Zina and Steve’s dedication to good heart health will continue beyond their lifetimes

Zina and Steve’s dedication to good heart health will continue beyond their lifetimes

For former school teachers Zina and Steve of Adelaide, there’s no better way to start the day than a healthy breakfast and brisk beach walk together. Retirement has not slowed them down one bit. Zina explains: “It’s 100% important to us to live active, healthy lives. I work with a personal trainer twice a week, and Steve and I both exercise and eat well.”

Zina says the seemingly small decisions she makes each day - like choosing an apple over a cream bun - keep her healthy. “If you don’t give your body good quality fruit, vegetables, protein and carbohydrates, you get things wrong with you, and your body can’t repair itself to keep well. I think healthy food and exercise are utterly essential for good health, vitality, and longevity.”

They’ve been practising - and sharing - the principles of heart disease prevention for decades.

“As educators, Steve and I both had the chance to teach our students about nutrition and the importance of avoiding lollies and chips and making healthy choices,” Zina says.

Steve recalls: “I remember doing the Jump Rope for Heart for 15 years with my students, and this was an ongoing reminder of the importance of doing what we can to prevent heart disease. It has also given me a strong connection to the Heart Foundation."

But since retiring, Zina and Steve have come to see people in some parts of Australia who don’t have an equal opportunity to protect themselves from heart disease.

“I remember being in a small First Nations community and seeing how fresh foods like lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber were so expensive,” remembers Zina. “I said to Steve, Who could afford to feed one person for that price, let alone a whole family? These outback communities need more help.”

This desire to protect the heart health of future generations, especially those in remote communities, was front of mind when Zina and Steve sat down to prepare their Will.

“We decided that since we would probably have a reasonable estate to leave, we would divide it up between family and a few charities and institutions we felt were worthy,” Steve explains. “My father had heart issues and received great care through his cardiologist and hospital. That influenced our choice too.”

After researching and reflecting together, Steve and Zina decided the Heart Foundation was a “worthy, reliable and trustworthy” charity. “Everybody has heard of the Heart Foundation… everybody, forever!” says Zina. “And I think, a couple of times going back 20 or 30 years, I even did door-knocking to collect donations for the Heart Foundation!”

Zina and Steve are so pleased to have entrusted the Heart Foundation with this generous and life-changing gift because of “its track record, its longevity, its honesty and its transparency.”

Ultimately, Steve and Zina believe it would be “wonderful” to know this gift in their Will could help vulnerable communities live free of heart disease. “That would be very satisfying,” says Zina. That would be a way to make a lasting difference beyond my lifetime.”