A Heart for Care

Many people look forward to their birthdays or Christmas. Tammy Alcantar, RN, likes those days, too, but she’s also excited when the American Heart Association Heart Walk rolls around each year.

The 2008 walk is scheduled to start at 90 a.m. Sept. 20 at Mt. Carmel Regional Medical Center. Goal is $40,000.

A Pittsburg native, Alcantar works in cardiac rehab at Mt. Carmel, helping patients of cardiovascular disease make lifestyle changes that can improve their health and extend their lives.

“Cardiovascular disease is a passion of mine,” Alcantar said. “I’ve been a nurse for 22 1/2 years, 19 of them with heart ICU and cardiac rehab.”

She’s been involved with the heart walk from the start.

“At the beginning, I was a walker, then a team leader, industrial leader, co-chairman, etc.,” she said.

Since 1949, the American Heart Association has invested more than $2.9 billion on research, with $147 million in 2006-2007 alone on research support, public and professional education and community programs.

Alcantar said she sees benefits provided by AHA every day in her work.

“The American Heart Association gives us our blood pressure guidelines and our CPR education,” she said. “It provides a lot of the education we use with our patients.”

One statistic she has learned is that one hour of exercise adds two hours of life expectancy.

“It pays to move,” Alcantar said. “We exercise people and strengthen their muscles. Remember that the heart is also a muscle, and when there is a major cardiac event, that muscle is weakened.”

Many of the patients she works with also suffer from diabetes and may become depressed and fearful after suffering cardiovascular disease.

“They want to know their limitations,” Alcantar said. “One woman recently told me that she was scared to death to get on the treadmill. Some people feel they have failed themselves because they have to take medication. But secondary prevention, with exercise, modified diet and taking prescribed medications, will keep people here longer. We have patients who have been coming here for 15 years.”

Back then, the Mt. Carmel cardiac rehab area was much smaller.

“We started with two bikes, two treadmills and a tiny telemetry box in an old ER room,” Alcantar said. “Mt. Carmel Auxiliary has donated a lot of equipment to us. Now we’re state-of-the art.”

But technology isn’t all of it — human contact and caring remain a vital part of heart care.

“Last year it rained for the AHA Heart Walk, and we were so worried about what we were going to do,” Alcantar said. “We moved the walk to the Weede Physical Education Building, and that made it more personal. People visited as they walked, and it was like a reunion for some people. We had some patients who didn’t think they could do the three-mile walk — they thought they’d just show up, then go home. Well, they were able to do laps at Weede, and one lady was thrilled that she did 10 laps around the gym. The heart walk is really fun.”

This year, teams from Vinylplex, Kansas Teachers Community Credit Union are leading other community-minded businesses to raise money for AHA, but Jeff Wilbert, AHA Start! Heart Walk chairman, said there’s enough fun for everybody to share.

“We want to recruit teams and commit large sponsors, and all companies pledging $500 or more will have their company logo placed on the walk T-shirts,” Wilbert said. “We’re also encouraging those who have survived heart disease to form their own team and walk their neighborhoods collecting funds.”

Walk participants who are heart disease or stroke survivors will be honored during the event by wearing red caps that read “Fighting Back.”

Wilbert said that team registrations and sponsorships are needed by the end of June.  Anyone needing additional information may call the American Heart Association at 918-808-4059 or visit www.heartwalk.kintera.org/PittsburgKS.