Thousands of Kansas City residents turned out at the National WWI Museum and Memorial in September for the annual Kansas City Heart Walk, an event local executives helped lead as part of a citywide push to get more residents comfortable performing CPR. The walk, which drew participants from across the region, doubled as a fundraiser for cardiac research, community education and local CPR training.
The Sept. 26 event was co-chaired by Gabe Clements, CEO of Lee's Summit Medical Center, and Joe Prenger, managing partner of CL Management Group, according to newsroom.heart.org. More than 5,000 participants were expected to walk, the American Heart Association said ahead of the event, as part of what the organization bills as its annual Kansas City Heart Walk, per Kansas City Business Journal.
Why CPR Readiness Is the Centerpiece
The walk's organizers framed the day around a specific goal: getting one person in every household ready to perform CPR in an emergency. That mission is central to the American Heart Association's Executives with Heart initiative, which the same newsroom.heart.org report says brings local leaders together around that exact aim.
The stakes behind that push are stark. The American Heart Association has said immediate CPR can double or triple a cardiac-arrest victim's chance of survival, while roughly 9 in 10 people who suffer cardiac arrest outside a hospital die, according to the same source. Despite that, the organization's 2024 CPR Perceptions Survey found 61% of people still lack high confidence to act in a cardiac emergency, even though confidence levels have climbed — 39% of people, or about 103 million U.S. adults, now say they feel extremely or very confident they could correctly perform CPR, up from 33% in 2021.
Executives Step Up With Five-Figure Pledges
Each Executives with Heart member commits to raising at least $5,000 to support heart and brain health in Kansas City, according to Kansas City Business Journal, a threshold that mirrors the broader program's ask that members each make an impact of $5,000 or more to fund lifesaving research, per heartchallenge.heart.org. Individual Heart Walk fundraisers were separately asked to raise $1,000 in donations, the Business Journal reports.
The recognition program highlights corporate and civic leaders who champion workplace wellness while raising funds for the association, the same site notes. Several local professionals were named among the event's leadership and top fundraisers, including Adrienne Williams, DVP of care center operations at Spira Care/Blue KC; Bill Billinger, licensed superintendent III at FTI Inc.; Bob Elsbernd, vice president of support services at HCA Midwest Health-HCA Health Trust; Brian Burkett, vice president at JE Dunn Construction Company; and Claire Pierce, district manager at Katie's Kennel.
The Business Journal also listed a roster of 2026 top walkers representing various teams: Adrian Calderon of Incisive Consultants, Allison Carney of Saint Luke's, Angie Loving of community teams, Angie Galindo representing the American Heart Association itself, and Anna Finigan of Spira Care/Blue KC. Amanda Nichols was named as the contact for people interested in joining Executives with Heart or learning how to get involved, per the same report.
Money Raised Goes Toward Research and Advocacy
Funds raised through the walk go toward lifesaving research, community education, local CPR training and advocacy, according to Kansas City Business Journal. The American Heart Association's Heart Walk donation page echoes that framing, stating that every walker who joins and every dollar donated means more people trained in CPR, more research and more lifesaving moments for everyone, per www2.heart.org.
The association says it plans to expand research investment, advocate for equitable health access and strengthen community resources across the Kansas City region, according to the Business Journal. That equity focus extends to addressing barriers tied to race, geography and wealth, since health is not equitable for all people across the country, the heartchallenge.heart.org page states.
The stakes driving this work trace back to national health data: heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and impacts one in three people nationwide, Kansas City Business Journal reports. Those figures underscore why organizers framed this year's walk not just as a single-day event at the National WWI Museum and Memorial, but as part of an ongoing effort to make CPR knowledge a household staple across the region.
