Hearts For Harmon

Seeks Prizes And Volunteers

It may not break any world records, but the Hearts For Harmon CPR Challenge hopes to kick off a historic initiative aiming to expose thousands of Newtowners and their acquaintances to life-saving CPR and automatic defibrillator training in the coming years. The CPR Challenge will be the focal point of the second annual Hearts For Harmon event, set for Sunday, March 8, from noon to 4 pm, at Edmond Town Hall.

The Alexandria Room stage will be reserved for the main event, according to John Voket, Newtown Bee associate editor, event co-chair, and friend of Mr Harmon, the newspaper’s late sports editor who suffered a fatal heart attack just before Christmas 2007.

“Among the stars of this year’s Hearts For Harmon will be 100 individuals training on the latest American Heart Association system of CPR,” Mr Voket said. “The cost of training kits every CPR Challenge volunteer will take home is being completely underwritten by Newtown Savings Bank.” The training will be 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 preregistered participants will be asked to make a $10 donation as a place-holder for their training session reservation. 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.

A sign-up sheet for the CPR Challenge will be posted at the Booth Library front desk, and the library has agreed to collect the reservation donations. Find more specific details on the CPR Challenge at www.RescueRopesLLC.com, just click on the bottom left link.

Training sessions will be held hourly beginning at 12:30 pm, March 8, right after the keynote address from Danbury Hospital cardiologist Harvey Cramer, MD.

During the event, musical entertainment will be provided by Newtown recording artist Daria Musk. There will also be free heart healthy refreshments and a tabletop mini health expo with even more tips and information promoting better cardiovascular health.

Hearts For Harmon ‘09 will additionally feature a free, five-point heart health screening, courtesy of Danbury Hospital, and 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.

In the coming week, Hearts For Harmon volunteers will fan out across town soliciting prize donations for a raffle, with all proceeds benefiting the American Heart Association (AHA), as well as health and wellness tips for the “100 Days” project.

Anyone wishing to do so will be able to make private donations at the event, which will go directly to a Harmon family scholarship fund at Newtown Savings Bank. 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 Mr Voket, Newtown Health Director Donna Culbert, Ms Caine and Ms Veillette; Fitness Loft owner Cody Foss, MS, LATC, CSCS, NASM; 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.