RUMFORD — The River Valley Healthy Communities Coalition will present a resident with a Lifestyle Change Award on Sunday, Sept. 15, in conjunction with the American Heart Association’s Central Maine Heart Walk.

Coalition program coordinator Sandy Witas said that despite a smaller number of nominees for the 2013 Heart Walk, the committee was able to select a “gentleman who has quite an incredible story.”

The resident will receive the award prior to the Rumford Heart Walk at Hosmer Field.

Witas said the award, organized by the American Heart Association, is meant to “recognize people who have made positive changes to improve their quality of life and health.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean they need to be a survivor of a serious health event or affliction,” Witas said. “They just had to have made some kind of change in their lifestyle that made them healthier, something that may have prevented something more serious.”

Among the examples of lifestyle changes provided by Witas in a recent news release were “people who have begun a walking or exercise program, people who have altered their diet to more heart-healthy foods and people who quit smoking.”

The Heart Walk is sponsored nationally by Subway, regionally by Hannaford Supermarkets and locally by Franklin Savings Bank, River Valley Healthy Communities Coalition, Rumford Hospital and Oxford Federal Credit Union.

To participate in the Rumford Heart Walk, go to the Central and Western Maine Heart Walk website at www.centralmaineheartwalk.org and register to form your own team, join an existing team or to walk as an individual. Those interested may also call the Coalition at 364-7408 for more information.

mdaigle@sunjournal.com