Keith Ahrens

The American Heart Association Las Vegas Heart Ball is tomorrow night at the Mirage Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.

After returning from Florida I was honored to open my invitation.  My Red Tie is waiting.  This will be my second Heart Ball.

One of The guests of honor will be a 10-month-old little girl named Lola who has already had 2 heart surgeries.  I met this young special fellow survivor and her mom and dad at a Heart Walk committee meeting several weeks ago.  The baby is adorable and full of life (and SMILES).

In addition to having many, many silent auction items up for grabs there will be several large ticket auction items going up during the dinner.  I’ve included a list below for some of the large items for the curiosity seekers.

1. Jason of Beverly Hills Floating Heart Pendant: The winner of this beautiful package receives Full cut floating diamond heart pendant G color VS1 clarity set into 14K gold which is encased within hand cut mineral crystal on a 16 inch polish mesh chain. No return or exchange.

Generously Donated by Jason of Beverly Hills at The Cosmopolitan Hotel  -VALUE: $2,500

2. Bernard Passman Gallery Gift Certificates: This is a series of five $500 certificates totaling $2,500.  These certificates can be redeemed at the Passman of Nevada Gallery in the Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas.  This is a wonderful way to start or continue your Passman Gallery Collection. No return or exchange.

Generously Donated by Bernard Passman Gallery at The Venetian Hotel – VALUE: $2,500

3. Batter Up!!: Travel in style to beautiful Phoenix, Arizona on Friday, August 5th . Guests of The Westin Phoenix Hotel will enjoy two rooms for Friday & Saturday night.  On Saturday, August 6th, take in a ballgame like a VIP! Enjoy all the action from a private box that seats up to 12. – No return or exchange. Tickets and hotel stay only good for August 5^th & 6^th.

Generously donated by, Perini Building Company and the Westin Phoenix Downtown Hotel. VALUE: $4,000

4. Bernard Passman Gallery Kissed by Design Ring and Earrings 18kt. The ring has .55 ct and the earrings have .70 ct.  This design is a wonderful example of how the diamonds gently kiss the black coral. These are two a beautiful pieces from the Art to Wear collection in the Passman gallery. No return or exchange.

Generously Donated by Bernard Passman Gallery at The Venetian Hotel – VALUE: $6,000

5. Hawaiian Timeshare Getaway from Bay Club: The winner of this incredible package receives a timeshare in Bay Club Waikoloa beginning in 2012 and membership paid to RCI until May 31, 2013. Bi-Annual Maintenance Fees are the responsibility of the purchaser: 1^st Fee Due December 2012: $2,069.23; Trip may only be booked for every other year beginning in 2012.

Generously Donated by The Tanner Family- VALUE: $14,000

6. Bernard Passman Gallery Love & Devotion Heart Pendant: This beautiful pendant and chain is featured in 18kt white gold and contains 1.80 cts, VS Clarity, G-H color diamonds.  The “Love and Devotion” pendant is designed around a rare heart shaped red tourmaline.  Only the highest quality of red tourmalines carry the title “Rubellite”.    This beautiful pendant was created exclusively to honor the American Heart Association. No return or exchange.

Generously Donated by Bernard Passman Gallery at The  Venetian Hotel – VALUE: $10,000

7. Shell Vacation Club Timeshare, Three Weeks… Anywhere in the World! – Resorts all around the world, with 12,000 points you can experience just about any destination you choose every year till 2049.  Experience the lap of luxury at some of the finest resorts.  Use the points all at once or set off on a week’s adventure, three time a year.  Annual Maintenance Fees are the responsibility of the purchaser: $2,537.71; 12,000 points per year until 2049 to be used at any Shell Property in the world. Depending on Resort 4,000 points = one weeks stay.

Generously Donated by The Tanner Family – VALUE: $48,000

You’re the Cure on the Hill Lobby Day 2011
American Heart Association
Please share this video link with one and all – Keith

Just thinking about the possibilities to finding a Cure and Ending Cardiovascular Disease.

Can one man, women or child really make a difference?

Will your voice be heard?

My fight didn’t end on Lobby Day… In Fact, It Just Began.

Join the You’re The Cure network at YourTheCure.org

What a Day.

Met with Congressmen and Senators to cap off an incredible 2 days at the American Heart Associations You’re the Cure on the Hill Lobby Day.

Become part of the You’re the Cure Network and make a difference in your community, your state, your country.

Visit YoureTheCure.org today

What an honor to meet Nancy Brown, CEO, of the American Heart Association.

Truly one of Americas top CEO’s

You’re the Cure on the Hill Lobby DayApril 11, 2011

I grew up in Potomac, Maryland just 20 minutes from the White House.  I’ve been to all the museums and visited all the landmarks many times but this trip will be different.

Driving down Canal Road from Potomac through Georgetown and onto Pennsylvania Avenue to Constitution Avenue and seeing our great Capitol in front of me I felt something special.

As I venture into the hallowed halls of the Congress and the Senate to meet our legislatures this will be the first time I feel like I can and will make a difference for the millions of adults and children who have cardiovascular disease and those who will follow.

Perhaps if the legislation we’re advocating for today was passed 30 years ago my Heart Disease wouldn’t have been as severe.

Who knows what may have been… but now I know what can be.

This is going to be an interesting trip to say the least.

You’re the Cure on the Hill Lobby Day.  April 11 & 12.

I’m so ready to speak with our legislatures and meet other advocates, medical experts, researchers and fellow survivors.

Over 350 are expected to participate for the American Heart Association.

Get counted.  Click Here – Join the You’re the Cure Network and make a difference. – Keith

I was selected to by the American Heart Association to attend the You’re the Cure on the Hill Lobby Days in Washington D.C. next week.

The event will include more than 350 Advocates, Medical Researchers, Doctors, and Survivors.

I was asked to represent the AHA and attend as a Survivor, National Advocate, and Heart Hero.

We’ll be on Capitol Hill to share our stories with our Senators and Congressmen and ask our legislators’ to support the important legislation that would help prevent heart disease and stroke.

We’re asking for support and passage of the FIT Kids Act and Safe Routes to School legislation, which would help prevent childhood obesity by promoting quality physical education and safe walking and bicycling paths to schools– and asking for vital funding for medical research that can lead to improvements in the prevention and treatment of heart disease and stroke.

I’ve included some items we’ll be “Asking” for lobbying for with bullet points below from the AHA for our Lobby Day and the Facts to back them up.

ASK: Please appropriate $35 billion for the NIH in 2012 to support research that (1) improves health, (2) spurs economic growth and innovation, (3) creates jobs, and (4) advances science to help find better ways to prevent and event cure heart disease and stroke.

Fact: NIH invests a mere 4{1ee8873d3da54571ef77633feec9b2f18618b0dba2f28faf42edb28003d1c6f7} of its budget on heart research and 1{1ee8873d3da54571ef77633feec9b2f18618b0dba2f28faf42edb28003d1c6f7} on stroke research even though heart disease, stroke and other forms of cardiovascular disease remain the No. 1 and most costly killer of Americans. These funding levels are not commensurate with scientific opportunities, the numbers afflicted, and the economic toll this disease exact on our Nation.

Fact: A large portion of NIH research is focused on reducing heart disease and stroke risk factors, including high blood pressure and cholesterol, tobacco use, and physical activity.

Fact: NIH funds research in every state and in 90{1ee8873d3da54571ef77633feec9b2f18618b0dba2f28faf42edb28003d1c6f7} of congressional districts. The typical NIH grant supports about 7 mainly high-tech full-time or part-time jobs. In one year, every dollar that NIH distributes in a grant returns more than $2 in goods and services to the local community.

REMEMBER: Research remains our best hope to prevent and even cure heart disease and stroke.

ASK: Please co-sponsor the FIT Kids Act.

Fact: Childhood obesity in the United States is an epidemic. About 1 out of every 6 children and adolescents ages two to 19 are considered obese. As these obese children grow into adulthood, they have a much greater risk of developing and dying from heart disease. Their poor health also pushes up medical costs and lowers our military preparedness.

Fact: Only 3.8{1ee8873d3da54571ef77633feec9b2f18618b0dba2f28faf42edb28003d1c6f7} of elementary, 7.9{1ee8873d3da54571ef77633feec9b2f18618b0dba2f28faf42edb28003d1c6f7} of middle, and 2.1{1ee8873d3da54571ef77633feec9b2f18618b0dba2f28faf42edb28003d1c6f7} of high schools provide daily physical education or its equivalent for the entire school year. Twenty-two percent of schools do not require students to take any physical education at all.

Fact: National guidelines recommend that children engage in at least 60 minutes of physical activity most days of the week – and 30 minutes should be during the school day.

REMEMBER: Schools need to be a part of the solution to the childhood obesity epidemic and this includes telling parents what is provided in the way of physical education during the school day.

ASK: Please support the Safe Routes to Schools program at current funding levels ($183 million/year) in the next Transportation bill.

Fact: Just 13{1ee8873d3da54571ef77633feec9b2f18618b0dba2f28faf42edb28003d1c6f7} of children walk or bike to school today, down from nearly 50{1ee8873d3da54571ef77633feec9b2f18618b0dba2f28faf42edb28003d1c6f7} in 1969. A California study showed that schools that received infrastructure improvements through the Safe Routes to School program increased walking and bicycling by20 to 200{1ee8873d3da54571ef77633feec9b2f18618b0dba2f28faf42edb28003d1c6f7}.

Fact: Walking one mile to and from school each day is two-thirds of the recommended sixty minutes of physical activity a day. Children who walk to school have higher levels of physical activity throughout the day.

REMEMBER: More than 10,000 schools and communities across all 50 states have benefited from Safe Routes to Schools, which has helped build sidewalks, pathways, and safe street crossings. The program creates opportunities for daily physical activity and improved health for kids and for other members of the community.

I’ll be addressing the Nevada Senate and giving testimony in support of SB386.

Many of you know that I’m a very strong anti-smoking advocate.  I hate tobacco products.  I especially hate cigarettes and other non-smokeless products.

On April 5th the Legislature will hold hearings on two separate tobacco tax bills, one in each house.  These bills would increase taxes on tobacco products to a point that will reduce consumption, especially among youth, and raise millions of dollars to help prevent cuts to important health services and education.

My Letter to the Assembly and Senators:

As an American Heart Association and American Stroke Association National Advocate & Volunteer, I am writing to urge your support of a tobacco tax increase in Nevada.

Tobacco is the number one preventable cause of death in the United States and the leading controllable risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

A tax increase on tobacco products will reduce consumption, especially among youth, and raise millions of dollars to help prevent cuts to important health services and education.

In recent polling nearly three-fourths of Nevada voters (73{1ee8873d3da54571ef77633feec9b2f18618b0dba2f28faf42edb28003d1c6f7}) favored an increase in the state tobacco tax as a way to help balance the state budget, outpacing support for increasing the state’s casino tax, mining tax or sales tax.

Every single state that has raised its cigarette tax rate has subsequently received more tax revenue than they would have received without a rate increase, despite the fact that cigarette tax increases reduce state smoking levels.

Put simply, the increased tax per pack brings in more new state revenue than is lost from the related reductions in the number of packs sold and taxed in the state. Moreover, the substantially higher revenue levels enjoyed by those states that significantly increase their cigarette tax rates persist over time (while the cost savings from the related smoking declines grow rapidly).

Please support a tobacco tax increase in Nevada; it is both smart fiscal and health policy.

Heart Healthy Wishes, Keith Ahrens, CFT, SFN

cc: Assembly Taxation Committee, Senate Revenue Committee