Heart Scene: A Day With Heart

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Kirby Memorial Health Center in Wilkes-Barre is the first community health center in the United States. Built by one of Wilkes-Barre’s most successful businessmen, Fred M. Kirby, to honor his mother, it is a community treasure and one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen.

It is a place that combines many architectural styles and several breathtaking designs. It captivates the eyes of those who visit this very special building.

It is a place of beauty, elegance, dignity and class.

It is a place that speaks to social responsibility, generosity, kindness and service

It has been the home of the Luzerne County chapter of the American Heart Association for many years. On this day, January 14, Kitch and I were on our way to the this grand building to meet with the people who do the important work of the American Heart Association in our community.

In some ways it was a reunion of sorts. The Director of Communications, Jason Jarecki, is a former student, and a young man Kitch and I like a great deal.

In other ways it was a walk into a land of pleasant surprises. Because of our Heart Scene Series and my quadruple by-pass surgery, I had been asked to be a part of the annual Heart Association Gala. It was my good fortune to be joining a group of individuals who, for a short time in February of each year, become the public face of the heart association’s fight against heart disease.

When we left Windsor Park, it was cold, damp and overcast. Remnants of an early morning snow decorated the trees and partially covered the ground. It was one of those northeastern Pennsylvania winter days that just is. Nevertheless, it was a day that we were happy to be alive and together. If truth be told, every day since June 12 is a day that we are happy to be alive.

We reached the Kirby Health Center with time to spare and once inside we took our time looking at several of the dramatic features of the building. None is more beautiful than the bronze elevator that took us to the second floor.

We opened the door to room 203, and the first person we met was a woman with an infectious smile and a welcoming personality, Stacy Morrow. She made us feel comfortable from the first hello. We knew it was going to be a very good day.

When Jason arrived it was handshakes and hugs, a pleasant reunion with a friend.

Then we took a short walk down a narrow hallway to his office where we met Julanne Hogan.

Julanne coordinates two major gala events for the AHA. She also helps with the Go Red Fashion Show,a Wyoming Valley Health Care System event, held during February (Heart Month) in conjunction with the American Heart Association. Proceeds from the fashion show benefit The Heart & Vascular Institute at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital and the American Heart Association.

She is ideal for the job, meticulously dressed, charming in every sense of the word, a natural conversationalist, conscientious and very pleasant. As we would soon discover, she knows the devastating consequences of heart disease in very real ways, and she also knows the challenges of a caregiver.

In April 2007 Julanne's father had open-heart surgery. Much of our conversation would focus on common experiences of patients and caregivers.

Before we left for the Board Room, we had a chance encounter with another staffer, Lori Chase. Lori coordinates the annual Heart Walk. She is a woman with a beautiful disposition. She willingly cooperated as we snapped some pictures of her working in the office. Like everyone we met, Lori is a wonderful representative of the Heart Association.

The Director's Room affectionately known to the occupants of the Kirby Health Center as the Board Room may very well be the most beautiful room in the building. The centerpiece of the room is a massive hand carved table. It sits on top of a beautiful Persian rug, and it is surrounded by English oak paneled wainscoting on the walls and celing, The floor in the Director's Room is teakwood.

In another life I sat at the Director's Room table many times with Toni Kudlich by my side as we planned events for the March of Dimes. To this day, I find it difficult to describe the elegance of the space and the impression I get every time I enter the room.

One thing is certain, in this room you can feel the presence, personality and stature of Angeline Elizabeth Kirby's son and his dream.

While we waited for the meeting to begin, Julanne, Kitch, Jason and I talked with one another about heart disease, open-heart surgery, the demands of working mothers, youth hockey and little league baseball.

It was as if we had known each other for a lifetime.

Then it happened, precisely at 11:30, Evelyn Kalinosky entered the room, and our meeting began.

Evelyn is the Senior Division Director for the American Heart Association in Luzerne County.

Evelyn is a no-nonsense, business-like person who is efficient and effective in what she does. She speaks softly in measured words with a pleasant smile on her face. She has been with the American Heart Association for five years. Before that she spent more than a decade as a volunteer with The Victim's Resource Center in the Wyoming Valley. She served two terms as president of the VRC Board of Directors.

For the next hour we talked about the Heart Association Gala, the criteria for picking an honoree, the responsibilities of the honored guest, the fundraising goals of the Heart Association, the program for the 2008 event, the invitation list, the Heart Scene series, and a number of other items that ranged from open heart surgery to availability of quality health care right here in our part of the state.

It was a pleasant meeting conducted in an atmosphere of good fellowship and punctuated with smiles, laughter and good conversation.

When the meeting ended, we had a much better understanding about what would happen at the gala, what our role would be and who we would be working with during the next few weeks.

Then as quickly as the meeting began it ended with an invitation for lunch which we accepted with delight.

Before we left the Director's Room I took a few more pictures.

Once outside, I found myself walking to the front of the building. There as I snapped a wide shot of the granite structure, two King’s College undergraduates passed the building. It was a sentimental moment. They had no idea of the significance of this building, and they had no idea that the person who was taking the picture one block from their campus had spent 41 years of his life at King's College.

“Oh How The Years Go By.”

The American Heart Association Gala, a black tie event, will take place at the Waterfront on Saturday, February 23. There will be a silent auction and other events designed to raise money for the American Heart Association in Luzerne County. Tickets are $125.00 per person, and sponsorships range from $1,250 to $25,000.

Organizers hope to raise $100,000 for the American Heart Association.

For more information about the gala, contact the American Heart Association at 570-822-6247.

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