In conjunction with the American Heart Association’s annual Heart Walk activities, a group of USP staff members are getting an early start – with a November 6th walk around our Rockville campus.
We spoke with Kanda Balasubramanian, USP Manager for Reference Standards, who organized the USP event, about the inspiration for this year’s USP Heart Walk.
What is the purpose of the USP Heart Walk?
The goal is raise both awareness and funds to support heart related research, as well as to have fun.
The statistics are staggering:
- Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the No. 1 killer of all Americans. In fact, someone dies from CVD every 39 seconds!
- Heart disease also kills more women than all forms of cancer combined.
- And congenital cardiovascular defects are the most common cause of infant death from birth defects.
Why did you get involved?
In short, “My family is why”. Both sides of our family have had heart related incidents. If not for all the hard work and sacrifice of several people involved in research, diagnostics and treatment options, the impact on our family would have been much worse; hence the decision to give back to the community by getting involved in this activity. It is important that we as parents and our kids are aware of these CVD realities and plan our life accordingly. In addition, the interest is to create awareness on the part of my friends and colleagues at USP.
What kind of response/feedback have you received?
The response at USP has been excellent…. from executives to all ranks in the organization have been very supportive of this initiative. As employees of a medically oriented non-profit organization, we have an obligation to promote and support these types of activities and I am extremely pleased with the support I have been receiving. Many of the employees shared their personal stories regarding heart related incidents in their lives and/or their loved ones. I was touched by those stories which also motivate me to do more.
Based on the response, do you see this event growing in the future years?
Absolutely! We now have a solid base of employees who expressed interest in participating and I anticipate it to grow. In fact, based on the feedback, we arranged USP heart walk on November 6th just for USP employees to walk around the USP campus. This is in addition to the Heart Walk at the National Mall in DC on November 8th. With the support of USP’s Staff Activities Committee, I anticipate this event growing for years to come.
What is the one thing that people should remember about this event?
Stop, think, participate and bring a friend to the walk. Who else is going to be more interested in the health of our hearts than us!!
We encourage you to learn more about Heart Walk events being held across the United States.
USP is proud to have the American Heart Association as one of the many public interest organizations that are members of the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention, helping to guide USP’s future activities, and we also encourage you to take a deeper look at the wide-reaching public impact of USP.
