Executives at ArcelorMittal's mills in East Chicago and Burns Harbor took time to promote healthy lifestyles Wednesday afternoon. ArcelorMittal is a national sponsor of the American Heart Association's Start! campaign.

The event was the association's Start! Heart Walk, to promote more heart healthy lifestyles across the country through walking at least 30 minutes a day.

Executives at the two area ArcelorMittal mills stood with Diane Kemp, Northwest Indiana executive director for the heart association, for photos to help promote the program to their employees.

ArcelorMittal vice president and general manager for the Burns Harbor mill, Madhu Ranade, and senior division manager for primary operations at Burns Harbor, Dale Heinz, posed there.

"They're helping their employees understand there are little things they can do in their daily lives to help reduce the probability of cardio incidents," Kemp said of the executives' efforts.

Heinz was the Start! Heart Walk chairman for 2006 and was the first in the nation to raise a six-digit donation for the heart association in the country. For him the message of the Start program hits very close to home.

"I do it because it is personal," Heinz said. "My dad died from complications from a stroke and my grandpa died from a heart attack."

It is no stretch for Heinz to take the personal impact that heart disease can have on a family and apply it to the employees of ArcelorMittal.

"On a business level, it makes good sense for us to educate our employees and promote heart healthy activities to have a healthier work force," he said.

It is Kemp's hope that other businesses will begin to follow the lead of ArcelorMittal when it comes to promoting healthy lifestyles to workers.

"ArcelorMittal is really setting the pace across the United States as a blue-collar company that promotes cardio health and how it improves the quality of life for their work force," she said.