Heart disease isn’t only a later-in-life concern. A May 2025 study in the Journal of the American Heart Association showed heart disease rates are climbing among younger people, especially men. One factor driving this trend? Myocarditis—one of the leading causes of heart failure, including among young people—is also on the rise, the researchers say.
Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle, says Christopher Mahida, MD, a physician specializing in interventional cardiology at Mercy Health in Ohio. “It’s dangerous because it can weaken the heart, leading to heart failure,” Dr. Mahida says. This inflammation can reduce the heart’s pumping ability as well. “It may also cause abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias), which can lead to sudden cardiac arrest.”
One patient explains how a mild case of COVID nearly resulted in the need for a heart transplant—and the one symptom of myocarditis he wishes everyone knew about.
How I knew I had myocarditis
As told by Tim Shuckman, 46, to Leslie Finlay, MPA
“In 2024, I was probably in the best shape of my life since college,” Tim says. “Then right around this time last year, I came down with COVID following a work trip. It really wasn’t bad, I felt like I had the flu for a few days—back up and running and working out within probably four days.”
“Then about two weeks after that, I had what I thought was a rebound of COVID.” Tim’s symptoms included fluid in his lungs, shortness of breath, lethargy, and swelling in his limbs. “I went back to the doctor and got diagnosed with pneumonia—well, what we thought was pneumonia.”
He continued his daily activities with modifications as needed, but one day, he hit a wall. “I actually ran three and a half miles that morning and was like, Something’s off. [Then] I was on a work Zoom call and I could barely speak.”
Tim says that later that night, “Anytime I would try to lie flat, after about an hour it was like, asthmatic—I couldn’t breathe at all and I’d kind of shoot up out of bed, I’d be hunched over and [trying to] catch my breath.”
“I come to find out that’s like the number one sign of heart failure: your lungs build up all this fluid in them and you can’t breathe,” he says. At this point, Tim headed straight to the hospital emergency department, arriving in such poor condition that he was flown to a specialized hospital.
Severe myocarditis diagnosis
“I don’t remember any of this, but Dr. Mahida was the physician who decided to immediately put in an Impella pump to help my heart … a call which, ultimately, I believe ended up saving my life.”
An Impella pump is a small mechanical device that temporarily helps the heart pump, allowing it to rest and recover. Coincidentally, the company where Tim serves as chief commercial officer was involved in this device’s clinical trials. “I was blown away by that,” he says. “Like, full circle, the work I do every day in some way actually helped save my own life.”
The pump is a short-term solution, however, and Dr. Mahida made the call to transfer Tim to a hospital with a transplant center. “Mild [myocarditis] cases often resolve on their own, and most patients may have minimal symptoms,” Dr. Mahida says. “Moderate cases may require brief hospitalizations, including management with medications.”
Artificial intelligence has changed how companies and people are discovered online. Topic searches now return an “AI overview,’ a summary of key facts culled from many internet sources. The traditional company website, with its crafted identity of mission and reputation, is no longer king of the information hill. In fact, only 40 percent of Google searches now point to individual websites. Reputation is now what the “AI overview” says it is.
That’s good, and it means every savvy company and leader can take control of their own summary and make AI a positive force of recognition and discovery. Here’s how:
Devise accurate meta descriptions: These are the short summaries that help AI understand page content and relevance. A sharp, keyword-aligned phrase boosts the likelihood of being featured. Tools like Ahrefs’ free Meta Description Generator permit the input of page details and promise optimized, SEO-friendly summaries.
Implement schema markup: Schema is code that identifies the type of content on a webpage so search engines and AI know exactly what it is and how to display it. It can label videos, FAQs, articles, products, and anything else on the web, making it easier for AI to include that content in its overview. Without schema, AI has to guess, which reduces the chances of being selected, especially when only one answer is shown.
Use Google Search Console: Google Search Console is a free tool that shows how a site appears in search engines. It tracks the keywords driving traffic, flags technical issues, and identifies well-performing pages or those that need improvement. With search impressions up 49% since Google launched AI overviews, the tool can help reveal where a company’s content is appearing in AI-influenced results.
Review the company website for conversational wording: AI tools favor the way people naturally speak and ask questions, and quickly identify company jargon or boilerplate. Implement useful ChatGPT prompts and common search phrases. Include FAQs, Q&As, and how-to articles that give direct answers to specific questions.
Expand online presence for easy summary: AI gathers information about awards, media hits, quotations on all platforms, and even reviews on Yelp and Google. More important than ever is an all-encompassing presence from which a corporate or personal identity can be built.
How would every company and leader like to be summed up?
More than ever, that’s up to us.
IN THE NEWS
OWC earned feature on News3LV for Abiomed
ARC Las Vegas, a top 40 media market, interviewed retired fire captain Daniel Dennon, who was saved by his wife Melanie after a sudden cardiac event. The story highlights how extreme heat strains the heart, Daniel’s symptoms before cardiogenic shock, and how Impella saved his life. Watch the full story here.
OWC secured an article on Nuvve in the San Diego Business Journal
OWC secured coverage in the San Diego Business Journal for Nuvve (Nasdaq: NVVE), a global leader in vehicle-to-grid technology and grid modernization. CEO Gregory Poilasne discussed the Board’s approval of up to $3 million in Hype token purchases, the company’s treasury strategy, and upcoming V2G partnerships and growth plans for 2025. Read the full story here.
ICYMI: Talk PR with LiftFund’s Amy Hereford
OWC’s Williams spoke with Amy Hereford, President and CEO of LiftFund, which has provided more than $1 billion in loans to small businesses since 1994. Hereford discussed microlending trends, the organization’s rapid disaster response following the recent L.A. fires, and why supporting small businesses is essential to community recovery. Watch the full interview here.
FOX 19 Cincinnati recently featured the story of Tim Schuckman, a 46-year-old chief commercial officer from Cincinnati, whose life was saved after a sudden health crisis.
Last October, Tim contracted pneumonia and soon developed shortness of breath, swelling in his legs, and extreme fatigue. Tests at Mercy Health Mason Primary Care revealed he was in cardiogenic shock, likely caused by viral myocarditis. He was rushed to Mercy Fairfield, where Dr. Christopher Mahida identified severe heart failure on both sides of his heart. To stabilize him, Dr. Mahida implanted the Impella CP and Impella RP heart pumps, which temporarily took over his heart’s pumping function.
Doctors initially believed Tim would require a heart transplant. Instead, his heart steadily recovered, and within a month he was able to return home with his own heart.
FOX 19 highlighted how Tim has since regained his strength and returned to the life he loves. He is back to work full time, went skiing with his family, and most recently completed a 10K charity road race, a testament to both his determination and the advanced technology that gave his heart time to heal.
Retired Las Vegas fire captain, Daniel Dennon, is sharing his story after collapsing at home from a sudden cardiac event. His wife, Melanie Dennon who is a paramedic, saved his life.
Now, they’re hoping to raise awareness about how extreme heat can put added strain on the heart, especially over the years.
On ARC Las Vegas, Daniel talked about the different symptoms he had before he went into cardiogenic shock.
OWC secured coverage with the San Diego Business Journal for Nuvve (Nasdaq: NVVE), a global leader in vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology and grid modernization. The company recently announced that its Board of Directors has approved the initial purchase of up to $3 million in Hype tokens, reflecting the company’s continued commitment to blockchain-enabled infrastructure and its belief in the transformative potential of the Hype ecosystem.
Nuvve CEO Gregory Poilasne spoke with the San Diego Business Journal about the HYPE token purchase, the company’s overall treasury strategy, current and upcoming V2G partnerships and growth plans for the remainder of 2025.
“We wanted to find something that connects with our business,” Poilasne said. “We are very good at distributed energy resources, how to manage those resources either locally or in a centralized way, so we wanted to find something that had similar characteristics and that potentially could also be used in our activity.”
“We can’t just wait for the market, we have to move forward,” he said. “So taking more of a position as a grid modernization company that is using vehicle-to-grid technology to support the grid, that’s really the positioning we’ve been taking there.”
A retired Las Vegas fire captain shared his story after collapsing at home from a sudden cardiac event.
His wife, a paramedic, saved his life. Now, they’re hoping to raise awareness about how extreme heat can put added strain on the heart.
Daniel Dennon doesn’t remember the day his heart gave out.
“My symptoms would have been the neck pain and the fatigue but as far as the day itself, I have a very blurry, tidbits of thoughts for that day,” he said.
Hours after playing hockey, Dennson collapsed at home, his wife Melanie, a paramedic, ran upstairs and found him barely breathing.
“I realized he didn’t have a pulse, just muscle memory from being a paramedic for. Over 20 years, I just jumped into action and just started CPR,” Melanie said.
Daniel was placed in a coma for nearly two weeks, doctors used a device called Impella, a newer heart pump that temporarily took over his heart’s workload.
“They were preparing us to possibly have to go to California for a transplant and because the Impella did such a good job at letting his heart rest and recover, he’s sitting here,” Melanie said.
Now, the Dennons are sharing their story to encourage others to be proactive about their health, especially as extreme heat takes a toll on the heart. So far this year, 87 people in Clark County have died where heat was a factor and many of those cases involved heart-related issues.
“What’s going on right now in Vegas with the heat, all of that takes its toll on first responders. So whether it’s police, fire, ambulance, anybody working outside, excessive heat does contribute if you have any underlying medical conditions,” Melanie said.
The Dennons said prevention and preparation make the difference, especially for those working long hours or outside in extreme conditions.
“I think it’s better to be proactive than reactive when it comes to your health and heat related emergencies,” Daniel said.
LOS ANGELES – August 8, 2025 — Olmstead Williams Communications (OWC) today marked 17 years of delivering PR results for the technology, healthcare, fintech and professional services industries. Launched in a recession and a client lifeline during Covid, the resilient agency reflects the vision and commitment of founder Tracy Olmstead Williams.
“Seventeen is a milestone, but it’s not a finish line,” said Williams. “We’re witnessing a revolution in how information is disseminated, from generative AI to social media platforms. It’s still a sprint for us to make sure our clients keep up and stay ahead.”
She emphasizes the evolution of public relations since 2008. Traditional phone outreach has been overtaken by X direct messages (DMs), text, email, video conferencing and social media as faster, more effective ways to reach reporters and stakeholders. News rooms are now introduced to potential news stories by personal email outreach, with data backups and easy proofs provided instantly by alert PR teams. Public opinion can be influenced in real time, and reputations are shaped by how quickly and effectively a company responds. Generative AI tools, from Google Gemini to ChatGPT to Canva AI, are redefining how stories are created, discovered and trusted.
The firm maintains a focus on helping clients combine their industry expertise with effective communication that aligns with how success is indexed, ranked and shared. As OWC enters its 18th year, the tools have changed but the objective remains the same: drive real business outcomes.
“The industry has never been more exhilarating. You must adapt for how the game is played today and be ready for what’s to come tomorrow,” said Williams.
About Olmstead Williams Communications
Olmstead Williams Communications is a leading Los Angeles tech public relations firm specializing in reputation management, crisis management, media training and thought leadership. Its message training prepares CEOs for the national news media stage. More at www.olmsteadwilliams.com.
Amy Hereford is the President and CEO of LiftFund, a nonprofit that has already made more than $1B in loans to small businesses since it started in 1994. Its mission is to offer financial resources and services to uplift small business owners, and it may become the new best friend of Los Angeles’ fire recovery.
Hereford delves into the microlending trends and the firm’s swift emergency/disaster response for small businesses. Within one week of the L.A. fires, LiftFund made loans to several local businesses.
Amy believes small businesses are essential to recovery. “Those are the families, the taxpayers that we need to make sure stay afloat, otherwise, a community begins to unravel.”
TRANSCRIPT
Tracy Williams: Welcome to TalkPR. I’m Tracy Williams, and today our guest is Amy Hereford. She’s the president and CEO of LiftFund, a nonprofit fueled by more than a billion dollars in small business lending. Its mission is to help finance support services, and it may become the new best friend of Los Angeles Fire recovery. So Amy, tell us how you can help, because we sure do need it.
Amy Hereford: Oh, gosh, well, and that’s what we are, mission-driven to do. LiftFund is 30 years old. We were formed by a former nun, actually, who a section of nuns from Latin America, recognized that the United States needed to help alleviate poverty through microloans. That is what LiftFund has been doing, microloans. Our average size loans nowadays are around $20 to $30,000. When COVID-19 hit, LiftFund was tapped to get access to capital out to the communities that needed it most, very quickly. So we built a skill set of hundreds of millions of dollars that have come through LiftFund. It’s been a trusted source that came from the federal government, state level, and municipality level. That’s what we did when we got and built that fraud infrastructure that comes along anytime you have that type of emergency. What we realized is that we are also available to respond to every type of disaster, business interruption, and so on. So when we find folks who need it very quickly, that’s what we specialize in, especially on the small business level. We’ve got to help them quickly. So that’s how we can be of service. Anytime there is a wildfire, whatever type of instance that is causing a business interruption in California, we are more than happy to come, and that’s what we did.
Tracy Williams: So this is so interesting because micro lending, I think we think about it from stories on 60 minutes of giving, tribes, or certain countries’ women a phone so that they could conduct businesses, it was at that level. So this is outside money, you know, Latin America, stuff coming to give to the wealthy United States. So that’s something I think people don’t know even exists.
Amy Hereford: It’s true. Well, in whatever level you are, it, you certainly will have poverty and one of the best ways to help alleviate that poverty, a way that has earned itself a Nobel Peace Prize, is not LiftFund personally, but Grameen, where micro lending is done, in India, has that Nobel Peace Prize. And it is for the type of work that we do that is very effective at helping to alleviate poverty. If a world without something like LiftFund looks like a boondoggle for predatory lenders, that’s what essentially happens. Not everyone will be bankable instantly. Not everyone who wants to start and pursue their dream will be bankable, and that’s just not feasible. But what is available is safe and responsible capital. It’s one of the, we hate to say, the best-kept secrets in the United States. There are nonprofit lenders out there, and the goal is to help administer technical assistance, in other words, financial literacy training, and we do loans until we’re ready, and graduate them into the regulated banking system.
Tracy Williams: When it gets to LA, I think we’re all looking about, where does real recovery really start? You know, it was very exciting getting lots cleared out and doing all of that, and the promise of fast-tracking. And, I’m sure you know that the number that is in all of our minds is 100, and that’s the number of permits that have been issued for buildings. And we’ve got 10s of 1000s of structures and only 100 permits. So there’s a lot of concern about it. So, where do you think recovery really starts?
Amy Hereford: In our 30-year history of helping with disasters, what we have found is there is a gap in understanding, and essential, and certainly in funding of what’s needed. We have to help small businesses. Sometimes we’ll get pushback. Well, we want to help individuals first, and the truth is the small businesses are individuals. Those are the families that work there. Those are the taxpayers. Those are funders that we need to make sure they are staying afloat there. Otherwise, what you have is an unraveling community. If we can’t help the small businesses and the data says, the national data says, if we don’t help them, within the first two weeks of a disaster, 40% will permanently close, and another 25% will close within that first year of a disaster. This is where we need to concentrate a lot of efforts, right away. In general, and you had asked, you know, how long does this go on? Well, from a small business disaster relief standpoint, what we need immediately, in the first two weeks, is to start getting funds directly into their pockets. So that they can pay their employees. Otherwise, the employees have to uproot families, change school districts, and look for work in other communities. It totally changes the social and economic fabric inside of a community. So once we do that, immediately, in two weeks, which is typically going to be grants, is what they need, not debt, not loans, right there. After a few more weeks, as folks stand up and you’ve hit the businesses and ICUs and so to speak, then it needs to change to low-cost loans for them so that they can stand up and rebuild. In order to do that anywhere in the United States, there just isn’t enough groups doing that, and they’re not enough groups able to do it because of the fraud that comes anytime you’re doing disasters. So we’re looking at, you know, from the time a disaster hits, in order to stand up a small business, the first year is critical how a community reacts. Thereafter, a community can expect it will be a couple years.
Tracy Williams: Part of what we’re also experiencing many of the small businesses that have been hurt, also because we’ve had all of the ICE raids and demonstrations on top of the fires. Who is it that you can help when you come here?
Amy Hereford: So our typical portfolio is the micro businesses. So these are your landscapers, these are your food trucks. These are your mom and pop restaurants. When we think about the Palisades, for instance, fire, when that happened, it wasn’t just the local main street businesses there. It had a deep ripple effect into other communities that rely on Palisades for economic support and so on.
Tracy Williams: Certainly, landscaping, you just named a big one.
Amy Hereford: Yes, exactly everybody. So, so that is who we are able to help instantly. So when we have in our own portfolio, we help folks with ITINs. These are folks that are our taxpayers. So they do have a number. They do file with IRS. And you know, of course, we ask for social security numbers and so on from other folks who are not ITIN holders. That’s important in a disaster, because there will be bad actors coming. And the more public this disaster, the more fraud attempts you have around the world to try to pose as these small businesses, and the, you know, these small businesses are vulnerable to that, to identity theft and so on. So, yes, there are still things we need in order to hit who we’re trying to hit. It’s about funding. We’ve got to have funding, because at this point, we haven’t hit deep enough yet, and we need, we absolutely need to offer these micro, low-cost loans so that they can keep making up the difference for the revenues lost, the inventories lost, and so on. They’re still trying to climb out there.
Tracy Williams: So do you have a number in mind? Like, how many people? Well, maybe a couple of numbers. How much money do you have to offer as microloans, if you can share a range with me, and then how quickly can you get these funds out to people?
Amy Hereford: Yes. I’ll put a caveat. So, where I get capital is from banks, and the way that they’re incentivized to do that for a group like mine is because they get community reinvestment act credit through the federal government now. So I do have pretty good, maybe we’re serving about 30 million a year in loans if that’s the case, though, whenever there are disasters, we are pigeon-holed on where we can serve until I can get funding in that area. So while I have capital to lend out, I have to lend it out at an interest rate that’s a fair interest rate. But where you want it in a disaster is really as close to zero as possible. In order to get that as close to zero as possible, I need grants to be able to do that. Right now in Los Angeles, we’ve exhausted our grants to buy down the interest rate. That is what I’m needing right now from Los Angeles, is I need a contribution where I have the capital to lend out, but I need a one time contribution, at least, to buy down the interest rate to 0% so that these folks on the ground are not taking on debt with interest in the time when they really need, you know, low interest loans.
Tracy Williams: So that means you can’t lend money until you get those loan rates down. Is that correct?
Amy Hereford: Yeah, we can lend, but it’s not as helpful to those small businesses at a 10% rate. They really need it at 0% so yes, we would need to buy down that interest rate, and it’s about a one-to-four ratio. So if I’m looking at doing $400,000 worth of loans, which, if we just roughly say, that’ll help 400 businesses or so on, now we’re talking about, I need 100 $1,000 just to buy down the interest rate to help those businesses.
Tracy Williams: Oh, that’s interesting. Well, you know, simple math, right? You know it’s funny, like, how do you not compete? It’s not a competition, obviously. But you know, the SBA is supposedly lending to fire victims for rebuilding. I’m sure that has something to do with supporting small businesses, because if you own a home and you build it, you’re gonna have to hire all these small businesses contractors. And what those are 2% loans. It seems like, wow, they’re giving 2% loans to rich people. And I don’t know if that’s true or not. What is the story behind that? I’m not saying that they’re doing it easily.
Amy Hereford: The SBA is effective, and they are very cash-strapped too. So there is not enough funding for what they are doing as well, right? And so where we feel that there’s a gap is to be the bridge between when somebody has a disaster in their community and until SBA can leverage funds to them. So that’s the important gap that we are filling now, six months after a disaster, SBA is there and has loans that they’re making, and you know, they’re also, they also all of us, could always use more staff, but it’s all the numbers game, right? So SBA is probably doing the best they can at this point in time, but of course, more partners in that community are going to make more change and affect more impact there. So SBA, we both. We both are aware of each other. We both partner on many programs together. We both support one another’s efforts so there is no sort of competition between us and SBA because we share the same mission. They’re helping small businesses. We’re trying to help small businesses. So we root each other on, and we certainly know that both of us need to exist in a space because there is so much need. I’m
Tracy Williams: So lucky to have you and your organization fighting for this and speaking as an Angeleno. Thanks for bringing hope.
Amy Hereford: Oh, thank you. It’s our honor to be able to be of service there. So thank you. You’re.
IN THE NEWS
OWC is 17 years old!
Olmstead Williams Communications is 17 and still just getting started. Seventeen years of shaping stories, building reputations, and growing companies. We have influenced millions of opinions, generated sales, and made a name for businesses across industries by evolving with every shift in the media landscape. To our clients, partners, and team: thank you for being part of our story.
OWC earned a feature in Parade for Abiomed
American Ninja Warrior competitor Morgan “The Moose” Wright is giving an update on his health three years after suffering a massive heart attack.
Wright, who was kept alive by an Impella heart pump and appeared on the July 28 episode of the long-running competition show, opened up about his road to recovery while chatting exclusively with Parade. Don’t miss the full story here.
OWC at Women in Tech Symposium
OWC CEO Tracy Williams and Senior Media Strategist Samantha Short attended the Women in Tech Symposium by Quantum eMotion at UC Irvine on Friday, July 25. It was a full day of inspiring speakers, networking, and celebrating women driving innovation in tech.
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