Hearts For Harmon Will Offer Free Health Care Opportunities

This Sunday’s Hearts For Harmon community wellness event will provide many ways for community members to improve their health, and possibly prolong their lives — and it is all free.

The second annual drop-in-style health and wellness expo is being held in memory of former Newtown Bee Sports Editor Kim Harmon, who died on December 15, 2007, at the age of 45 of a heart attack, leaving behind his wife, Rebecca, and three children, Melissa, Benjamin, and Tyler.

The 2009 Hearts for Harmon activities are set for Sunday, March 8, at Edmond Town Hall, from noon to 4 pm.

There will be several organizations represented providing free health, nutrition, and exercise tips. Danbury Hospital is providing free multipoint health screenings and a keynote welcoming talk from cardiologist Harvey Kramer, MD. Newtown Savings Bank is underwriting CPR training for up to 100 participants, and the Newtown Health District is bringing free heart healthy snacks and drinks.

Raffle drawings will happen every 15 minutes, with prizes like health, nutrition, and fitness certificates, including some individual and family nutrition or shopping consultations, personal training and Pilates sessions, as well as local gym trial memberships. Proceeds from the raffles will benefit the American Heart Association.

The raffle grand prize will be a vintage base ball experience courtesy of Mr Harmon’s former teammates on the Newtown Sandy Hook Vintage Base Ball Team. The winner and his or her guests will enjoy a 2009 season vintage game gift pack, pregame recognition, and lessons in the finer art of century-old base ball.

Newtown Savings Bank will also be represented and will have volunteers available to take individual private donations to the Harmon Family Scholarship Fund.

Excitement for the Hearts For Harmon ’09 initiative has been building, with numerous community members signing up for the 50-minute “CPR Anytime” training. Individuals will also be able to sign up for training on March 8 during hourly sessions beginning at 12:30 pm.

Hearts For Harmon CPR Challenge participants will be asked to pledge to use the American Heart Association “CPR Anytime” kits to help teach ten more people about CPR, with the goal of training 1,000 more local residents in the coming year.

In addition, Newtown resident Cody Foss, a Hearts For Harmon organizing committee co-chair and owner of The Fitness Loft, is supporting the townwide wellness effort by opening his local gym and offering a variety of heart-healthy classes to interested residents free during the month of March. Visit TheFitnessLoft.org or call 304-1400 for details.

Community residents can keep the benefits of Hearts For Harmon coming well into the spring as well. The event will launch a 100-day, web-based resource to provide easy, low-impact health, nutritional, and wellness tips that anyone can adopt in part or in total to continue helping improve the entire community’s cardiovascular health long after Hearts For Harmon ’09 concludes.

Entertainment will be provided by Newtown recording artist Daria Musk, who will showcase some of her original, upbeat material in sets at 1:20 and 2:20 pm.

The activity is being supported by the Newtown Health District, Newtown Savings Bank, Danbury Hospital, American Heart Association, Laurie Veillette of Rescue Ropes LLC, Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps, Mr Foss, nutritionist Stacia Helfand, founder of Reality Bites, the local Visiting Nurses Association, Kevin’s Community Center, Newtown Parks & Recreation Department, and Bee Publishing Co., Inc.

For any other information, or to make a donation to the cause, contact Hearts For Harmon organizer John Voket by phone at 203-509-2246 or via email at john@thebee.com.