ALBUQUERQUE, April 22, 2026 - For Martha S. Porter, the fight against heart disease and stroke isn't theoretical - it's personal.
After losing her father to a massive heart attack, watching her mother survive a stroke, supporting her husband through cardiac arrest and managing high blood pressure herself, Porter understands how quickly cardiovascular disease can change a family forever. That lived experience is what drives her volunteer leadership with the American Heart Association and what now brings her to a new role as chair of the 2026 New Mexico Heart Walk and 5K Run, set for Sept.
19. "If by bringing awareness I can save one life, then my volunteer work would have been worth it," Porter said.
Porter is leading a year‑round statewide effort to engage companies, organizations and families in raising lifesaving funds and expanding CPR education, a central focus of this year's Heart Walk campaign. According to the American Heart Association , nine in 10 people who experience cardiac arrest outside the hospital do not survive, and more than half do not receive bystander CPR.
Martha S.
Porter, a longstanding New Mexico banking professional and volunteer, has been named chair of the 2026 New Mexico Heart Walk and 5K Run, scheduled for Sept.
19 at Avanyu Plaza at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque.
The announcement frames Porter’s volunteer trajectory as rooted in personal family experience: the death of her father from a massive heart attack, her mother’s survival of a stroke, her husband’s experience with cardiac arrest, and her own management of high blood pressure.
Those events are cited by Porter as motivating factors for sustained engagement with the American Heart Association (AHA) and for her renewed service on the AHA–New Mexico board of directors, to which she returned in 2025 after prior service in 2022.
Porter will lead a year‑round statewide effort to enlist businesses, organizations and families in fundraising and in expanding public access to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) education.
The Heart Walk campaign in New Mexico is described as prioritizing CPR training as a central element of this year’s program, with an explicit emphasis on widening the number of “lifesavers” in communities—bystanders equipped to act before arrival of emergency medical services.
Porter has articulated a practical rationale for this emphasis, recounting an episode in which her mother did not know how to perform CPR while her father awaited help, and stressing that increasing the number of people who know CPR in each household will improve chances for timely intervention.
The AHA material attached to the announcement references national statistics about out‑of‑hospital cardiac arrest: the organization states that most people who suffer cardiac arrest outside the hospital do not survive and that a majority do not receive bystander CPR.
The AHA further notes that prompt initiation of CPR can substantially increase a person’s likelihood of survival.
These figures are presented to contextualize the organization’s decision to center CPR education in the Heart Walk’s objectives for 2026.
The Heart Walk is portrayed as the AHA’s principal community‑facing initiative, intended to convene businesses, survivors and volunteers around promotion of physical activity, fundraising for research, and efforts to create equitable access to heart‑healthy education and resources.
Under Porter’s leadership, the New Mexico event will continue that orientation while emphasizing local community readiness to perform lifesaving interventions.
The 2026 walk is supported by Delta Dental of New Mexico and Presbyterian Health.
Event organizers anticipate hundreds of participants joining to commemorate survivors, honor those lost to cardiovascular disease and stroke, and support ongoing local initiatives.
Registration and participation inquiries are directed to a named AHA contact and to the event website.
Porter brings over three decades of experience in the banking sector, currently employed at UMB Bank.
Her career trajectory is described as spanning roles from teller to associate national bank examiner.
The announcement highlights her statewide reputation for leadership and community engagement.
Her prior governance role with the AHA–New Mexico board is noted; she served previously in 2022 and rejoined in 2025 with renewed emphasis on health equity work within the state.
A spokesperson from the AHA–New Mexico board emphasized Porter’s suitability for the role, citing her deep New Mexico ties and lived experience with cardiovascular disease and stroke as strengthening her advocacy.
The AHA’s broader mission statement is reiterated in the announcement: the organization positions itself as a long‑standing source of health information, a funder of research, an advocate for public health and a provider of resources aimed at preventing and treating cardiovascular disease and stroke.
The organization’s commitment to equitable health in all communities and to powering science, policy and care solutions is presented as the backdrop for local events such as the Heart Walk.
The announcement frames the Heart Walk as an avenue for corporate participation in employee wellness and community wellbeing, portraying event involvement as a form of team‑building and public demonstration of organizational commitment to the AHA mission.
Funds raised through the event are represented as staying within New Mexico to support local activities; beyond that claim, the announcement does not enumerate specific programs or disbursement mechanisms.
Practical event details provided include date, location and sponsoring partners, with contact information for participation; no agenda, participant eligibility criteria, or fundraising targets are specified.
The source supplies national‑level assertions about survival rates from out‑of‑hospital cardiac arrest and the impact of immediate CPR but does not include underlying study citations or primary data within the announcement.
The content attributes these statements to the American Heart Association without providing methodological detail.
The source does not report quantitative targets for local CPR training, specific measures of prior program impact in New Mexico, nor outcome metrics tied to past Heart Walk events.
Information about how funds raised will be allocated locally or how CPR training will be operationalized (for example, number of trainings, training providers, target populations, or evaluation plans) is not provided.