The Daily News

BOGALUSA - Membership in Bogalusa's Zipper Club, a group of persons who have undergone open-heart surgery, grew by seven on Wednesday.

Jerry Agnew presented membership pins to new members Tim Augustine, Carl McKay, Doug Ritchie, Anderson Russell and John Walker.

COURTESY PHOTO Zipper Club members Jerry Agnew (left) and Merlin Duke (right) welcomed new members to the Bogalusa Zipper Club at a noon luncheon on Wednesday. Pictured (from left) are John H. Walker, Fred Williams, Janet Strickland, Carl McKay, Anderson Russell, David Miller and Doug Ritchie. Advertisement

The club also picked up its youngest member in 14-year-old Anderson, who underwent surgery to correct a heart problem in Atlanta's Emory University Hospital earlier this year.

While the first-ever meeting of the local group took place at a meeting of the Bogalusa Rotary Club, the meetings are now hosted annually at Valentine's by LSU-Bogalusa Medical Center.

Members of the club were welcomed by hospital assistant CEO Regina Runfalo and heard from Cardiac Rehab coordinator Jeanne van Akkeren and cardiologist Dr. Adrianna Nagy. Dr. Nagy, who joined LSU-BMC last year, gave heart healthy eating tips to the group.

After Dr. Nagy's presentation, Agnew gave a brief history of the local group and then called on soon-to-be-new members to tell about their experiences that led to their respective procedures - which ranged from excruciating pain and a middle-of-the-night trip to the emergency room to no discomfort or warning signs of a problem at all.

Members told stories of being on trips and having to undergo an emergency procedure, of racing to the hospital in the dead of night and of learning of a potential problem as the result of a stress test associated with an annual physical.

Members ranged in age from 14-year-old Russell to 94-year-old Earl Moak.