Miss Minnesota promotes heart health at NRHEG

Emily Schumacher, a Mankato area resident crowned “Miss Minnesota” in June, spoke with NRHEG students during an assembly on Thursday, Nov. 14. Schumacher has teamed up with the American Heart Association (AHA) to help educate young people about the dangers and consequences of smoking or using “vape” products. With Schumacher was Allana Lippman, youth market director with the AHA.

 

Schumacher asked students to consider the question, “What’s in your bag?” Holding up her own large purse, she mentioned she carries it with her everywhere, and that its contents say a great deal about who she is and the choices she makes each day.

 

“I’ll tell you what’s not in here,” she said. “There are no tobacco products and no ‘vapes.’” She went on to talk about having been a soccer player in high school and earning a place on her college team. She told of her desire to earn strong grades, enter medical school and someday become a doctor. She mentioned her participation in the Miss Minnesota pageant, and the upcoming Miss America 2025 competition.

 

Having tobacco products as part of her daily routine, Schumacher said, “could have washed all that right down the toilet.”

 

Schumacher moved throughout the gym during parts of the presentation, giving signed photos and having personal conversations with students.

 

A video produced by the AHA informed students they may be inhaling benzine, cadmium, and a range of other harmful substances if they choose to use vape or use tobacco products. The chemicals not only cause long-term health risks, the video stated, they can sometimes lead to acute reactions.

 

Pointing out that using tobacco products leads to “a lot of lost time, a lot of lost opportunity,” Schumacher told students she now works in a hospital emergency room where she has seen teenagers who use vaping products experience heart problems and even heart failure.

 

The AHA video also stated that, during 2020, the tobacco industry spent about $23 million a day on marketing campaigns which targeted teenagers and young adults. Given that people who begin using tobacco products at a young age are statistically most likely to become addicted, AHA representative Lippman said, “That should make you mad.” She encouraged students to keep from becoming “statistics,” which is all the significance they would have to a tobacco company.

 

Lippman guided students in the steps to install an NRHEG-specific app on their smartphones. The app, she said, gives them access to information and guidance to quit using tobacco products, or to help someone else quit. It also presents “Finn’s Challenge,” a series of heart-health related education and fund-raising tasks. A significant element of the challenge, she said, is learning the “hands-only” system of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and how to recognize a stroke.

 

Additional help to quit using tobacco products is also available by texting HEART to 88709.