music
I'm David Huang and I'm the Cure
Doctor Huang is just incredible. He has
the most giving
personality I think I have seen.
Well I've been fortunate enough to sit on a number of advisory counsels for the
State of North Carolina including the Justice One Task Force
for heart disease and stroke prevention
as well as the Stroke Advisory Council
for the legislature and
through those efforts we've been able to
ford a number of
very beneficial and influential bills
that have
lead to stroke center designation as
well as funding for stroke education
and other programs to improve the
health of the citizens of North Carolina
Even though he probably doesn't know all
the things that he does because so many
of the things, if you just ask of him he very quickly
replies and does things for you and is really
the one person that I go to on stroke policy
in our state or stroke policy at the
national level
he has not only worked on stroke
policy but
sees the big picture of building a healthier
community
This whole experience has been
quite meaningful to me
Really a lot gets done on the state
level and you don't think of that
Everyone focuses on Washington and the things that go on in Washington
be it good or bad but a lot of the good
work actually happens at the state level
and for them to get a more local view of
how we would like to see things play out
I think is very valuable to them and
it's something that you don't realize
until you actually do it
The best way to put this is that I'm a
little piece of a bigger
bigger cause
and the take home message if I
could give to anyone is
that no effort is too small
My name is Theresa Conejo and I am the Cure
I started out as a legislative advocate
in my local district
and from there I went on to national
Advocacy Committee
served two terms on national Advocacy
Committee then I went on to stroke
Council
then I also went on to the scientific
advocacy
I like doing this I have a passion for
it.  I have a good rapport with my
legislators my elected officials and
they trust me in and they respect me
and it's really a good feeling when you
have a legislative win
What others can learn from Theresa and
her volunteer efforts
is simply to do. Theresa understands that
to volunteer
is a verb.  We cannot do what we do
without volunteers like Theresa
helping us to advocate on behalf of the
American Heart and the American Stroke
Association
She has a powerful and passionate voice
for the
priorities of the organization and she
speaks with such authority from
her own experiences and she is
incredible at also encouraging others to
get involved and to use their voice as well
So from my perspective Theresa is
not just volunteering
but she's also educating. Obviously she's
out there educating the public
but she's also educating the patient's
and her peers, her colleagues here at Nazareth Hospital
I have encouraged others to become
involved with the American Heart
Association
What's neat about the American Heart
Association is it doesn't matter
if you're a cardiovascular surgeon or
lunch mom
everyone has a role and everybody has a
story to tell
There's many other advocates out there that are doing special things and
to receive this award is
for something that I enjoy doing, it's
my passion
makes it even more special
My name is Jim Bischoff and I am the
Cure
I first got involved with the
American Heart Association in 1992
after I had been forced to retire as
superintendent on a medical disability
because of my heart issues
A board member of mine had been one of the founding members of the Hamel and Fairfield division
and the first day I was quote unquote
retired he called me and told me I was now
on the Heart Association board
and that's where the adventure began
Jim's a great volunteer because of his discernment
his dedication and his courage.
I feel people need to understand that it is not just enough to care. You need to be willing to go to the next
step and be proactive. Everyone has the
opportunity and needs to be a change agent.
He is able to look at
whatever the situation is and determine
what really is important
what needs to be done. His dedication is
putting the time
into studying what he needs to study
in order to learn what he needs to learn
to be able to present
the issue and represent the
organization
and finally he has the courage to speak
up
whether within the organization or to
people outside the organization
to make sure that what is important
is understood
I have a 39 year old son-in-law who
had a three-stroke episode and came
through it well because everything
with the chain of survival worked as it
should. I want people to work
as though they're trying to save the
life of someone in their family because
it well could make a difference
to someone they love closely.
Jim Bischoff has been a volunteer leader for the American Heart Association for many years
and in that time has been a powerful
advocate for our cause, has spoken with
great wisdom
about our issues and is truly deserving of this award.
We are there to build allies
and I realize that yeah this is a
persistent process we need to stay after it
because advocacy is really a
marathon, it is not a sprint
My name is Cassidy Collins, I'm the Cure
I was born with a congenital heart
defect and so I've grown up
having to know to eat healthier and to
exercise more
and to take care myself and so it
impacted me a lot because
I have a reason for working for the
American Heart Association not just for me
but from my peers and for my other
friends with congenital heart disease
Cassidy is a remarkable student because she
takes the challenges that she has and
has actually done more instead of
doing less given the challenge that she faces
and she has, she is an inspiration to
her peers and to her teachers as well
Cassidy's efforts really are
inspirational because she's a survivor
herself. She had her sixth heart procedure
this past summer and she just continues
to
put all the effort that she needs
to into helping other people become
aware of how important it is to make
healthy choices whether they're young or
old
Cassidy has been doing this her whole life
but no more so than what she has grown
into as a high school student. She is now
I mean taken
skill sets that her parents have provided to her
gone to trainings, she has joined with
other youth advocates in the state
she has sought and recruited advocates to our cause
Cassidy's efforts have inspired me by
just showing me that
you can take any bad thing that has
happened to you
and turn into a good thing you know, she
took something that was
terrible happened here when she was
younger
and she has used it to raise awareness
to other people
because it affects all of us we all know
someone who's
been affected or is affected.  She has
inspired me and I think others to
stand up for what we believe in and not be afraid to advocate it
Ever since I was in second grade I began talking
about Jump Rope for Heart and Hoops for Hearts and raising congenital heart disease
awareness to thousands of students and I've grown up
learning more about the State Lobby Day
and the Federal Lobby Day
I've spoken to senators and
representatives
and I have worked with some to create bills
and I realized this was something I
really like to do
and now I've won this award and its been
pretty awesome
