September 13, 2012
Dear Friend of the Texas Heart Institute,
There is still time to purchase tickets and join us on the evening of Sept. 18 as we salute our founder, Dr. Denton A. Cooley, and celebrate the Texas Heart Institute’s 50 years of medical progress, helping to improve and save lives ravaged by cardiovascular disease.
Also on Sept. 18, we’ll be hosting a special guest, Olympic silver medalist Leo Manzano.
Leo is helping us reach out to children, teachers and parents to educate them about heart health through Project Heart, our curriculum for Kindergarten through 6th–grade students. It has been completely revamped to include more interactive games and activities which are downloadable free to classroom teachers and parents. Project Heart has been downloaded by more than a half-million users to date and the new format, we expect, will attract many more.
As part of that program, Leo also will join Project Heart robot Cool-E to help us launch a fun 7-day fitness challenge for youngsters, with a number of easy activities to get them started toward a healthier lifestyle.
One in every three children in Texas, including almost half of Hispanic children, is overweight or obese and will suffer lifelong health and productivity consequences, according to a 2011 study done for the Children’s Hospital Association of Texas.
We are so glad to have someone like Leo, who grew up in Austin, help us with Project Heart. Leo, you may know, took the silver medal in the 1,500-meter run in last month’s Olympic Games in London and has been racing in Europe since. We look forward to welcoming him back home and getting started on the 7-day fitness challenge. We are grateful to him.
We are also very grateful to Tilman Fertitta and his team at Landry’s Concepts who are joining with us in the fight against cardiovascular disease. Starting this Saturday, Sept. 15, and running through Nov. 3, the more than 60 Houston area Landry’s restaurants will give diners a chance to add an extra $1, $3 or $5 to their tab to help fund critical research and improved patient care at the Texas Heart Institute, and education programs, like Project Heart described above.
Even better, Landry’s will match your gifts up to a total of $100,000. So, we hope you will “dine out and do good” with Landry’s in this period for the many thousands of patients affected by heart and vascular disease.
With great respect,
James T. Willerson, MD
President and Medical Director
Contact Dr. Willerson
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