"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength;
Loving some deeply gives you courage."
~ Lao Tzu
600 B.C.E. - 531 B.C.E. |
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Founder and Project Director, Take It To Heart™: A Project of The Foundation For Enhancing Communities
I am a Registered Nurse with extensive cardiac care experience. I never dreamed my child might have a heart problem... We had no family history of heart problems at an early age or sudden death, and through the years I was always told by medical professionals that my children were healthy. When Janna died, my life changed forever. I resolved that I would help prevent another parent from needlessly going through this horrific and agonizing pain when there are ways to help prevent it.
In 2003, I testified before the Pennsylvania Senate Majority Policy Committee in pursuit of a bill which would mandate that an electrocardiogram, read by a cardiologist, be required for every child entering the 9th grade, just as we include vaccinations, dental exams, eye exams, and hearing tests at certain ages. Ironically, we put our automobiles through a more rigorous yearly inspection than our children.
Why do we not more carefully examine one of the most important organs in our children's bodies... the heart? No one can tell if a heart is healthy just by listening with a stethoscope! According to experts, it is around the age of 14 that children have developed a fairly adult electrocardiogram, thus being the best age to universally assess young people for a heart problem. It is also during the preteen to teenage years when growth spurts, hormonal changes, and rigorous participation in sports seem to precipitate cardiac arrhythmias in genetically predisposed young people. Someday we will look back on the cardiac care we have been providing for our children and wonder "What were we thinking?"
A simple, inexpensive, painless, noninvasive test, the electrocardiogram, can reveal valuable, life-saving information! An electrocardiogram can detect at least 60% of the heart problems that can cause sudden cardiac death! How can we not provide this test for our children? Most young people that die from sudden cardiac arrest never have any symptoms. They are virtually walking time-bombs and we are playing Russian roulette with their lives. Sudden cardiac arrest takes the lives of between 250 and 600 seemingly healthy young people every month in the United States. (Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndromes Foundation)
I am a member of the Pennsylvania Cardiovascular Health Consortium (PCHC), which was initiated in 2002 to develop the first-ever, stakeholder-driven cardiovascular health plan for Pennsylvania. The PCHC includes over 100 leaders in the fields of public health and cardiovascular disease prevention, treatment and rehabilitation, representing Pennsylvania universities, medical schools, hospitals and clinics, public health agencies, state and local governing bodies, and service providers.
In 2006, Cardiovascular Health: Pennsylvania's Blueprint for Action was published as a working document and long-term guide for improving the cardiovascular health of all Pennsylvanians. My hopes in being a member of the PCHC, is to be a voice for the young people of Pennsylvania by creating awareness, educating, and promoting cardiac screenings, which include an electrocardiogram read by a cardiologist, to help prevent sudden cardiac arrest in seemingly healthy young people.
I am also on the Board of Directors for Parent Heart Watch (PHW), a national organization whose members are mostly parents who have lost a child to sudden cardiac arrest or have a child living with a heart issue. Through PHW we are working together across the country to protect youth from sudden cardiac arrest by creating awareness and education, working to get new legislations passed that will help protect youth from sudden cardiac arrest and death, teaching cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) use, placing AEDs in schools, on playing fields and throughout communities, and promoting, supporting, and offering heart screenings for youth.
Since Janna's passing, I have spoken at conferences for hundreds of school and pediatric nurses in the states of Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Maryland, educating nurses about how to help prevent sudden cardiac death in seemingly healthy young people.
If your civic, community, or professional group would be interested in having the members of Take It To Heart™ provide information, a presentation, or facilitate a heart screening event, please do not hesitate to contact us.
"What we have enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose,
for all that we love deeply becomes a part of us."
~ Helen Keller
Jim has been involved in the cardiopulmonary field for over 35 years. He has been the Cardiopulmonary Director of a 250 bed community hospital for the past 15 years. He was employed at the National Institute of Health in the Critical Care Medicine Department for 10 years before taking his present position.
Jim has been fundamentally involved with helping to create, support, and revise the Take It To Heart™ educational program and in the development and facilitation of the heart screening events for youth. Jim is also a member of Parent Heart Watch.
Education:
Chambersburg Area Senior High School - Graduated 1965
Attended: Norwich University, Northfield, VT
York Junior College, York, PA
Employment:
Citizens Bank, Vice President, Real Estate Management -
1978 to Present
Memberships:
The Compassionate Friends, Camp Hill PA Chapter - Chapter Leader, Steering Committee Member
Parent Heart Watch
Shiremanstown Fire Company - 30 years holding various line officer positions
Hobbies:
Golf
Coached various youth baseball teams - 15 years
Education:
Collegeville-Trappe High School, Collegeville, PA -
Graduated 1966
York Junior College, York, PA - A.A. Degree, 1968
Harrisburg Area Community College, Harrisburg, PA -
A.A. Degree, 2000
Penn State Harrisburg - Attended 2000-2004
Employment:
McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC, Harrisburg, PA - Administrative Assistant - 1984 to Present
Memberships:
The Compassionate Friends, Camp Hill PA Chapter - Secretary, Steering Committee Member
Parent Heart Watch
Hobbies:
Golf, cooking, reading
Other:
CPR/AED Certification, 2006
Education:
Penn Hills Senior High School; Penn Hills, PA; Graduation June 1970
West Virginia University; Morgantown, WV; Graduation May 1974 with B.S. in Social Work
WVU, Graduation May 1978 with Master's in Social Work
LSW: Licensed Social Worker in Pennsylvania since 1987
Employment:
1979 to 1997: Director of Social Work Services, Community General Osteopathic Hospital; Harrisburg, PA
1997 to Present: Medical Social Worker, Hershey Medical Center's Penn State Cancer Institute; Hershey, PA
Memberships:
National Association of Social Workers (NASW), Academy of Certified Social Worker's (ACSW); WVU Alumni Association, Lifetime Member; Steering Committee, The Compassionate Friends, Camp Hill Chapter (Treasurer); Parent Heart Watch.
Hobbies:
Singing in my Church Choir, Golf, attending WVU Football games.
Other:
Facilitate Support Groups for Cancer patients; Leukemia, Lymphoma, and Multiple Myeloma patients, and Bone Marrow Transplant patients.
From 1980 to 2003 my job was that of wife and mother. Caring for my family was always my first and foremost priority. When Kyle died suddenly on March 17, 2003 my priorities changed; I immediately became an avid volunteer for the American Heart Association. I now represent the American Heart Association at booth exhibits and local health fairs, and hold short programs at a local nursery school to teach children ways to help keep their heart healthy.
In the summer of 2003 I organized a team of over 80 people to walk in the Central PA American Heart Walk. Our team alone raised over $9,000. We wore shirts with Kyle's picture emblazoned on the front and our team name, "Walking for Kyle." Also on our shirts were the words, "Alive in the hearts of those he touched." The AHA walk has now become an annual event for our family and friends.
Rhonda Foster invited my husband, Tom, and me to join the Take It To Heart project. Together, we help educate the public and facilitate ECG screenings for youth. We have been featured together in television, newspaper and magazine interviews and articles. I am also a member of Parent Heart Watch, the national organization to help protect youth from sudden cardiac death. I work to further the goal of reducing Sudden Cardiac Arrest in children.
Two months after Kyle's passing, our older son Nate moved out of the house. Already a college graduate, he began his career, married, and started a family. My job is still that of wife and mother, ensuring that Kyle's legacy lives on.
"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us, what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal."
~ Albert Pike
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