 Good afternoon. I am Councilwoman Tamika Isaac Devine, currently serving as Mayor Pro Tem for the City of Columbia. It is indeed my honor to recognize and welcome all of you here to your City Hall, here in the City Hall of Columbia, South Carolina, and our recognition of Go Red for Women Day. For many years, we at the City of Columbia have been recognizing in partnership with American Heart Association Go Red for Women and Heart Month as an opportunity for us to make sure that we are encouraging all of our citizens to know their status, understand risk factors, and do what they can to prevent heart disease. As most of us know, heart disease is the leading cause of death in women, claiming the lives of one in three women annually. And as I was looking this morning at the news reports, and Amanda may mention this, but there's a news study that talks about over the last three years, even with all the awareness that we're doing around this issue, the numbers have been creeping up and they've been increasing. So, it clearly shows us that what we're doing here today is so vitally important, not just to us, but to our families, to our mothers, our sisters, our daughters, everyone in our community. And so, if we at the City can continue to elevate the voices and bring together amazing, beautiful women and men like you to bring awareness around this issue, we know that we are striving to educate people so that they can take the proper steps to ensure their health and wellness. So, before our American's here, he's going to bring some remarks, but I wanted to just remind you guys, and we say this every year, but it can't, we can't say enough, the stress enough, the importance of knowing and understanding our health. Last year, we had an amazing talk by Kimberly, Suber, and Juan Finch, and Juan shared with us her personal story about, as a busy, working mom, community advocate, running around the community and not understanding or not really paying attention to the signs that her body was telling her. And most of you know, I do a lot of running around. I get people who jokeily tell me all the time that they get tired just watching my social media feed. But I do have also, I also have a very busy life. I run around and, but I also know when my body is telling me to make a sit down, to make a rest. You can't be here doing everything for the city and for your family if you don't take care of yourself. And so it is so important that all of us know our numbers and know the things that will be risk factors. So the five numbers that every woman should know to take control of her heart health are the total cholesterol, our HDL, which is the good cholesterol, our blood pressure, our blood sugar, and body mass index. It is time for all of us to learn these critical numbers and understand what they're telling us about our overall health, about our well-being, and to know what we need to do to make those things better. And so these are some things that we need to do. We need to understand our risk factors, take control of our health. The risk factors include blood pressure, smoking, cholesterol, lack of regular physical activity, and some of us, and some things that we can't control like age, gender, and family history. But if we understand our risk factors, we know what we can do to prevent it. We also know our numbers and learn our family history. And we need to discuss our risk factors with our healthcare practitioners. In today's day and age, there are so many things that we can utilize that our healthcare practitioners can tell us about to help us address these things. I'm in awe when I see the different apps and the different things that people have to let you know what your body mass index is, what your blood pressure is, so that you can keep those things in the forefront and you know how to control those. Five numbers that we can change in our life, our total cholesterol, our HDL, our blood pressure, our blood sugar, and our body mass index. And I'm so grateful today for the partnership for Southeastern Institute. So after we finish today, you can go downstairs. If you do not know your numbers, you can have a health screening. You can get your blood pressure checked so that you know what that is and you can understand what that's telling you about your overall health. And then lastly, I want to encourage you to take action to manage our numbers. Schedule a separate visit with your healthcare practitioner. Make sure that you know these numbers, you commit them to memory and you look at them on an ongoing basis. So many times people do not go to the doctor. They don't see their healthcare providers. They don't know what things are until it's too late. But we don't want you to wait till it's too late. We want you to know those numbers and actively work to address them. I'll share it with you personally. I've had high blood pressure since my second pregnancy and I check my blood pressure not just when I go to the doctor, but in between going to the doctor. I make sure I take my medicine, but I also make sure I've changed the way I eat. I change the way I exercise. I make sure that even though I think I'm active, that I'm active in the right ways, that I'm walking, that I'm taking steps, that I'm doing things that keep me healthy. And so those are the way that I've tried to address my blood pressure and I've seen a difference. And so we can take control over our numbers. We also need to work to improve our numbers regularly. So whether it is your cholesterol intake, it is the way that you're eating, it is the way that you're sleeping or not sleeping. And we know that that is a factor. It is the way that we're managing stress. Those are things that we can do to take control of our health. And again, thanks to the partnership with Southeastern, which I'm really, really excited about, after today's press conference, you can go downstairs and get yourself a wonderful massage. So that is something also that you can do to address it. But these are some things that we wanted just to share with you today on ways that we can continue to take control of our personal health, but also to educate our sisters and people within our communities so that they're taking control of their health. So with that said, it is my honor to introduce the handsome man in the red jacket in the back of the room. Our mayor, Mayor Stephen Kate Benjamin, who is mayor of the city of Columbia, also president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors to come forward and bring some remarks. I'm always so happy to be here. I figured I come as a superhero this year. I come as super cappaman this year just to show our incredible support for the work that some of you do in just constantly beating the drums of awareness, helping us realize that small adjustments to the way we conduct our daily lives will significantly impact our quality life and the length of life and the time we're able to spend with the people that we love here. Everyone in this beautiful historic chamber has stories, stories that are stories of joy and pain of love and lost. And we know that there are things that we can do and we can do and encourage the people, prod the people, push the people that we love to do more to take care of ourselves that will significantly enhance our lives. So it's my job to try and look a little dapper every year. This is the only time of the year I wear a red blazer, I think. And I had the other one that I wore last year in which my wife, who I don't see, I think she has a, she's sitting on the bench right now. I think she and my girls are going to be here before it's over, telling me that that blazer was out of season. So my cap of blazer is the only other red blazer I have and I never wear it. So it became cap of day. So we're capitalized. Thank you to the American Heart Association. Thank you to all the incredible staff there, the professional staff, but just the women and men, the volunteers who do the hard work every single day to make sure that the people of Columbia, the people in this metropolitan area can live the highest quality of life we possibly can. Ladies, we love you. We're thankful for you. And we know that by working together we can really make some incredible change. So thank you to Mika. Thank you. Appreciate you. Appreciate your leadership. And we got you back all day long. Am I doing this? All right. And every year I swear these letters get smaller and smaller. I thought I might grab my reading glasses before I left the house this morning. It's a little slower. We know we know whereas cardiovascular diseases kill one in three women in the U.S. yet 80% of cardiovascular diseases may be prevented. And whereas cardiovascular diseases and stroke kill one woman every 80 seconds in the United States and whereas an estimated 44 million women in the U.S. are affected by cardiovascular diseases and whereas 90% of women have one or more risk factors for developing heart disease or stroke. And whereas women are less likely to call 911 for themselves, are less likely to call 911 for themselves, if you guys take care of everyone else, for themselves when experiencing symptoms of a heart attack than they are of someone else who are having a heart attack. Whereas only 36% of African American women and 34% of Hispanic women know that heart disease is a greatest health risk compared with 65% of Caucasian women and whereas the American Heart Association Go Red for Women movement motivates women to learn their family history and to meet with the healthcare provider to determine their risk for cardiovascular diseases and stroke. And whereas women involved with the Go Red for Women movement live healthier lives. And whereas Go Red for Women encourages women to take control of their heart health by knowing and managing these five numbers, total cholesterol, HDL, good cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, and body mass index. Now therefore I, Stephen K. Benjamin, in recognition of the importance of the ongoing fight against heart disease and stroke do hereby proclaim Tuesday, February 1, 2019 to be National Wear Red Day in Columbia, South Carolina, and urge all citizens to show their support for women and the fight against heart disease by commemorating this day by wearing the color red, by increasing awareness, speaking out about heart disease and empowering women to reduce their risk for cardiovascular diseases, we can save thousands of lives each year. And testimony we're about here unto set my hand and cause to be a fixed great seal of the city of Columbia this first day of February 2019. For those of you who might not know, Mayor Benjamin is not just coming and supporting here, but he practices what he preaches. So he started move with mayor where he encourages citizens to come and work out with him. Last year in 2018, before every single council meeting, he weighed in so that he understood he was accountable to everybody that he was constantly working on his personal journey. And he shared that with us. And so certainly he is an example for all of us on taking control of your health. So with that said, I would love to introduce Amanda Butler, who is the executive director of the Midlands American Heart Association. We have had this partnership with AHA. Are we going on like seven or eight years? Maybe it's been a while. But it is always a pleasure to work with them, not just on this day and this month, but throughout the year on bringing awareness and all the amazing work that they do in our community to help people who are dealing with cardiovascular disease. So it's my pleasure to introduce Amanda Butler. Well, thank you so much. And I am Amanda Butler and I'm pleased to be here today, especially seeing all of you in your beautiful red. And just a shout out to our Go Red for Women director, Stephanie. She's gotten the whole town to go red. So if you're down in five points, you'll see that if you're in Lexington, you'll see that. I'm just so proud of all the work that you all are doing. And we're so grateful. So first and foremost, I'm going to ask you guys to interact with me just a little bit. If you are a survivor, would you stand for us, please? Thank you for being advocates and for being here today. I want to ask the rest of you, if you or someone that you love has been affected by cardiovascular disease or stroke, would you stand up? You guys look around. Look at this. This is so powerful. We have all just been touched and affected by this and and it's devastating. And we have so much work to be done. And thank you all for taking a stand today and for going red. You can sit down now, but you did. You took stand. So yesterday our CEO Nancy Brown gave us a staggering statistic. And I want to share that news with you. 48% of Americans have some form of cardiovascular disease. So nearly half of our nation is affected by this. And Go Red for Women is here to make a difference and to change that statistic. But this should be a call to action for all of us. We should all be involved in making a difference in our community. And Go Red is here to do that. It's a trusted, passionate, relevant force to eradicate heart disease and stroke here in the Midlands and across the world. And it was launched in 2004 as an awareness campaign, but now it's a real platform for change. And it's an international movement. Today, more women than ever recognize heart disease is the leading cause of death. But the work isn't over. And so the next phase of Go Red is going to focus on inspiring and empowering women to better achieve health and well-being. We're going to have an emphasis on improving diet, increasing physical activity, and managing our blood pressure through personal action and collective impact. And to achieve this, Go Red will create powerful collaborations, and we're doing that right now. And we're going to accelerate community-based solutions. We're going to integrate health technology, increase awareness, and amplify influencers. And it's no longer about just wearing red. And it's no longer about sharing heart facts. It's about us taking a stand together and making a commitment to Go Red. So I want you all to join us in doing that. And thank you all for being here today to our chair and to our board members, to all of you, and a special thank you to Councilwoman Tamika Isaac Devine and Mayor Steve Benjamin, because you do this every year and it's important to you. And we're so grateful. And I would love to introduce one of our survivors, Sarah Beth Sheridan. She's going to share her story with us. And we would love for all of you to join us at our Go Red for Women luncheon. There's information if you guys want to buy tickets. It's May 10, 2019. And our heart walk is April 6. Then it's a free event and it's family friendly. You can even bring your dog. My name is Sarah Beth Sheridan, and I'm an 18-year-old senior at Great Collegiate Academy. My heart story begins not that long ago. For the past two years, I felt sick. I would have really bad headaches. I would pass out a lot. I just felt like something was wrong. My heart would beat really fast and I didn't really understand why. But I loved cheer and I thought, you know, I'm an 18-year-old girl, nothing can be seriously wrong. But I have a nurse for a mom and she decided to take me to all these different doctors. I went to allergist, I went to my pediatrician, I even went to a neurosurgeon, and I even went to an eye doctor just to see maybe that was wrong. But they pretty much told me the same thing. Everything looks fine. Maybe you're just stressed. Maybe you need to drink more water. Maybe you need to sleep more. But I knew my body and I knew that there was something wrong. And it wasn't until this October when I was lying in bed that my heart started to race again. And it did this about once a day so I just thought, oh, it's going to stop in a little bit. But one minute went by and two minutes went by and three minutes went by and it wasn't stopping. And I got really, really scared. So I ran downstairs to my mom and I had her listen to my heart. And my mom was a picky nurse while I was growing up so she really doesn't get scared about a lot of things. But when she was listening to my heart, she looked up at me and she had fear. She was scared. And she told me that my heart was beating about 200 beats per minute. And that the worst part was that it was beating really fast and then it stopped for a split second and then it just started beating normally. And I was used to it. It happened every day to me. It wasn't anything new. I didn't know that it could be something wrong. So I went to the cardiologist and it started out like every other appointment. Telling me, oh, you know, it might be this, it might be that. We'll try a halter monitor to see if that might be what it is. Then he took one look at my EKG and he turned to my mom and he started speaking in what I like to call Dr. Lingo. I didn't understand anything they were saying. But I understood that my mom was scared. And when they find, I was like, hey guys, I don't understand anything you're saying. Can you tell me what's going on? So they turned to me and they told me I have Wolf Parkinson's White Syndrome. And it just meant that I was born with an extra electrical circuit in my heart. And that would cause my heart to beat really, really fast. And he said that he wanted me to go see the surgeon. So I saw the surgeon two days later. And the surgeon told me that he needed to get rid of it very quickly. And so he scheduled me for the first available surgery, which was four days later. Well, when we were leaving, he leaned over to my mom and he said, you're very lucky your daughter's not a statistic. Because I am a cheerleader. I work out one to three times a day. I'm 18. I never thought it could happen to me. I never thought I could have a heart condition. And I, it felt like my world stopped. I thought two minutes earlier I was thinking about, I was hoping this cute boy would ask me to prom. And now I'm thinking about, am I going to be able to cheer? Am I going to be able to live a normal teenage life anymore? So being told that I was very lucky was kind of scary to me. And I'm very lucky that my mom knew the signs. I didn't know them. I didn't know teenagers could have it. No one in my family has a heart condition. No one in my family has lived with this. And I never thought I would be the one. I, I'm relatively healthy for a teenager. And I work out a lot. So I wasn't expecting it. But the surgery went well. I was able to recover. And the amazing work that the American Heart Association has done actually allowed me to recover very quickly. And two weeks later compete at state for cheerleading with my cheer team. And for the first time ever make top five. So that was pretty cool for us. And, but my story doesn't end there. I want to be able to share my story with others because I know I'm not the only one that didn't know the signs. And I'm lucky that my mom did. But I think of all the other teenagers out there and all the other people out there who don't know the signs and who don't know what to look for. And maybe they won't end up as lucky as I am. And that scares me. I want to be able to use my story to share it with others to make a difference in this world. And that's why I love Go Red for Woman. Because that's exactly what we're about. Making a difference. And sharing our stories to uplift others. And I'm very thankful to be here. And I feel, I was very overwhelmed when we all stood up because I realized that I'm not alone. When it first happened I felt very alone. And now I know that there's a whole group of people behind me. And that's amazing. Thank you. Sarah, thank you so much for sharing your story and for your bravery and being an example. We thank you so much. Let's give her another hand. Okay. So now we are at the really, really fun part of our program. So the speeches are over. I want to ask that if you guys would please join me along with all of our friends from the American Heart Association as we take our community photo that we do every year.