by Alina Yang
One moment, my family was unwrapping ZongZi for our Dragon Boat Festival dinner while FaceTiming with my grandparents in China. The next, my maternal grandfather was on the ground, my uncle was shouting and my mother was frozen in shock. He had suffered a stroke. My grandfather—the man who taught me Mahjong, peeled walnuts for me and challenged me with math riddles—was being sent to the hospital. And there was absolutely nothing I or my parents could do. We lived 7,000 miles away. It was mid-COVID. All we had was hope, but I needed more. I needed certainty.
In the years that followed, my cardiac vocabulary grew—and so did my concern for heart health. I learned my great-grandparents died of coronary artery disease. My paternal grandfather had diabetes, a major risk factor. My paternal grandmother passed away in an ICCU bed. My maternal grandmother and uncle now live with coronary artery disease and atrial fibrillation.
But I refuse to become another statistic. I may not have been able to help my family in China, but I could take action here, in my own community. And I wasn’t going to wait until adulthood to do it.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is largely preventable. Lifestyle modifications—nutrition, physical activity—can significantly reduce risk. The 2025 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Update shows that among youth aged 2-19, only about 7% had an “ideal” dietary pattern, and 14.9% had a “poor” dietary pattern based on adherence to the American Heart Association’s dietary recommendations. In 2021, approximately 25.9% of children and adolescents aged 6-17 met the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines recommendations of at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily.
So why treat, when we can prevent? Why wait for adulthood to scramble for solutions when we can intervene now? Why throw out a chance for certainty?
As the founder and president of Guardians of the Heart, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, I have seen firsthand how traditional CVD prevention fails to prioritize adolescents—when lifelong health habits are formed. While survival is a matter of living, health is about thriving. So rather than resorting to reactive post-disease diagnosis treatment, we must devote efforts to proactive preventive care.
This belief drives our nonprofit’s mission. Every expert panel we organize, workshop we design, CPR course we coordinate, blood pressure screening we offer, bill we advocate for and outreach initiative we lead is a step toward empowering youth to take control of their own heart health. Our goal is not to criticize, but to support. We meet our peers where they are and guide them towards healthier futures.
In this work, I have found a way to keep my grandparents’ hearts beating through every life changed, every consciousness raised and every future rewritten.
Humanitarianism is about building the kind of world we want to live in. Change isn’t optional but a responsibility. So this American Heart Month, let’s act with urgency, compassion and purpose. The heart of the movement is still beating, and it cannot afford to slow down.
Alina Yang is a Scarsdale High School student and founder and CEO of Guardians of the Heart, a nonprofit promoting youth cardiovascular health through education, advocacy and fundraising. Inspired by her family’s experience with heart disease and her goal of becoming a cardiologist, she works to raise awareness and encourage prevention. She plays soccer, serves as editor-in-chief of her school newspaper and is active in community service.