Community promotes heart awareness

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - During the month of February, Walgreens stores are donating one dollar to the American Heart Association for anyone who gets a blood pressure reading.

Recently, the promotion has grown bigger than ever.

"Oh I mean, it's incredible for someone that young to just care about heart disease and to want to get people educated on what their blood pressure is, if they're at risk for heart disease, I mean it's huge," Walgreens Pharmacy Manager Betsy McMichael said.

It started last year, when Jacob Quinn of Terre Haute decided that he was going to increase the hype in hopes of raising awareness and funds for heart research.

"Heart problems run deep in both sides of my family. February's already Heart Awareness month so to be honest, it's a subject that I think everybody should honestly take very seriously," Quinn said.

"A lot of people, they can be 25 and not find out until they're 40," McMichael said.

Monday, Quinn held a raffle, gave away prizes and got local businesses to participate.

His efforts have caught on, as several stores around the state picked up on the idea.

"It's a good feeling. I like to do things at a big scale any way, so I was impressed that they even asked," Quinn said.

He said he goes big to encourage others to give back, regardless of who they are.

"I do it for a lot of reasons, to show people that anybody can do it, any juvenile, any elderly person in the community can get up and do anything, it wasn't really hard to do," he said.

Our community works together for a national campaign, in hopes of spreading the word and making the each year bigger than the last.

February is American Heart Month.

If you didn't get a chance to participate Monday, you have the rest of the month to visit Walgreens and help the American Heart Association.