Four WellSpan Good Samaritan cardiologists and other volunteers scrubbed in just off of Route 422 on Aug. 10 to bring heart and cardiovascular awareness to residents.
On Saturday morning, volunteers participated in a car wash at the Annville Auto Center. The money raised during the car wash was for the Lebanon Heart Walk, which helps support the American Heart Association.
"I think we washed an estimated 50 to 60 cars, and with donations raised a little over $1,000," Dr. Matthew Heffernan said.
Volunteers were waving down anyone on Route 422 to contribute and get a wash during a two-and-a-half hour event. Some contributors came through to give donations, and even a North Lebanon police officer took a detour for the event.
"He was on duty, (but) we were able to wash his car," Dr. Adam Shipe said. "We got a good picture afterwards, but we only had one unfortunately. We did have a fire truck drive by a couple times that we did try to get in, but we were not successful with that."
The Lebanon Heart Walk is one of the main fundraising efforts for the American Heart Association in Lebanon County, and is scheduled for Sept. 29.
"Obviously, with any type of organization, the fundraising provides them to get more resources whether it be hiring or putting on more events," Heffernan said. "They do a lot of great stuff for the community and raising awareness about cardiovascular health and educating people."
Besides events like the Lebanon Heart Walk, WellSpan Good Samaritan doctors visit local nursing homes and retirement communities to discuss issues like what is heart disease and blood pressure control. Shipe said those visits occur almost four times a year.
"The statistic at least six years ago said that if you combined all the mortality from cancer-related deaths, it still would not equal out the mortality from cardiovascular-related deaths," Shipe said. "So that was a huge tipping point for me in pursuing this as a career, but also doing some of these volunteer things so we can get out and discuss this with the general population."
Cardiovascular Health
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2022, 702,880 people in the U.S. died from heart disease, which is the equivalent of one in five deaths.
"Heart disease affects well over 50% of every American," Heffernan said. "So being conscious of your health, and promoting a healthy lifestyle whether it be diet, exercise (or) hopefully a combination of both, can significantly reduce that."
Symptoms for heart disease can include chest discomfort, shortness of breath and lightheadedness. If you experience these symptoms, it's important to call 911 immediately.
Someone suffering from heart disease could feel like "an elephant is sitting on your chest" when doing something physical, Shipe said. But residents could also see a complete change in their functional capacity.
"If you're someone that is very active ... exercising three or four times a week, and you find that two or three months ago you were doing that but now you can't perform half of that, that is something that should be evaluated by a cardiologist," he said.
Health lifestyle habits, including diet and exercise, have a greater impact on cardiovascular health than anything a doctor prescribes, according to Heffernan.
"What those lifestyle impacts have much more of an affect on your overall health, wellbeing and quality of life than any medication that we may prescribe," he said. "And really starting that at a young age and continuing that is the best thing going forward."
Residents looking for more information about cardiovascular health can visit the American Heart Association website at heart.org .
Matthew Toth is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at mtoth@ldnews.com or on X at @DAMattToth .
This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: 'Scrubbing in': WellSpan Good Samaritan cardiologists wash cars to promote heart health
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