Please give during ‘Heart Month’

Well, it’s February again and we all get our chance to strike a blow against Canada’s number-one killer. This is “Heart Month.”
February has Valentine’s Day in it, when everyone can show love and administration for wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, or just those special friends in general.
It also is the month when we can show our support for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, which is dedicated to helping with–and solving–all sorts of heart problems. And not just for old folks, either. All ages, from wee ones to us oldies, can be affected by heart difficulties.
The problems are many and they are complex. The answers are coming but it takes an awful lot of time, education, dedication, and money.
Just think about a few of these facts for a moment:
•If you are killed in a car accident, at the same time 22 other people are dying of heart and stroke problems in Canada;
•If you are a woman, and are unfortunate enough to suffer from breast cancer, at least eight other women are succumbing to heart and stroke;
•If you suffer from that modern scourge, AIDS, then at least 56 other people are losing their lives because of heart/stroke disease; and
•There is no doubt cancer is a terrible disease, and it affects a lot of Canadians, but heart/stroke diseases kill more of us than all types of cancer put together.
And health is not the only cost to Canada. Consider the cost of medical care, how much the drugs are, and the disability pensions, not to mention lost wages.
How much do you figure we lose, in Canada, because of those things? Well, how about $17 billion! That would make a good dent in the national debt, wouldn’t it?
Now, about your donation. Where does that money go? It would be nice to know it is not being wasted, or used frivolously. Well, don’t worry. Your cash is in good hands and it is used well.
Some 62 cents out of each dollar goes to research. You all know the cost of everything is going up these days. Well, so is the cost of medical education, research people, equipment, chemicals, supplies–you name it.
And 11 cents out of that dollar goes for health programs, like “Heart Smart,” that provide healthy advice for us all.
A big step is taking the message to the schools. We can show our kids how to live better (and longer) even if we’re not so good at it ourselves.
Because we have to do a lot to raise the funds we are talking about, about 15 cents of the dollar goes into fundraising–campaigns such as this one.
So, when the “heart lady” or the “heart man” knocks on your door and asks for some financial help, please give as much as you possibly can. After all, the life that gets saved just might be yours.
Think carefully and give generously. Last year, we raised more than $13,000. Let’s pass that in the year 2000!