This year’s Greater Washington Heart Ball was a success, bringing together more than 500 of the region’s most prominent physician, corporate, health care, and community leaders and raising $1,186,000. The event, which took place at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, D.C., was hosted by 2015 chairwoman, Kay Kapoor, President of AT&T Government Solutions.
Honored guest Chelsea Clinton spoke at the event, which also included live and silent auctions, dinner, dancing and special presentations to honor United States military doctors and nurses (retired and active) through the Heart Heroes program presented by CGI.
One of the evening’s auction items was a National Geographic trip that went for $12,000. The funds raised by the Heart Ball go toward the American Heart Association‘s local community outreach efforts to educate the public about heart disease, stroke and the effects of childhood obesity. Funds also go toward critical cardiovascular research, which has, in the past, led to important scientific breakthroughs and discoveries, such as the the link between smoking and heart disease.
This year’s Heart Heroes/Open Your Heart Honorees included:
- Lieutenant General Patricia D. Horoho currently serves as the 43rd Army Surgeon General and the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Medical Command. She is the first female and first Nurse Corps Officer to hold those appointments. Lt. Gen. Horoho has held every level of leadership in Army Medicine to include positions as Deputy Surgeon General and Chief of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps.
- Dr. William C. DeVries headed the team that implanted the first permanent artificial heart in Seattle dentist Barney Clark on Dec. 1, 1982. He later implanted this device into a total of four patients from 1982 to 1987, who collectively lived more than 1,300 days. Dr. DeVries currently serves as the Academic Coordinator for the Cardiothoracic Division of the Dept. of Surgery at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, is a professor of surgery and Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences. Dr. DeVries served in the U.S. Army Reserve Medical Corps as a Colonel for 10 years.
- Dr. Frederick C. Lough is currently the Deputy Chairman for the Department of Surgery at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, as well as a cardiothoracic surgeon at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. He served in the Army Medical Corps from 1970 to 1987 and then joined the Reading Hospital & Medical Center where he performed more 10,000 heart surgeries. He later went on to become the Director of Cardiac Surgery for The George Washington University Hospital. He serves in the U.S. Army Medical Corps as a Colonel.
- The Singh Family – Open Your Heart Honorees. Chloe Singh, the eldest daughter of Emilie and Adish Singh, saved her younger sister, Gracie with CPR. Gracie had a seizure in the bathtub when Chloe took action and utilized the CPR knowledge she learned in school to save the life of her sister.
Related: 2015 DC Heart Ball Chairperson Kay Kapoor Gives Us a Sneak Peak at This Year’s Event
