Portlanders walk downtown to raise money, awareness for heart disease [Video]

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) – The American Heart Association is celebrating its centennial year, and thousands of people dressed in red walked the Portland waterfront to raise awareness and honor heart and stroke survivors on Saturday.

The 2024 Portland Heart and Stroke Walk marked more than a century of heart disease being the leading cause of death in the country.

Stroke is the second deadliest.

“The 100th anniversary of the American Heart Association – we are going to have over 2K people out here today to support the American Heart Association and really focusing on eliminating heart disease and stroke,” said Don Antonucci, president and CEO of Providence Health Plan.

Those statistics hit especially close to home for Dr. Nandita Gupta. Dr. Gupta is a cardiologist and was the survivor speaker at this year’s Heart Walk.

“We are excited to advocate for our own health and the health of our loved ones,” Dr. Gupta said.

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