WELLNESS SPONSOR
American Heart Association
SAVING LIVES WHILE STAYING IN – ONE STEP AT A TIME
n Meet the Top Fitness Team award winner of the 2020 Austin Heart & Stroke Walk: the National Charity League — Lake Travis!
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ith the recent coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic keeping more Americans at home, the American Heart Association (AHA), the leading voluntary health organization focused on heart and brain health for all, is embracing the new normal and moved its iconic Austin Heart & Stroke Walk online. This year’s reimagined Heart Walk kicked off in late September with the four-week Austin Heart Challenge. Participants and their teams had the opportunity to choose how they “laced up” or participated in the steps-based challenge and worked to achieve at least 10,000 steps. The National Charity League – Lake Travis team achieved 23,708,960 steps and took the AHA’s Top Fitness Team Award. The National Charity League – Lake Travis’ mission is to foster mother-daughter relationships in a philanthropic organization committed to community service, leadership development and cultural experiences.
disease starts with conversations between mothers and daughters. The national organization formed a strategic alliance with the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women and local chapters support AHA through various activities throughout the year. Two years ago, one of our board members discovered that she had a previously undiagnosed heart condition after attending a NCL meeting with a cardiologist who spoke about the importance of getting your heart checked. She was inspired to get screened after that event. The Lake Travis Chapter has participated in the Heart Walk for many years, so we were thrilled that the virtual format allowed us to continue despite the pandemic restrictions.
What are some of the fun and creative ways members participated in the challenge?
Team Captain, Stacey Lehman, has participated in the AHA Heart Walk for a decade. Her dedication to promoting cardiovascular health made her the perfect person to coordinate both the Steps Challenge and the Heart Walk for our chapter. She encouraged members to get at least 30,000 steps and turned it into a competition for our moms and daughters to see who could get the most steps. The result has been unprecedented engagement from our members! We’re recognizing the mom and daughter with the most steps at our November meeting.
Why did the National Charity League – Lake Travis decide to participate in the virtual Heart Walk this year? Recognizing that cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death, the National Charity League believes that educating women about heart
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