DULUTH,MN– Walking for a cause; donors, volunteers, and survivors gathered at Leif Erickson Park Saturday morning for the American Heart Associations Northland Heart walk.
The heart walks are meant to spread awareness of heart disease and raise funds for research.
Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death among women and very common among men.
St. Luke’s heart surgeon Dr. Mary Boylan says getting out into the community helps spread awareness helps prevent people from entering the hospital.
Bolan says, “It’s great that we as a community come together and recognize that this is such a huge health issue. The other thing is it brings it out of the hospitals and into the community because so much health happens in the community. ”
Risk factors of heart disease are high blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking.
It can also be hereditary and passed on through family members.
Dr. Boylan says making small changes to your lifestyle such as going for small walks can be the one step it takes to preventing heart disease.
“It’s a great way to bring awareness and let people know what we can do something today. You don’t have to do something big, just going for a walk instead of sitting in front of the TV,” Boylan says.
