They got on their mark…they got set…and they were off!
The annual ‘Go Red’ Heart Walk participants stepped out under the bright and warm South Carolina skies, Feb. 7 around the parking lot of the Wm. Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Medical Center.
Visitors and employees of the Columbia VA Health Care System took the time to recognize the month’s traditional annual exercise routine through walking, which acknowledges February as a time to get hearts healthy through exercise, diet changes or even making heart check appointments at the facility.
Army Veteran Maple Davis and member of the Women’s Empowerment Group of the Columbia VAHCS, was on a crutch, but that did not deter her participation in the walk on the beautiful morning.
“I believe in the cause,” Davis said. “What they do here is encouraging for everyone to come out and enjoy. Plus, I don’t want to get a heart condition and this program and the information they provide helps me stay on top of my healthy heart.”
Yvette Twum-Danso and Charlene Speaks, employees of the Columbia VAHCS, were the leaders for the event.
“This is our ninth year with this heart walk, which encourages a healthy lifestyle for heart patients,” said Twum-Danso.
Speaks added that most persons participating in the event were staff members who took the time out from their various clinics. “But we encourage routine walking for our patients also,” Speaks said.
Twum-Danso and Speaks added that for Veterans concerned about potential heart issues, they should make an appointment through their Primary Care doctor for a diagnosis. “This will then result in referrals and consults as necessary,” Speaks and Twum-Danso said.