?Healthy? Rivalry Helps Hearts

The American Heart Association exceeded its fundraising goal by $62,000 at its recent annual Heart Walk. The organization set a goal of $240,000 and ended up with a total of $302,000 so far this year.

The goal was reached in large part due to a little healthy competition between two of Northwest Arkansas’ corporate giants, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Tyson Foods Inc. Employees of the two companies compete each year to find out which team can raise the most money. Tyson beat Wal-Mart this year by raising $78,000 compared to Wal-Mart’s $65,000.

Tyson is also a sponsor of the walk, giving a corporate donation in addition to the employee-raised funds. Other regular sponsors include Northwest Health Systems, Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield, McDonald’s, Mercy Health Systems, Southwestern Energy and Fayetteville Diagnostic Center.

New sponsors this year include Regions Bank, Morton Salt, Packaging Specialties and TrestleTree.

More than 80 percent of funds raised by the association go to fund research and education about cardiovascular disease and stroke, the No. 1 and No. 3 causes of death in the United States.

Research provided by the American Heart Association has helped to develop such medical necessities as CPR, stints and automatic external defibrillators. The group also funds local CPR classes and health initiatives such as free stroke screenings.