy intended to be a Christmas gift for the whole family. She thought it would be a great asset to her grandchildren, so they can get an early education of Hands-Free CPR, as well as an early conversation about heart health. This event started at MSRMC participating with the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women event centered on heart health and women. Women are reported to have much higher rates of mortality due to heart problems. MSRMC decided to open its event up, catering to everyone- men, women, young and old.

“Every four seconds, someone in the United States has a heart attack,” Dr. Doty said.

Some recent deaths hit home with Dr. Doty. She recounted the story of a family of four reduced to three after the 36-year-old father died after having a heart attack, leaving the mother to raise two sons without him.

“In our community, we’ve had some pretty unfortunate situations with young people having heart disease,” Dr. Doty said.

Mandy Grinnell is an EMS trainer for the Mat-Su Borough. Grinnell and Nancy Eyraud work together frequently, training the community with hands-free CPR at events like this and at the Alaska State Fair. For the past few years, they’ve ran a CPR booth at the Fair. Eyraud said that they trained over 2,700 people at the Fair last year, 600 more than the year before. During the Go Red event, Grinnell, Eyraud and other volunteers led hands-free CPR workshops throughout the event. As people explored the assorted stations, some signed up for the workshop. They gathered around normal and infant sized dummies and practiced this life saving skill.

“We want bystanders to do CPR before we- the ambulance- gets there,” Grinnell said. “A patient has a better chance of survival the faster they have CPR performed on them.”

CPR education got extra attention that day because they cath labs — intended for tours — were unavailable because a patient need to be treated right away. This called for a change-up within the event schedule.

“We had to do a little bit of a tap dance,” said Alan Craft, Marketing and PR Contact for Mat-Su Regional Medical Center.

They decided to fill the time slot with a live CPR demonstration. They pulled members of the audience in to practice CPR with Grinnell.

“I can teach you this in five minutes,” Grinnell said.

Hands-Free CPR was one of the simple, yet effective tools highlighted that day. Dr. Doty said that when it comes to practiced better heart health, it doesn’t have to be a huge overhaul right out of the gate; rather it should begin with “little steps.” Incorporating five minutes of exercise three times a day, learning how to relax more, cutting out fast food, and quitting smoking are some of the most effective ways a person can reduce their risk of heart disease.

“Bring balance into your life,” Dr. Doty said.