Harmon Memorial Aims At Saving Lives, Improving Newtown’s Heart Health

After the success of the inaugural Hearts For Harmon fundraiser and memorial health fair in 2008, this year’s event is getting even more serious about cardiovascular health.

This annual event was conceived to celebrate the life of former Newtown Bee sports editor Kim Harmon, who died December 15, 2007, at the age of 45 following a cardiovascular emergency, leaving behind his wife, Rebecca, and three children, Melissa, Benjamin, and Tyler.

The 2009 Hearts For Harmon is set for Sunday, March 8, in the Alexandria Room at Edmond Town Hall from noon to 4 pm. Hosted in partnership with the Newtown Health District, the event will be an opportunity for visitors to remember Mr Harmon while gaining important tips and information to improve their own, and their family’s, heart health.

Several new programs have been added to the 2009 event, honoring the Harmon family’s wish to shift the focus from fundraising to using community resources to improve Newtown’s cardiovascular health and to save lives.

The first goal of Hearts For Harmon ‘09 will be to train 100 individuals on the latest American Heart Association system of CPR during the four-hour event. This activity is being supported by instructors coordinating through Liz Caine of the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps and Laurie Veillette of Rescue Ropes LLC, a Newtown-based health and fire safety education firm.

The 100 prequalified participants will be asked to make a $10 donation to help underwrite the cost of the training kits, which will be theirs to keep and use. Participants will also be asked to pledge to use these kits to expose a minimum of ten other people to the CPR system in the next year, resulting in 1,000 new CPR-trained individuals before the 2010 Harmon event.

The event will also feature an opportunity for a limited number of visitors to receive a free, five-point heart health screening, courtesy of Danbury Hospital. That screening will include a risk assessment interview, a height/weight body mass index (BMI) measurement, a cholesterol screening, blood pressure check, and a live medical consultation to review the results.

Depending on the outcomes of the screenings, under- or uninsured Newtown residents may be referred to Kevin’s Community Center for further health care support, or their private primary care physician, if results warrant such action.

Hearts For Harmon ‘09 will also provide the launch of the “100 Days to a Healthier Heart” program. This Internet-based activity will provide to anyone free daily health and wellness, exercise, and nutrition tips.

Donations are currently being accepted as prizes for a raffle, with all proceeds benefiting the American Heart Association (AHA). And attendees wishing to do so will be able to make private donations directly to a Harmon family scholarship fund.

The AHA, local visiting nurse association, Danbury Hospital, The Fitness Loft, the Newtown Parks & Recreation Department, Kevin’s Community Center, the Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and others are once again invited to participate in a mini tabletop health expo. There is no charge to attend Hearts For Harmon, but guests are asked to consider dropping in to make a donation to the scholarship fund or the AHA through the raffle.

Hearts For Harmon ‘09 is being supported by a committee consisting of Ms Culbert, Ms Caine and Ms Viellette; Fitness Loft owner Cody Foss, MS, LATC, CSCS, NASM; Newtown Bee Associate Editor John Voket; and Stacia Helfand, MEd, RD, CDN, founder of Reality Bites, LLC, a Newtown-based nutrition and wellness firm.

For more information contact Mr Voket via email at john@thebee.com or call him at 203-509-2246.