On Friday, February 7, Team Chevy held a small event for people to come in and share their stories in honor of National Go Red Day.
The event provided food, water, and an opportunity to raise awareness on heart disease.
“We have a lot of really cool stories from the people that come in for National Go Red Day,” Woman of Impact nominee Traci Brubaker said. “As we raise awareness and get more people to become familiar with CPR, we can have more survivor stories of people who experience a heart attack.”
Team Chevy partnered with the American Heart Association for this year’s event. Erin Crawford, Guest Development Director with the American Heart Association, notes that they have worked with Team Chevy and their General Manager Dave Brubaker for a long time.
“Team Chevy has been a long time partner of ours. Dave Brubaker is our 2024 executive chairman for the Go Red for Women campaign this year and has built a leadership team that is amazing. He continues to reach out to involve community members and bring our mission to life. We’d like for everyone to know CPR. Starting with at least one person in every household is going to make a difference.”
Diane Kemp, Executive Director of the American Heart Association, reveals some statistics that are important to keep in mind for National Go Red Day.
“Nine out of every 10 individuals who have cardiac arrest outside of the hospital do not survive,” Kemp said. “One in two individuals will have some form of cardiovascular challenges. More than 44% of women above the age of 20 live with some form of cardiovascular disease. It’s incredibly important for us to have someone that we know who can be there for us and provide those life saving steps.”
Team Chevy has a long history with not only clients and friends, but even employees that have experienced heart complications. Ronnie Howell was a Team Chevy team member who passed away in 2019.
Ryan Leka, Team Chevy Service Advisor, considered Ronnie to be a big motivator for the shop since the first day he joined the team.
“He was a good man and friend to all of us,” Leka said. “Losing him at such a young age to heart disease really shook us all. We had already been involved with the American Heart Association for many years, but this motivated a lot of us to keep his memory alive.”
Dave Brubaker was equally as shocked when they lost their team member.
“When Ronnie’s parents showed up to the dealership to let me know he had passed away, it was a very difficult thing to deliver that message to 35 other employees,” Dave Brubaker said. “We loved him and we’re going to continue to go out in the community and support the American Heart Association.”
Michelle Siemers and Tina Pavy, Ronnie’s two sisters, find satisfaction in being able to honor her brother and paying tribute with Team Chevy and the American Heart Association.
“We were very close and he always worked hard,” Siemers said. “He loved his motorcycles, cars and his family at Team Chevy too. He was very successful in everything he did.”
When it came to devoting passion into his work, his sisters would say that he was second to none.
“He pushed through everything,” Pavy said. “He went back to college and became a mechanic. He enjoyed working on cars. If you ever had an issue, he was right there.”
As his story serves as a way to reflect on how serious heart disease can be, there are people who have had similar experiences and still live with precaution about these health scares. Tisha Ayala and her family have taken a cautious approach for her 8-year-old son Giovanni, who was born with coarctation of the aorta.
“He had to undergo open heart surgery at four weeks old,” Ayala said. “We had to just wait and pray that he made it to four weeks old. They had to go through his back because he was so little. They had to stop his heart and his lungs just to get in there and extract the part that was stopped. The doctors were able to fuse his heart back together and then we started the healing process.”
Mike Heminger had been dealing with fatigue for a while after doing everyday tasks such as grocery shopping, taking a shower or even grabbing the mail. He soon discovered that his heart was twice the size that it was supposed to be.
“The doctors told me that every time your heart pumps, you don’t want all the blood to go out,” Heminger said. “Normally it’s between about 55% and 75%. I was sitting below 12%. I got involved with cardiologist Dr. Gary Brigham in Crown Point and he saved my life.”’
Some of these complications can come out of nowhere. One evening, Jo Ann Gilbert was helping her father Mike Matthew to clean up the leaves in his yard. In a matter of moments, her father went down and she had to act fast.
“He was mid-sentence and then he just went down,” Gilbert said. “His arms were out and he never grabbed his chest. It was almost like he just passed out. I was frantic and luckily the neighbor was on the porch to call 911. I had been training for 13 years on CPR so I started to perform it. Help arrived quickly but it felt like forever.”
Everyone who experiences issues from heart disease has a different story. Unfortunately, not every outcome is the same. The biggest takeaway from National Go Red Day is that these situations continue to create awareness on the topic, which is what Team Chevy and the American Heart Association are motivated to do with this event.
“It’s really hard to hear about the stories of the ones that we lost,” said Traci Brubaker. “This is a very impactful day for us because it’s important not to put this off if you are having any signs of this. The American Heart Association helps the hospitals to be able to have the best care available to put it all together.”
The American Heart Association is inviting everyone to join in their National Walking Day on April 3 to help people improve health, reduce stress and boost their mental and emotional well-being.
For more information on Team Chevy, you can visit its website.