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Thom Harvey, CEO of Harvey Hanna & Associates, announces a personal donation of $1 million to the American Heart Association. | PHOTO COURTESY OF VERA LAMARCHE/AHA[/caption]
NEWPORT – Well-known real estate developer and waste management mogul E. Thomas “Thom” Harvey III and his wife, Robin, recently donated $1 million to the American Heart Association to create a new initiative that will fund more resources, educate the public, and operate new programs.
The funding from Harvey, who is chairman and CEO of Harvey Hanna & Associates (HHA) and serves as the chair of the state’s AHA board, creates the Harvey and Hanna Family Healthy Hearts Initiative.
The new initiative will fund expansion of the Delaware Hypertension Control Network, placing 1,575 blood pressure monitors statewide at partnering organizations; educate children, teachers, and parents on the importance of living a healthy lifestyle; expand the Kids Heart Challenge health programming while provide recess equipment to 20 Delaware schools; and deliver programmatic support for the It’s Time to Move initiative that aims to create standardized measures for physical activity.
“We have supported education initiatives in the past with significant contributions to several great educational institutions,” Harvey said in announcing the donation Feb. 24 during an Executives with Heart Breakfast. “We greatly value education. However, the initiatives we are starting and expanding at the American Heart Association’s Delaware Chapter will literally help save the lives of fellow citizens here in our home state of Delaware. Robin, my family, and I are ‘all in’ with these efforts and know that our investment here will help. We further hope that it also inspires others to join in, focus, and work to help our fellow citizens live longer and healthier lives.”
For the Harvey family, the commitment is personal as Robin’s mother suffered a serious stroke. The funding could make a real impact in Delaware, which has the third worst stroke mortality rate in the nation at 52.5%.
With hypertension the leading risk factor of heart disease and stroke, the AHA launched the Delaware Hypertension Control Network that now has 32 participating organizations and has placed 1,570 blood pressure monitors statewide.
The Harvey family has already helped to create a statewide food security program that provides nutritious food to those in need, while raising awareness about the deadly role of hypertension in heart disease and stroke through a statewide public education campaign.
The $1 million donation is the second sizable gift by the Harveys to the AHA, after they donated $300,000 in 2020 to support the organization's Mission: Lifeline initiative that advanced the system of care for patients with acute, high-risk, time sensitive life or quality of life-threatening diseases.
