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Save A Heart Attack Victim's Life Now!

Tax deductible
The Cause
AlphaGraphics is asking you to join us in a great cause to increase the chances a heart-attack victim has of living through this horrible event. We have teamed up with the Idaho Heart Foundation and the Heart 2 Heart support group to help them raise funds to help educate and supply Automatic External Defibrillators (AED) to our schools, emergency vehicles, businesses and parks. AlphaGraphics has agreed to match the funds* donated during the month of February 2019 to help us achieve their $10,000 goal this month.

The Facts
Tick...tick...two minutes have gone by and 3 people have suffered from a heart attack. Tick...tick...another two minutes and another 3 heart attack victims.

Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States has a heart attack.

A heart attack, also called a myocardial infarction, occurs when a part of the heart muscle doesn’t receive enough blood flow. The more time that passes without treatment to restore blood flow, the greater the damage to the heart muscle.

Every year, about 790,000 Americans have a heart attack. Of these cases:

- 1 in 3 heart attacks result in death if not treated quickly
- 580,000 are a first heart attack
- 210,000 happen to people who have already had a first heart attack
- 37% of persons having a heart attack outside of a hospital are witnessed by someone
- 33% received Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) before help arrived, 11% of those who received CPR survived. 7% survived without CPR
- An AED was used in 4% of victims before help arrived, 30% of those victims survived.

“One of 5 heart attacks is silent—the damage is done, but the person is not aware of it. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the main cause of heart attack. A less common cause is a severe spasm, or sudden contraction, of a coronary artery that can stop blood flow to the heart muscle. If you know the signs and symptoms of a heart attack and recognize that you or someone near you is having a heart attack, seek immediate treatment by calling 9-1-1. The longer you wait, the more damage to the heart muscle can occur.” - cdc.gov 

One Out Of 790,000
Jake Gilbert (age 38), one of the employees currently working at AlphaGraphics, is one of these victims. One day, in 2015, without any previous heart conditions, he came down with a bad cold. This cold turned out to be a life changing event. He was admitted into the hospital and found out he had a heart condition. After a stroke, a couple of heart attacks, advanced treatment and a surgery to install a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), he finally was able to receive a heart transplant in 2016. While sitting on his hospital bed not knowing how everything would transpire he felt helpless and confused at the whole process. It was right then that Jake made a deal with himself that after the surgery and his recovery he would do whatever he could to help others not feel this helplessness.

Heart 2 Heart Patient Support Group
In 2018 Jake decided to start discussing options with an Idaho Falls, ID Cardiologist named Dr. Blake Wachter who is the president of the Idaho Heart Foundation. Dr. Wachter knew that Jake had been through a lot and had learned a lot in the process. She decided to help him start an educational arm of the foundation called Heart 2 Heart. The Heart 2 Heart support group would focus on helping others be educated on lifestyle changes they will need to go through to help prevent heart episodes and to be prepared with what to expect if additional surgery is needed. The mission of the Heart 2 Heart support group is to help every heart failure individual understand what is happening, how to help themselves and receive support during this extremely scary time in their life.

Idaho Heart Foundation
With this new added drive Dr. Blake Wachter has teamed up with several local companies and the Idaho Falls Fire Departments to help her in this much needed cause. The mission of the Idaho Heart Foundation is to provide education (handled through Heart 2 Heart support group), Funding and Support for the community. By collecting funds the Idaho Heart Foundation will be able to purchase AEDs for schools, police cars, businesses and parks; educate individuals on how to use them and help the community be prepared in an event of a heart attack.

Conclusion
Thank you so much for taking part in our fundraising event. Over the past 3 years, we’ve been able to use the money raised to purchase AEDs for the community and start an education program that has helped many understand and prepare for the most common form of death in America. We aim to reach our $10,000 goal this month and supply 15 AEDs in our community in the month of February alone. Each AED costs $1,000 and with your contribution you will be helping us achieve this goal.



AlphaGraphics invites you to join us in providing AEDs to schools, police cars, businesses and parks in our community and  providing our heart attack victims with the support that they so desperately need in this terrifying time in their lives. AlphaGraphics will be matching the funds* that are donated during the month of February in 2019.

Save A Life Today - Join the AlphaGraphics team by clicking the ‘Donate Now’ button. We are asking that you donate during the month of February 2019.

*AlphaGraphics will be matching up to $10,000 donated during the month of February in 2019.
**Sponsored by AlphaGraphics. We thank you for helping us bring hope to the victims of heart attacks.

Donations 

  • Adam Bostrom
    • $100
    • 6 yrs

Organizer

Blake Wachter
Organizer
Idaho Falls, ID
Idaho Heart Foundation, Inc
Beneficiary

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