The Catskill Chronicle

Story and photos by Carol Montana

HARRIS, NY (February 26, 2014) – It may have been her 25th Heart-a-thon on Saturday, February 22, but for Helena Manzione, General Manager of WSUL/WVOS, the thrill is as fresh and new as her first one in 1989. “I have to say the residents and the businesspeople in this county are extremely generous, even in these very difficult economic times,” said Manzione (at left in photo with Loch Sheldrake Senior President Ken Walter, and Bill James, WSUL News Director.

The event was the 36th Annual Heart-a-thon sponsored by WSUL and WVOS radio stations and held at Catskill Regional Medical Center. And Manzione explained that, “This year we’re going after an elliptical cardiac unit. It monitors the patient on a computer so the physicians and the nurses can see firsthand what’s going on with the patient. That’s in the neighborhood of $7,000 and $10,000, and the balance that we raise is going to be put toward a fetal heart monitor, and that’s about $100,000. It’s another very important piece of equipment to detect any heart problems while the baby is still in the womb.”

Manzione estimated that since the Heart-a-thon – which used to split proceeds between the American Heart Association and the hospital – has targeted all the donations to CRMC, “we’ve probably given the hospital just about $450,000. Last year we gave them $67,000, that’s almost $1.00 per person who lives in this county.”

This year’s event raised close to $60,000.

Chief Executive Office and Chief Medical Officer of CRMC, Dr. Gerard Galarneau explained what the event means to CRMC. “The Heart-a-thon allows us to have the funds we need to provide the care that this community really deserves.

“The NaviCare® WatchChild® Fetal Monitoring System incorporates with our electronic medical records system to allow for multiple things,” said Galarneau (at left in photo). A patient can be in the emergency room and be monitored as if they’re on the labor and delivery room. … Physicians can have access to the heart monitor and the strips (the information printouts) – the physician can log on to the computer and see the strips live as the mother is being monitored. We purchased it and now we’re looking for the funds to pay for it.”

Dr. Galarneau noted that the cardiac rehab unit of CRMC is as much a social gathering place for the patients as an exercise area. “Our rehab patients love to come back, it’s like a social thing.

“We have an unbelievable cardiac rehabilitation area. The elliptical will allow us to better care for our patients. It’s a low stress exercise as far as hips and joints. Patients who have heart issues can go to the gym, but their exercise isn’t being monitored. Cardiac patients should really be with a medical professional while they’re starting treatment.”

A recurring theme in the discussions at the Heart-a-thon was the community’s commitment to the hospital. And Galarneau concurred. “It is humbling to see people who have in some cases so little, donate so much.”

In their third year as co-chairs, Alan Kesten owner of Monticello’s Yellow Cab, Roberta Byron-Lockwood, President and CEO of the Sullivan County Visitors Association, and Paul Carlucci, Vice President of the Villa Roma Resort and Conference Center in Callicoon, continue to work together to put on the highly successful Heart-a-thon.

“It’s such a good cause and something for the community and something that the community can participate in,” said Carlucci (at left in photo with Lockwood at right) as he worked his iPad making posts on the Facebook timelines of friends and organizations. And that’s just a small part of what he does to bring in donations.

“We start collecting donations from our guests and our staff back in January. It’s an aggressive program where we try to get everybody involved to make donations. This year we collected over $1700 from the staff and guests at the Villa Roma. The guests are invested; they’ve been visiting for a long time, and they’re invested in our community as well.”

Lockwood explained that “The Visitors Association reaches out to our members, to our friends and our colleagues. We also make it accessible by making donations online. You’re able to go to our SCVA.net website, we’ve got a great big Heart-a-thon button there. You click that and you’re able to make a donation and we put it right into the pot.” (The button will be available for another week or so at:  https://www.scva.net/heart-a-thon/

As co-chair, Lockwood continues to be astounded at the overwhelming generosity. “It’s amazing. Just this morning people came in and gave us $5, $10, a dollar, whatever they have. You know it’s coming from the heart. It really, really does.”

To see more photos or to purchase prints from the 36th Annual Heart-a-thon Raises Close to $60,000, visit The Catskill Chonicle on Zenfolio.