American Heart Association’s Post

National ambassador Damar Hamlin is asking you to join the #NationofLifesavers. Learn CPR at http://spr.ly/6046PI9h8.

Practicing mindfulness and meditation may help you manage stress and high blood pressure, feel more balanced, and even lower your risk of heart disease. Try this quick body scan meditation to help release tension in your body and quiet your mind.

Chuck Wendel is alive today because of an AED at the high school gym where he had a cardiac arrest. In North Dakota, where paramedics could be an hour away, a state program prepares communities to act.

DYK 60% of HR professionals are not familiar with the concept of #HealthEquity? Understanding and promoting health equity isn't just a strategic advantage. It's a moral imperative. Let’s empower all managers to build teams and organizations that thrive. Here’s a brief guide to get started. #WellbeingWorksBetter

"I found my place and purpose outside of the military at the American Heart Association," said Darje Bennett, our Project Coordinator for Healthcare Business Solutions in ECC Science and Product Development. As we celebrate #IndependenceDay within #TheAHALife, we honor freedom, pride, and unity, while highlighting the veterans among us, like Darje Bennett and our entire Military & Veterans Employee Resource Group. We are proud to offer the community, support, flexibility, and structure needed for veterans as they transition from one phase of life to the next through our commitment to meeting people where they are. Listen to Darje's story as she shares how the Association was the perfect place to transition into the workforce not only as a veteran but as a new mom, too. #HiringHeroes

Summer means backyard barbecues! But many of the foods we throw on the grill – like ribs, hot dogs and burgers – can raise the risk for heart disease, as can cooking meat at high temps. But that doesn’t mean you need to close the lid on grilling. Here’s how to cook out healthier.

"I was one of those people that thought nothing could happen to me,” said Craig Warren of Williamson, West Virginia. “I had a stroke, had a heart attack, had a kidney transplant.“ To help him monitor his health, Craig enrolled in the Williamson Health and Wellness Center’s community health worker program a decade ago. Community health workers visit neighbors like Craig to check blood pressure and blood glucose readings and help them manage their medications. They also organize walking groups and free community yoga classes, distribute boxes of heart-healthy foods and show residents how to cook them. They are not medical professionals, but work closely with them. In the coal-mining town of Williamson, the estimated life expectancy is 67.2 years, 10 years less than the national average. Like many rural communities, it’s working to overcome the health challenges brought on by poverty, lack of health insurance, food insecurity and a shortage of hospitals and health care professionals. "We have to keep up the preventive work so they don't have to see a specialist. We have no specialists here," said Melissa Justice, a nurse who coordinates Williamson’s community health worker program. The people enrolled in the program have made steady progress, particularly in blood pressure control. In 2019, 65% of patients had blood pressure under control. Now, about 77% of patients maintain blood pressure within the normal range. "I'm one of the lucky ones,” Craig says. “I'm lucky to be alive."

Like many people in rural West Virginia, Sabrina Ford grew up on beans cooked with lard and cornbread loaded with sugar, often with a side of fried potatoes cooked in bacon grease. But years of eating high-fat, fried and sugary foods have resulted in another family tradition: heart disease and other chronic illnesses. As the director of nursing at Rainelle Medical Center, the only clinic serving the town's roughly 1,170 residents, Sabrina worries that if she doesn't change the unhealthy situation, her grandchildren will be next. "I don't want that for them," she said, nor does she want to miss seeing them grow up. "I want to be around for a long time. I want to see them graduate high school." Rural Americans – particularly those in Appalachia – face some of the highest rates of heart disease and chronic illness in the nation. West Virginia ranks at or near the top for rates of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, along with cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking and obesity. Sabrina and her daughter, Sarah Ward, a diabetes specialist at the medical center, are working to break the stranglehold of chronic illness with Wellness Works, a program that helps others create and maintain a healthier lifestyle. In the region they serve, blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose levels have all decreased. "We use our influence as health care professionals to display how being active, cooking healthy meals, shopping for better choices at the grocery store and growing your own food can be possible, even with the barriers we all face," Sarah said. “I'm dieting, watching what I eat. I've lost 60 pounds,” Sabrina said. “I want to pass it down to my grandchildren that we practice good healthy habits."

Published today, Palliative Pharmacotherapy for Cardiovascular Disease: A Scientific Statement. http://spr.ly/6042gSk1C 📸Palliative pharmacotherapy across the clinical course of cardiovascular disease.

Palliative care is important in managing cardiovascular disease (CVD), as it reduces physical symptom burden, manages emotional and spiritual distress, supports caregivers, and helps patients make decisions aligned with their goals of care. http://spr.ly/6047gSXsz