KATIE COSEO
The Corsair
Downtown Pensacola hosted its annual American Heart Association; Heart walk teams from all PJC campuses participated. With heart disease and stroke being one of the leading causes of death in the U.S, Pensacola citizens came out with dogs, strollers, and walking shoes to show their support.
PJC had faculty, administration, and students walking the 5k meeting at 7:30 a.m. and the police cars pulled out to lead the way at 8:06 a.m. “It’s all inclusive Milton, Warrington and Pensacola,” explained Butch Branch, coordinator of the Fitness Center at Milton. “Many of our employees have had an experience with heart disease. I teach concepts of life fitness so it’s something I teach to my students about the prevention of heart disease.”
The Vice President of PJC, Dr. Gonzalez is a regular to the heart walk stating that this year’s his fifth time participating at the event.
“I try to support the college in this type of event,” said Gonzalez. “Secondly my father died of a heart attack and my mother had congestive heart failure, so I have a family interest as well as a professional work interest.”
Butch Branch and Sheran Noles, the Senior Administrative Assistant at Pensacola, organized the PJC team. Planning for the event starts back in July and early Aug.
“July kick off we have a big get together all of our teams all over the county come together,” explained Noles.
Noles also has personal reasons for participating in the heart walk, “My dad died of a massive heart attack in 1995.”
Teams from local businesses, organizations and all the area hospitals walked the three miles through Pensacola’s downtown area. PJC licensed practical nursing program also participated in the event with walkers as well as assisting with the Baptist tent set up for taking blood pressures for walkers.
Anyone could participate, either solo or by getting a team together. Dogs and families were welcome, and donations were optional but appreciative. All completed walkers were treated with a Subway sandwich.
Getting in shape and eating healthy is of course the mainstay of being heart healthy. There are risks that increase the chances of having heart disease such as smoking or having a family history.
“We’re all a heartbeat away from leaving this earth you know, and the more we do to help our own health, our personal health, the closer we are to staying around longer,” said Sheran Noles.