Jim not only understands AHA’s legislative priorities, but is also a great asset in determining advocacy strategy. He is always willing to give of his time – whether speaking to legislators, training other advocates, working with the media or recruiting volunteers. Jim was been critical in advancing many Ohio policy issues by cultivating a relationship with his House and Senate members. In recent months, Jim also gave compelling testimony on HB 427, the Ohio Stroke Bill, and then took the extra step to follow up with the Senate President to secure support for the bill once it reaches the Senate.


Jim is not only a regular at Ohio Advocacy Day each March and has joined us for Congressional Lobby Day in Washington, D.C. on several occasions, but also had the opportunity to attend a White House Community Leaders Briefing on Cardiovascular Health this past February. There, he joined a select group of other heart-health advocates who met with top administration officials to share their personal stories and hear about initiatives to help fight heart disease and stroke. In addition, Jim was recently awarded the American Heart Association Distinguished Achievement Award for his many years of service.


From the bottom of our hearts, thank you Jim!

Pulse Ox Moms with Governor Tomblin at signing of Pulse Ox Bill, or "Corbin's Law."

Like many his age, 50 year-old Gene Juillet thought he was in pretty good shape, but while pushing his lawnmower on a very hot day he began to sweat heavily and felt a slight tingling down his left arm. It worsened until the pressure in his chest felt like someone was sitting on top of him. Thankfully, Gene’s daughter called 911 because on the way to the hospital, Gene went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance. The EMTs applied an AED, which, after several attempts, restarted his heart. At the hospital, doctors placed a stent but told him his heart was so damaged that most of his left ventricle would never work again. Once in the ICU, Gene began to bleed internally and doctors discovered a rupture in his femoral artery. Because his heart was too weak, he was sent home for 6 weeks of bed rest before returning to have his open heart surgery where arteries were removed from his legs and then used in a quadruple bypass. Gene was told that about 1/3 of his damaged heart was removed the void was replaced with multiple layers of Dacron and Teflon, all held together with glue.

Hundreds of times a day, thousands of times a year, your work helps us breathe life into communities across the country. So in honor of National Volunteer Week, we’d like to say, “Thanks a million!”


• Serving up healthier school lunches
• Making restaurants, bars and workplaces smoke-free
• Adding food labels to help consumers make better choices
• Ensuring that defibrillators are in public places
• Developing lifesaving advances in heart surgery
• Helping heart attack and stroke victims get the care they need
• And spreading the word that heart disease is the No. 1 killer of all Americans and stroke is the No. 4 cause of death

With your help, we’ll do even more. We know that the only way we will reach our 2020 goal — to improve the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20 percent while reducing deaths from cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20 percent — is through the time, talent and energy of volunteers like you.

Thank YOU!

When advocacy staff reached out to Charleston AHA Board Member, Andy Young, to join us for our 2011 Congressional Lobby Day, we didn’t realize what a fantastic heart-health advocate we’d be gaining. “Andy’s passion and commitment came through in his meetings with policymakers during our visit to Capitol Hill,” said WV Government Relations Director, Chuck Hamsher. “That really makes a difference.”


In addition to being a CPA with Dixon Hughes Goodman, a You’re the Cure advocate and a very active AHA Board member, Andy is a member of the 2011 Heart Walk Executive Leadership Team, was Chairperson of the 2010 Heart Walk and an ELT member for the 2009 Heart Walk. Andy is also the Charleston area My Life Check Champion, actively communicating to his associates and other area businesses the importance of knowing their numbers and completing their own My Life Check assessment.

According to Holly Bagyi, Charleston Senior Director of Development, “Andy is a fantastic volunteer. He has a personal connection with heart disease, and his passion is evident in all he does for the American Heart Association.” Thank you Andy for making the American Heart Association a part of your busy schedule!

As an American Heart Association CPR/AED/First Aid instructor, an EMT instructor, an EMT with 22 years of experience, and a Pennsylvania State Evaluator for EMTs, Steve Zweifach has learned how important applying his professional experience and personal passion can be in the legislative process. Over the last several months, the Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, advocate has worked closely with AHA advocacy staff to help generate support for Senate Bill 351, legislation that would expand PA’s Good Samaritan Law to provide liability protections for AED program facilitators and general bystanders performing CPR and first aid/rescue.


Steve was first introduced to Advocacy and the You’re the Cure network by asking a question to ECC staff about whether or not those who perform hands-only CPR were protected from liability under the current PA Good Samaritan law. Steve quickly learned that they, in fact, were not and that there was even a larger issue over the lack of liability protections granted for Pennsylvania citizens who want to help in an emergency. Steve quickly jumped into action and became a strong voice, sharing his expertise with PA legislators about the importance of placing AEDs and granting bystanders the ability to perform CPR without concern over being sued.

Steve took his voice to the State Capitol in May during State Advocacy Day to urge lawmakers to support Senate Bill 351, and made that important extra step to follow up with his legislators once he returned home. He also wrote a letter-to-the-editor in support of Senate Bill 351, which was successfully placed in two local newspapers, including the Harrisburg Patriot-News, the hub of Pennsylvania’s State Capitol happenings.

We commend Steve for his tireless work to save lives in his community in so many ways. The American Heart Association is grateful for his invaluable assistance in helping to raise awareness of SB 351 and the importance that CPR/AED use is in improving cardiac arrest survival rates in Pennsylvania.

Jacob Guerrero (seen here with his mother Felicia and Celebrity Apprentice's Starr Jones) was born with a condition that caused his heart to beat abnormally. According to Felicia, who works for a cardiology group in Toledo and volunteers for her local American Heart Association division, he was relatively “normal” for his first 4 years of life. “After that, he started to have episodes and his heart would start beating faster than it should,” said Felicia.


At the age of 7, Jacob had surgery to undergo a procedure called “pathway ablation” that would correct his rapid heart rate and hopefully permanently “cure” his heart problem. He is now a completely healthy 12 year old with a passion for the work of the American Heart Association, participating in his school’s Jump Rope and Hoops for Heart programs every year. His most recent accomplishment, however, was joining over 300 other You’re the Cure advocates April 11th and 12th in Washington, D.C. for AHA’s Congressional Lobby Day.

Jacob was chosen to be a youth advocate and spokesperson at this year’s Congressional Lobby Day because of his devotion to the American Heart Association and his passion for the cause. He has become so passionate, in fact, that the quiet middle school student even participated in an interview with a local television station prior to his trip and then joined other youth advocates for radio interviews while in D.C.

Jacob and Felicia were outstanding advocates at Congressional Lobby Day, speaking to Ohio lawmakers on many heart-health issues, including improved school nutrition and the FIT Kids Act. “Watching Jacob go through the AHA Youth Training and then to see him quickly apply that information was great,” said Ohio Government Relations Director, Cresha Auck Foley. “It was even more inspiring to watch him truly learn to use his voice in meetings. After a great first time experience, I know he is a future advocate of the year!”

We thank Felicia and Jacob for taking time away from work and school to join us in Washington, D.C., and we look forward to working with them for years to come!

This year's Advocacy Day in Ohio featured an exciting new group of attendees - first-year medical students from Ohio State University. The day's focus was on tobacco prevention and cessation funding, and long-time advocate, Dr. Rob Crane, encouraged his class of first-year medical students to join in the process.

The students participated with other advocates in a morning training to learn more about tobacco issues, as well as an overview of what to expect in legislative meetings. A rally and press conference, featuring the students, followed the training. One student, Nick Nwabueze, spoke to the group about the negative medical impact of tobacco use as well as the importance of physicians learning that they too can be part of the legislative process.

After attending meetings with other advocates throughout the day, the students shared that they hadn't realized how their medical knowledge could really be a resource to legislators. In addition, advocates felt having the perspective of a medical professional in their meetings was invaluable.

AHA staff are very appreciative that the students were active participants in the day and that we had the opportunity to introduce them to the legislative process. As part of our new Next Generation initiative, we are continuing this partnership with Ohio State University to engage medical students and other healthcare, political science, and public policy students in our advocacy activities and hope to begin similar partnerships in our other states as well!

As a young, healthy University of Kentucky sophomore and dance team member, Regan Judd couldn’t have imagined herself becoming a heart survivor and advocate for the American Heart Association. She was just beginning her dance season, but felt as if something just wasn’t right. Of course at her age, she assumed she was just a little winded and continued to push through her strenuous practices. It wasn’t until her parents finally convinced her to see a doctor that Regan’s life was changed: she was diagnosed with a rare congenital heart condition, Ebstein’s Anomaly, that would require open heart surgery.


Just four months after surgery, Regan returned to dancing and soon after, became involved in her local Heart Walk. It wasn’t until this spring that she also began sharing her story with other You’re the Cure advocates and Kentucky lawmakers. Regan’s first experience with AHA advocacy was this past February at Kentucky Advocacy Day, where she spoke at a rally and press event in support of heart-healthy policies. Just a couple of months later, Regan and her mother, Sherri, joined 322 advocates and AHA staff in Washington, D.C. for Congressional Lobby Day. On Capitol Hill, she met with Kentucky lawmakers and their legislative staff members to explain that heart disease affects Kentuckians of all ages and that, if not for ongoing research funding, the technology and surgery that saved her life wouldn’t have existed.

In just a few short months, Regan has become a superstar Kentucky advocate, an integral part of our policy efforts, and has even helped us kick off a You’re the Cure college-age-and-beyond pilot, “Next Generation.” We thank Regan for sharing her passion and her story and we look forward to continuing to work with her to improve heart-health in the Bluegrass State and beyond.

Diane Gutierrez first reached out learn more about the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association in 2007 and has been our go-to advocate in Delaware ever since. As the Director of Rehabilitation for St. Francis Hospital in Wilmington, Diane wanted to learn how she and her organization could get more involved.

She immediately became a passionate advocate, always willing to lend her voice to our issues and always wanting to do more. She regularly presents throughout her community on the signs and symptoms of stroke and on stroke prevention and even reinvigorated a Stroke Support Group at a local Senior Center.

Diane has attended several lobby days, both at Legislative Hall in Dover and on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. She also serves on AHA’s Delaware Advocacy and Policy Advisory Committee, has provided testimony before the DE Joint Finance Committee and even meets with legislators on key issues beyond lobby days.

“Diane takes the initiative in representing the American Heart Association at various health information and health fair events,” says Jonathan Kirch, DE Government Relations Director. “She has become an indispensible part of our advocacy efforts in Delaware and has truly become a part of our advocacy team.” Thanks, Diane, for all you do for the First State!

Have you visited our Resource Center? It's right here on the blog and is regularly updated with tools to help you succeed as an advocate. We know you're passionate about our mission and we want to make sure that we are giving you the tools you need to advocate for heart-health!

You can find an activist guide and run-down of what you can do to be an advocate. Of course, we love when you take action on our email alerts, but we have other opportunities if you want to do more! Our resource center helps to lay out those opportunities (and, as always, you can contact us at any time to discuss meetings with legislators, letters to the editor, etc).

Outside of advocacy, the American Heart Association regularly hosts events to support our mission. We have events all over our five states and a handy tool on the blog to find yours! Check out the events page for your state to find out what events are going on in the coming year and click on the event name to visit that event's page and sign up.

Delaware Events
Kentucky Events
Ohio Events
Pennsylvania Events
West Virginia Events

We appreciate your efforts as an advocate and truly want to make it an enjoyable experience for you.  We hope that these resources help. Have any ideas on what else we could provide?  Tell us! Leave a comment here on the blog or shoot us an email, we love your feedback!

Advocate Spotlight
As an ordinary mother of three boys, Sharon Lyn Stackpole could not understand, at the age of 35, why she felt so tired all of the time. She no longer played with her three sons or attended their baseball games, and she had all but given up the creative outlets she loved most: drawing, painting, and writing.

She was often tired, light-headed, dizzy, and out of breath. Sometimes she fainted, for no apparent reason. Even going up and down stairs became difficult.

"I'd have to sit and rest on the edge of the bed for 20 minutes in between tasks," she said. "Or else I would pick just one thing to do during the day, and I'd save all my energy for that."

Doctors considered her symptoms but were reluctant to diagnose them as cardiac-related because she was "too young for that."

Sharon eventually thought, "Maybe this is just normal for me. I have small children, maybe they're just wearing me out."

Then, after having Sharon wear a Holter monitor, doctors discovered that Sharon Lyn had a heart condition called bradycardia, and tachy-brady syndrome. "The surgeon told me that between the pacemaker, and the use of a beta blocker to control the higher pulse rates, that would be as close to normal as I could get, " she said.

When she received a pacemaker, she found that she again had the energy for her family, her job, her writing, and her artwork. "I felt like I did when I was 18," said Sharon. "I was just revitalized."

“Even with all I had been through, I was reluctant to have the implant," she said. " I think I was just in denial. But my nurse said it would make a big difference, and it did.

"I noticed a change immediately. In fact, I was astonished at how much better I felt in the hospital. I really didn't know how sick I was until after getting the pacemaker, when I felt well again."

Since then, Sharon has become an amazing volunteer for the American Heart Association, donating one of her beautiful paintings every February—American Heart Month--as a fundraising auction item. In addition, she has become a top You’re the Cure advocate in West Virginia, even attending AHA’s 2009 Congressional Lobby Day in Washington, D.C. There, she was able to share her story with lawmakers, urging increased funding for heart disease research—research for the treatments and technology that allowed her to again keep up with her young boys.

Advocate Spotlight

Michelle Bianco has been a You're the Cure advocate since 2005 but her dedication to heart disease and stroke issues has spanned over two decades. Her children have such a strong genetic predisposition to cardiac disease, that she started their education to a healthy lifestyle very early in life. As a physical therapist, she has had the opportunity to care for those directly impacted by stroke. Because of her personal experience with both cardiac disease and stroke, she has passion for working with the American Heart Association to educate the community to risk factors and warning signs of these conditions. She believes it is vitally important to educate government officials to the resources necessary to prevent, diagnose and support those impacted by these conditions so that they may be positioned to lead as independent and successful of a life as possible.
As a top advocate who is passionate about American Heart Association policy issues, Michelle Bianco sets the standard for what it means to be a You’re the Cure advocate. In fact, her advocacy contributions are so well known that has been asked to be a national guest speaker on volunteer leadership for the American Heart Association.

In addition to taking action on every You’re the Cure action alert, Michelle participates in AHA policy issue chats, attends state lobby days, Congressional Lobby Days in Washington, D.C. and has even participated in our Healthcare Reform fly-in last September. She has taken the time on several occasions to reach out off-line to both state and federal legislators to advocate one behalf of AHA issues. She serves on the AHA Pennsylvania Advocacy Committee as the Field Representative for the 4th Congressional District and has forged such respected relationships were her state legislators that her state senator even reached out to send her a copy of a resolution designating February as American Heart Month in Pennsylvania. She has volunteered to serve as a “train-the-trainer” for any of our issues and to encourage more people to get involved with advocacy. We can honestly say that American Heart Association advocacy would not be the same without our superstar advocate, Michelle Bianco.

Today's Advocate Spotlight is on Theresa Smith from Ohio! Theresa was recently presented with the Great Rivers Affiliate Distinguished Achievement Award for her great efforts as a You're the Cure advocate. We were lucky enough to be able to do a video interview with Theresa to spotlight her and her thoughts on AHA Advocacy!

You are all well aware of our Action Alerts - you're the ones receiving them! Have you ever wondered what kind of impact they make? Well here's an update on the last year for you!

For the Great Rivers Affiliate (Delaware, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia) our advocates sent 46,869 email messages to key decision-makers in the past year!

This is absolutely amazing! These messages keep our issues in the forefront of legislators' minds and let them know what issues YOU care about (remember, they work for you!). When our staff meet with legislators to talk about issues, they'll often say, "Oh yes, I've heard from your folks on this issue" and proceed to share the information they already have because YOU educated them. This makes a positive impact and truly helps legislators to make the best--and most educated--deicisions possible.

Each state worked on many issues this year, but each also had a few standout issues that our advocates truly rallied around.

Delaware advocates should celebrate the movement around menu labeling legislation which brought in 17% of your messages this year. Also, saving tobacco prevention funding from being cut. In fact, 10% of your email messages were about saving tobacco prevention funding--and you succeeded!

Kentucky advocates can celebrate a policy win in the passage of Senate Bill 1 for primary stroke center designation. You sent messages to the legislature every step of the way resulting in over 300 messages on this topic alone - which all helped in the final passage of SB1! Thank you!

Ohio advocates can also celebrate the passage of SB210, Healthy Choices for Healthy Children legislation, which was a great first step in addressing childhood obesity in Ohio. Ohio advocates sent an amazing 2000 messages around this issue! Ohio also saw significant movement around tobacco prevention funding, with over 6000 messages (30% of all messages!).

Pennsylvania advocates also spoke out in favor of tobacco prevention. Over 4000 messages were sent to help save Master Settlement Agreement funds, as well as other tobacco-related issues in Pennsylvania.

West Virginia advocates also rallied around tobacco prevention funding, sending over 400 messages to their lawmakers! And throughout the year, West Virginians continued to speak out for smoke-free air!

We are so thankful for each and every one of these messages delivered, because they ALL make a difference! We look forward to your continued support of our heart-health issues.  Remember to keep clicking--your legislators need to know what matters to YOU!

Advocate Spotlight

Dr. Kerri Remmel is the Chair of the Stroke Center at the University of Louisville and the Associate Dean for Clinical Development and Regionalization, serves on the board of directors for the American Heart Association Great Rivers Affiliate and is the Co-Chair for the Kentucky Heart Disease and Stroke Program.

Dr. Remmel has been a longtime You’re the Cure advocate and champion for stroke systems of care in Kentucky, she has worked tirelessly to improve the healthcare delivery system for stroke patients from Pikeville to Paducah, and her work isn’t confined to the clinical setting.

For the last several years, Dr. Remmel has partnered with AHA advocacy staff to educate policy makers on the need for a statewide stroke system of care that addresses EMS, timely diagnosis and treatment and rehabilitation. Dr. Remmel had her first policy success in 2006 when she helped convince the state legislature to adopt a resolution encouraging the development of a statewide system of care for stroke. Passage of this resolution helped lay the groundwork for Senate Bill 1, which became a top priority of Senate President David Williams during the 2010 Kentucky legislative session.

Senate Bill 1 requires the state to designate Primary Stroke Centers and, thanks in large part to Dr. Remmel’s passion and perseverance, passed unanimously in both the House and Senate. Dr. Remmel gave generously of her time, speaking one-on-one with lawmakers, giving numerous interviews with the media and traveling to Frankfort on several occasions to provide expert testimony in committee hearings,

For her ongoing dedication to the mission of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association, we were pleased to award Dr. Remmel as the 2010 Kentucky You’re the Cure Volunteer of the Year.

Advocate Spotlight

Lindsay Siegle is the epitome of an outstanding leader, survivor, patient, spokesperson, and advocate. Her volunteer efforts with the American Heart Association go back more than five years and her work has touched many areas of the organization. Over the years, Lindsay has been highlighted in media stories, participated in state and national level lobbying events in PA, DE, and in Washington, D.C., and raised funds for several AHA events.

This past year she traveled to Washington, D.C. to advocate for healthcare reform on behalf of heart patients. Her ability to tell her incredible story of being the youngest recipient of a pacemaker at the time, her continuing worries about adequate coverage as she transitions from student to professional, and how her experiences aren’t unique were incredibly impactful to Congressional staff in member’s offices in Pennsylvania and Delaware. In addition to all she does for the AHA, she also created and runs a toy drive each year at St. Christopher’s Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia.

Lindsay recently accepted a position at a community hospital in her hometown where she will dedicate her passion towards patients as a career. At only 24 years old, Lindsay has accomplished so much as an American Heart Association volunteer-advocate and we were honored to award her the 2010 Distinguished Achievement Award.