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Three area high school students were named the winners of the Latrobe Area Hospital Golden Hour Scholarship Heart Fair this week.

Brian Lohr, 18, a senior at Mt. Pleasant Area High School, will receive a $1,000 scholarship for his Golden Hour project. The son of John and Carol Lohr has been accepted at Duquesne University and will major in pharmacy.

Jennifer Brant, 17, the daughter of Linda Goulding, of Derry, and Jayce McDowell, 17, son of Gary and Joyce McDowell, of Bradenville, are juniors at Derry Area High School. They represented Eastern Westmoreland Career and Technical Center with their shared entry and will split the $1,000 scholarship prize. Brant said she hopes to attend the University of Pittsburgh, Oakland, or California University of Pennsylvania, and study nursing. McDowell said he wants to study graphic communications or animation at Carnegie Mellon University.

The Heart Fair is part of the hospital's "Golden Hour" community education project that teaches that the quick recognition and treatment of heart attack symptoms offers the greatest chance of survival.

Cardiologist Dr. Edward T. Szabo said 58 million people in the United States have some type of cardiovascular disease.

"This year, an estimated 1.1 million Americans will have a new or recurrent coronary attack and about one-third will die," Szabo told the crowd of students, parents, faculty, and hospital staff during the scholarship presentation at the Alex G. McKenna Education Center at Latrobe Area Hospital. "Treatment-related cost for cardiovascular disease in the United States is more than $90 billion a year."

More than 350 students in seven school districts -- Greater Latrobe, Derry Area, Ligonier Valley, Mt. Pleasant, Hempfield Area, Greensburg Central Catholic and Eastern Westmoreland Career and Technical Center -- participated in the fair at the school district level.

"Each school had its own contest and selected two winners to present their heart projects at the fair for judging," said Phyllis Ruffner, a registered nurse and director of the hospital's education services department.

First- and second-place entries judged at the school level advanced to the Heart Fair competition. Each finalist received a $100 scholarship, a ribbon and certificate.

"Our goal is to educate people one on one on recognizing the symptoms of a heart attack and calling 911," Ruffner said.

Dr. Richard F. Kunkle, associate medical director of Latrobe Area Hospital, said the students helped reach 1,000 people with the message about heart disease and the importance of the Golden Hour.

All the entries were anonymous and judged on integrity, skill, and artwork, said Harry Albert, one of the judges for the Heart Fair and himself a heart attack survivor. Albert, the retired owner of Quality Associates Consultants, serves on the Institutional Review Board of the hospital.

Other judges were Dana Bauer, a licensed, master prepared social worker and vice president of community investments at the United Way of Westmoreland County; David DeRose, a heart attack survivor who is an associate of the firm Quatrini, Rafferty, Galloway and a participant in the hospital's Golden Hour Committee; Dr. Carol Fox, a primary care physician at Mountain View Family Health Center; and Marjorie Thomas, director of corporate events for the American Heart Association, Westmoreland Division.

The projects will be on display at the Alex G. McKenna Education Center until Friday, Ruffner said. The projects will then be showcased at various locations within the students' communities.

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