Age is not a factor in heart disease risk

Heart issues can attack all ages

BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

It is a common myth that heart disease does not a ect the younger population. However, Dr. Je Park, a cardiologist with Aurora Denver Cardiology Associates at e Medical Center of Aurora says that is a common myth.

“High long standing blood pressure issues with long standing cholesterol issues, long standing diabetes, yeah, that puts you at higher risk for sure,” said Park. “But there’s de nitely a genetic component.”

Heart disease can present itself in many ways to di erent people and may not always be obvious.

According to the Centers for

In comparison, if a person stole a vehicle worth more than $100,000, they could face a Class 3 felony, which is punishable by four to 12 years in prison and fines between $3,000 and $750,000.

The proposed bill would change that, making it a felony to steal any vehicle for more than 24 hours.

“Right now, stealing a car worth less than $2,000 is treated as a misdemeanor, while stealing cars worth more than $2,000 is a felony. Not only is it unfair, it simply doesn’t make sense,” state Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, an Arvada Democrat, said in a news release. Zenzinger is a prime sponsor of the bipartisan bill, along with Sen. Bob Gardner, a Colorado Springs Republican; Rep. Shannon Bird, a Westminster Democrat; and Rep. Matt Soper, a Delta Republican.

“The unfortunate reality is crime continues to climb in Colorado, especially auto theft, and many of those who have fallen victim to this crisis have been those in disenfranchised and lower income communities,” Gardner said in the news release “By felonizing all auto theft, we can hold criminals accountable for their actions and send a clear message that this crime will not be tolerated.”

According to the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, “Colorado leads the nation in auto thefts with an 86% statewide increase from 2019 to 2021.”

Data from the Colorado Auto Theft Prevention Authority also shows an increase of motor vehicle thefts over recent years, rising from 22,394 attempted and completed thefts in 2019 to 45,248 attempted and completed thefts in 2022.

As reported by The Colorado Sun, Senate Bill 23-097 would make stealing any vehicle a Class 5 felony, which is generally punishable by one to three years in prison and/or fines of $1,000 to $100,000. If there are “aggravating

Disease Control and Prevention, conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, obesity, diabetes and unhealthy eating patterns are appearing among younger people and placing them at a higher risk for heart disease.

“ e patients are getting younger, we’ve had heart attacks in patients who are in their twenties,” said Park. ere are certain genetic conditions where individuals are at increased risk of having a heart attack, Park said. Cholesterol issues is a primary indicator.

One example given by Park is a condition called familial hypercholesterolemia, or FH. is is a genetic disorder where people have high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. People have a predisposition for heart disease at that point as the body cannot circumstances” such as the thief using the vehicle during the commission of another crime, however, they could be charged with a Class 4 felony.

Class 4 felonies are punishable by two to six years in prison and/ or fines of $2,000 to $500,000, according to the Colorado Legal Defense Group.

The bill would also make a third or subsequent auto theft conviction a Class 3 felony, per The Colorado Sun.

The proposed legislation includes a “joy-ride provision,” The Colorado Sun noted. Under this, it would be a Class 1 misdemeanor for a person to use a vehicle without the owner’s permission as long as the vehicle is returned within 24 hours without damage and only minor traffic offenses were committed. However, if a person is convicted of this again, it would be a Class 5 felony.

Members of Centennial City Council expressed support of the bill during a Feb. 7 council meeting.

“This is something that I think benefits our city, our community. We have a lot of vehicle theft,” Councilmember Candace Moon said. “It is a major setback to have your vehicle stolen and I think that the legislature, here, is on the right track with this bill. I think that it will discourage this behavior.”

Councilmember Don Sheehan highlighted how the proposed legislation removes the lesser penalty for stealing a vehicle worth less than $2,000.

“That may not sound like a big car to a lot of people, but there are people that have $2,000 and under cars,” Sheehan said. “That may be their only car.”

“It may not be worth over $2,000 to us, but to them, it’s the world,” he added. “I think it’ll be a good deterrent and it’ll pretty much make stealing a car just stealing a car, regardless of the value.”

All nine members of the council signed a letter addressed to state senators Tom Sullivan and Chris Kolker and state representatives Ruby Dickson, David Ortiz and recycle bad lipids, Park said.

“You’re like ‘I’m too young to see a doctor’ and I’m guilty of that same concept, you know, but it’s a matter of if you get identi ed early on, it’s a matter of your treatment starts earlier and you’re protected early,” said Park.

Park says it’s never too soon to check one’s heart health. e American Heart Association has ways to help prevent heart disease throughout each stage of life, starting when at 20 years and older.

Heart disease is a man’s disease

“ at’s a false, false, false statement,” said Park. “I think I’ve treated more women than I have treated men, or at least equally, and I guess it’s a matter of what’s the cause of the heart disease that you’re talking about.”

According to Park, heart disease and heart attacks in women present

Eliza Hamrick, expressing their support of the bill and urging the local representatives to support the bill as well.

The letter states, in part, “We believe this bill will provide our law enforcement officials with the tools needed to reduce auto theft rates. SB23-097 will effectively strengthen our community’s ability for auto theft enforcement.”

Mayor Stephanie Piko spoke to the potential impact these types of letters can have, saying, “I was

Dear Davis Schilken, themselves di erently from men. pleasantly surprised last year when I heard one of our representatives say the reason he changed his vote was because he got a letter from our city council.”

It might notbe the typical chest pain and it might not be the typical exertional component that people tend to think about, said Park.

Women can feel some indigestion but end up having a heart attack.

A map presented by the CDC shows heart disease death rates among women 35 and older across the U.S.

According to the CDC, between 2018 and 2020, the Colorado average estimated heart disease death rate for all races and ethnicities in women 35 and older was 195 per 100,000 people. e average estimated number for Douglas County was 154.

Symptoms do not always occur while the body is doing physical activity, Park said, symptoms can arise while the body is resting. “Even if you’re feeling great, you never know,” said Park.

“That was a first, and so I’m glad,” Piko said. “I’m hoping that we’ll be on a better track with our representatives. That they, when they hear from all of us as a single voice, that they understand that we’re working for the — what we think is the best for the City of Centennial.”

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Visit our comprehensive website for more tools www.dslawcolorado.com her favorite part of it was seeing old friends and being able to thank people for their

“I think they truly saw what their contribution has done and that they have made a difference — and, like we always say, every pair matters,”

Given the momentum the nonprofit now has, Shimamoto thinks reaching two million pairs of collected socks will happen faster. Donating socks, she explained, is a “very easy way to contribute to our community.”

“And people actually enjoy collecting socks or giving socks, and that, I think, is one thing that people were surprised by,” she said. “That they also found joy in the collection process.” e survey, as of Feb. 19, is still open at centennialco.gov/surveys.

Those interested in learning more about the organization and how to get involved can visit: sockittoemsockcampaign. org.

To help decide what programs the center should o er, the city has an online survey open to the public, which Centennial’s youth commission and senior commission helped design.

As responses continue to be collected, the YMCA started brainstorming programs to o er to the community.

“We have created some preliminary programs and services that we know that are necessary, which is why we were brought in — especially around the older adult population — to be able to o er services around nutrition, social, emotional wellbeing for seniors (and) helping with senior isolation,” Armitage said. “We’ll focus on some physical wellbeing for the older adults, and then for the youth, we’ll be focusing on teen leadership, government, (and) esports.”

Esports refers to competitive video gaming, a eld that has quickly grown in popularity over the years.

“When we’re talking about esports, with this programming, we’re looking at how we’re connecting youth to socialization as well as leadership components, and parents having the safety of who their kids are gaming with,” Armitage said.

“ is is gonna be our pilot. e Y, across the country, has been piloting this esports program for about a year now, and we’re ready to, now, roll it out here in Colorado,” she added.

Armitage noted that esports is now sanctioned by the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA), which happened in the fall of 2022. e association held a Rocket League state championship in December that Cherry Creek High School won, making Cherry Creek the rst team to win a CHSAA-sanctioned esports title, according to the association.

“What we want to do is be able to focus on the 11-, 12-, 13-, (and) 14-year-olds and working with them on their games and so forth — so that we’re training those individuals, so that it feeds into high school. And we’ve started conversations with the Cherry Creek School District on that, and just, most recently, with Littleton Public Schools,” Armitage said.

Other programming for young people will include a youth and government program, a Model United Nations program, and a leaders-intraining program, she said.

Centennial residents do not have to be a YMCA member to participate in the programs, Armitage explained.

“We have set up, within the contract, that basically Centennial citizens will have YMCA pricing,” she said. “So if we charge $40 for a cooking class as a member, that would be the same price for a Centennial citizen.” e YMCA does o er some scholarships based on a sliding fee scale and availability of funds, Armitage said. People can apply for a scholarship online at bit.ly/ymcascholar.

Several members of the city council spoke about their excitement for the center. Eric Eddy, Centennial’s assistant city manager, said Armitage and her team have been working with the city’s youth and senior commissions since late last year.

“Overall, I think we’re moving in the right direction,” he said.

Mayor Stephanie Piko said she and Armitage hatched the idea together more than a year ago.

“Took a little longer than we thought, but happy to see that it’s gonna do a lot for the Streets at SouthGlenn, for the community around that area — and especially during stressful times of construction that might be coming,” Piko said. “So, (it’s) nice to have a place for them, to have that retreat there and keep activity going on in that center.”

According to the drafted collaboration agreement between Centennial and the YMCA, the city will provide $215,000 in start-up funding to help cover the cost of things like supplies, maintenance and utilities.

For the remainder of 2023 and each calendar year thereafter, the city will provide roughly $179,000 in annual support funding, per the drafted agreement. To account for in ation, this amount will be adjusted upward each year by 5%, which means the annual support funding for 2024 will be $187,950.

“ is site will become a SilverSneakers or a third-party billing site, and that revenue for anybody that participates in those programs will come directly to the city,” Armitage said.

SilverSneakers is a tness and wellness program designed for older adults on eligible Medicare plans, according to its website.

“ ank you for partnering with the city to make something like this happen,” Councilmember Richard Holt said. “I’m very excited.”