Jonny Talks to the The American Heart Association About This Year's Heart Walk

2023 Pittsburgh Heart Walk
Saturday, November 4, 2023 - Check-In 8am
-Walk Begins 10am
-Location: Point State Park
601 Commonwealth Place, Pittsburgh, PA

Get Info: https://www2.heart.org/site/TR?fr_id=8980&pg=entry

Your Pittsburgh Heart Walk Team: [phone]

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome in. This is the Heartof Pittsburgh podcast. I'm your host,
Johnny Heartwell, special guests in studio. We have the Heartwalk just around the
corner a week from today. Ifyou haven't signed up, you better do
it. Heart dot org slash PittsburghWalk. But to talk about the heartwalk
that is coming up downtown at PointState Park, we have Tracy Ryan,
good morning, how are you?Good morning? And you are the vice

(00:23):
president Patient Access Service Line at UPMC. So what is that? It is
basically overseeing all of patient access andexperience for our system. And so how
do patients get to us? Howdo they receive care from us and make
sure that it's a closed loop forthem? And doctor Katie Burlocker good morning,
Hi, what do you do?I'm a cardiologist. I think that

(00:46):
has something to do with the heart. Yeah, lots to do at the
heart. I talk about this everyday, all right. The Pittsburgh Heartwalk
Saturday, November fourth, a weekfrom today, Point State Park. Check
in is real early eight am.Walk agains at ten o'clock, not too
late to sign up. Let ustalk about why do we heart walk.
We walk because it's important and wewalk for our families and we walk for

(01:07):
patients, and we do it becauseit is healthy. It helps us promote
good health, and it really getsus involved, you know, with our
families and our friends and our coworkers. So it's a gathering that's important that
we do every year. And I'vebeen doing it for twenty years and it
is It's something that is important tome and I do it. All right,

(01:30):
let's go to the cardiologist. Howimportant is hard health? I mean,
it's very important. Right, I'mbiased, but I think that this
is the number one killer of allAmericans, is heart disease in some form.
And I walk because it's fun.I think that walking is one of
the easiest forms of exercise for mostpeople. And it's a way that you

(01:51):
can hang out with friends. That'sthe way that you can celebrate each other's
health and that you can improve yourhealth and your mental well being across the
board. So it is one ofmy favorite activities to do on a daily
basis. But the Heart Walk getsthe word out that how important heart health
is. Last time the Heart Associationcame in, we talked about, you

(02:14):
know, the risk of stroke.I didn't wasn't aware of my blood pressure.
I have since then gone to thedoctor and started taking a blood pressure
medicine. It made me realize howimportant it really is. And so that's
this. The Heart Walk is away to get the word out for sure.
And you know, like you said, high blood pressure is one of
the silent killers in America, andso things like the Heart Walk really help

(02:36):
us educate those around us talk aboutthe things that you wouldn't otherwise normally talk
about. It's not like every Saturdaymorning you talk about what your blood pressure
is or your risk factors for heartattacks or strokes, like you said,
But this gives gives us a chanceto really, you know, think about
the things that we wouldn't otherwise thinkabout. I think about on a regular
basis every single day, but werecognize that that's not what everybody thinks about.

(03:00):
So the Heart Walk, which isa week from today, still time
to sign up at heart dot orgslash Pittsburgh Walk. When it comes to
fundraising, what are some of thefunds go to? What kind of programs
that does this What kind of opportunitiesdoes this offer a number of them,
which is why this is so exciting. So the funding that is given and
raised by the Heart walk goes tothings in your local community, so you're

(03:23):
actually by spending time that morning elevatingthe health of your local community. And
it goes towards blood pressure monitoring forpeople and neighborhoods that don't have it.
It goes for nutrition insecurity for peoplewho don't have the right foods to keep
them heart healthy. And the newprogram, which is a hands on CPR
program, which is really exciting,kind of getting the word out to everybody

(03:45):
in the community that they can reallysave lives at the point of care,
in the street or wherever it's happening. And you PMC has done an amazing
job with with Minutes Matter, andI think I highly suize somebody wants the
information, just google UPMC minutes Matter. It makes a huge difference. And
I really wish everybody in the communitywould learn CPR and same same. It's
easy and it's you know, don'tbe scared of it. That's very simple

(04:10):
to learn and we can help youall, right, Tracy, as chairsperson,
we all have a reason why wewalk. What is your reason?
So my background is in nursing andI've taken care of patients for years with
heart disease, and so you know, that started as my why. But
several years ago I lost my brotherat the age of fifty two to sudden

(04:30):
death, and within twelve hours later, I lost my mother from a broken
heart. And so losing two ofmy most important people in my life within
twenty four hours really really made animpact. And so I walk for them,
I walk for other families that havebeen through the same thing. And
it's really our community is coming togetherto promote this and it is incredibly important

(04:55):
important excuse me to know you,well, I'm sorry for you, I
really am, but it's really importantthat we find that reason, the why.
And as a cardiologist, heart diseaseis like the number one killer is
it is, it is, Andone of the things that I think is
really important to understand is that it'snot just for older patients, older men.

(05:15):
A lot of times we're taught aswomen that breast cancer is the number
one killer, or breast cancer isthe thing that I should think about the
most, but heart disease is stillthe number one killer of women too,
and it affects young women. Oneof the statistics that has come out in
the past couple of years that isastounding is the number of deaths that occur
around pregnancy for women, And thisis one of the things that Marican Heart

(05:39):
Association is really trying to get theword out. It is associated with hypertensive
disorders during pregnancy as well as anumber of other things. But really the
cardiac diseases that occur around pregnancy arethe ones that we think are most preventable.
And we were just talking off theair, you know, about some
of the signs. You know,I mentioned that, you know, just
recently I found out I was hypertensive, I've high blood pressure. What are

(06:00):
some signs of things that people shouldbe aware of that maybe they need to
talk to a physician. The biggestsigne that I always tell everybody about is
chest pressure, chest pain, chesttightness, any sort of neck pain,
arm pain that happens especially when youare doing something physical. So if walking,
which we think is wonderful, bringson some of those symptoms, that

(06:20):
is absolutely something that you need totalk to a physician or a provider about.
And what are some things people cando to kind of reverse hypertension?
And is it nutrition, is itexercise, It's it's all the above.
It's it's all the above. Soit's diet, it's exercise, it's knowing
your numbers. Right, that's thefirst thing you need to make yourself the

(06:41):
priority. You know, it's easynot to do that, right. We
get busy with life and you knowwe're we ignore symptoms, but you really
have to pay attention and getting helpand following those numbers and knowing where you
are is really the most critical thing. What's your favorite number, Tracy,
one twenty over eighty h that's theblood pressure. That's one of my favorite
numbers. I love to know theblood sugars, which is really important.

(07:03):
And then when I get into cholesterol, I love thinking about your bad cholesterol
or your lousy Your LDL is yourlousy cholesterol, and you really want that
to be as low as possible.So those are the ones we talk a
lot, a lot of numbers.But so how important is to have regular
checkups? Very important. That's howwe find out these numbers and they can

(07:24):
change, as you said, withoutyou really knowing, Like you didn't know
that your blood pressure is high necessarilyright right until I talk to you started
questioning. Bought something from Walmart andit was only like thirty dollars and put
the cup on and then attract itfor a couple of weeks and I was
like noticing a number that was muchhigher than what Google says that should be.

(07:45):
So those were not my favorite numbers. So I had to do something
about it. Right, so important, So we only have about a minute
left, Let's talk about the walkand try to encourage people to participate,
because not only is it we're gettingthe word out about heart health. It's
a fit family event, it's awonderful event, but it also allows you
to fundraise and allows you to havesome of these programs that that are so

(08:07):
important for the Pittsburgh community. Absolutely, the walk is of course fun,
but you know there's so many reallynice events at the at the walk as
well, and so just getting togetherwith the you know, with the families
and the communities to understand what canwe do and these things matter and there

(08:28):
is a you know, there's along term effect on these things, and
so utilizing you know, the trainingthat we do for you know, CPR
or anything that would change people's lives. That's what it's all about. If
you want more information on heart health, go to the American Heart Association's website
heart dot org. But if youwant to sign up for the walk,

(08:48):
which is a week from today PointState Park. Check in is at eight
o'clock. Walk begins at ten o'clock. Go to heart dot org slash Pittsburgh
Walk. Tracy, doctor Katie,thank you so much for coming in.
Thanks, thank you once again.The website to sign up for the walk,
heart dot org slash Pittsburgh Walk,and we'll see you next Saturday morning.
This has been the Heart of Pittsburghpodcast. I've been your host.

(09:09):
Johnny Hartwell, thank you so muchfor listening. Downtown at Point State Park
ninety four point five three WS