Steven Kelley, President and CEO of Ellenville Regional Hospital, is preparing for the 2024 Hudson Valley Heart Walk to raise awareness about heart disease and stroke.

On January 1, Kelley went for his routine cardiologist appointment in January, and his cardiologist Dr. Sandeep Joshi of The Heart Center in Ellenville, told him that he looked a little tired. A stress test was scheduled for the next day, and the results revealed that Kelley was in ventricular tachycardia, an arrhythmia that causes a faster than normal heart rate.

“It’s a little emotional,” Kelley said. “I’m a CEO, I’m go, go, go; I have to make a lot of tough decisions. But if Dr. Sandeep Joshi hadn’t noticed that I didn’t look good, I might be dead.”

Although calcium build-up made it tricky, Kelley’s arteries were stented and not long after his procedure, the American Heart Association invited Kelley to chair the 2024 Hudson Valley Heart Walk.

“How could I not?” he asked. “I represent a small hospital in a rural community,” he said. “The largest employers are the prisons, and the corrections officers have very high-stress jobs. I’m here for them, and for all of our community.”

The Hudson Valley Heart Walk is scheduled for Saturday, April 27, on the Walkway Over the Hudson, and Kelley is encouraging community members to participate and support the cause by registering online at https://www.heart.org/hudsonvalleyheartwalk.

The event will feature a check-in starting at 8:30 a.m., with the program starting at 9 a.m. on both sides of the bridge. Kelley, along with Mary Jo Cipollini and Karina Gonzabay, will share their stories of surviving heart disease. Funds raised at the Heart Walk will support the American Heart Association’s fight against heart disease and stroke.

“People should definitely come to the Heart Walk, and raise money for it,” he said. “The American Heart Association is the premiere organization to save lives. We’ll be raising funds for research to study the leading cause of death, heart disease. This is our best opportunity to save lives. I can’t think of a better charity to give to.”