Feb. 4, 2021

Chip’n Away @ Heart Disease celebrates American Heart Month

WARNER ROBINS – February is American Heart Month and a healthy reminder for communities to fight heart disease.

Bringing awareness about this deadly disease, Chip’n Away @ Heart Disease wants to remind middle Georgia to wear red on Friday, Feb. 5, for National Wear Red Day. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention is shining a light on hypertension (high blood pressure), which is a leading risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

Cynthia Malone, co-founder of Chip’n Away @ Heart Disease, said since launching the nonprofit organization in 2011 with her late husband, Coach Chip Malone, she and the board continues to raise awareness about heart disease and prevention through educational events and speaking engagements.

The organization kicked off its Coaches Against Heart Disease campaign in January to encourage early detection and treatment to help prevent occurrences of sudden death in athletes. Coaches wore T-shirts during the basketball games on the last weekend of January. The shirts had a special message to raise awareness about the increase in sudden cardiac arrest in adolescents. Malone said this annual campaign is a great way to show unity in the communities.

Additionally, the organization collaborates with Warner Robins City Hall and the Houston County Annex Building to increase awareness in middle Georgia by illuminating the buildings with red lights.

“Since February 2016, the lighting of these buildings has served as a reminder of the unfortunate statistics indicating that cardiovascular diseases plague many communities in the United States like ours, often with negative results,” Malone said.

She noted this year, the Houston County Superior Courthouse will bear the same message for many passersby to witness. She said this is one way the community comes together in the battle against heart disease.

“My husband’s passion was fueled by the desire that no family had to go through what he did,” Malone said. “As the co-founder of this nonprofit organization, I do not perceive our outreach efforts as a drop in the bucket. Instead, I see us as part of an ocean. Together, we are Chip’n Away @ Heart Disease.”

For more information about the organization and how you can help, visit https://www.chipnaway.com/.