CPR & AED Awareness Week: Are YOU Trained?

CPR & AED Awareness Week: Are YOU Trained?

Getting people to act quickly in a cardiac arrest emergency is critical to a victim’s survival because time is not on their side. Four to six minutes is the window of opportunity for someone to act before it is too late, but fewer than one-third of cardiac arrest victims get CPR from someone nearby.

The American Heart Association wants more people to take action and help cardiac arrest victims. That’s why we’re challenging one million people to learn about CPR and get trained during the month of June. Visit www.cprweek.org to learn about hands-only CPR, play Be the Beat to learn the correct rate of CPR compressions, or record your CPR & AED training or the training you gave someone else.

Take action on School Lunches

With members of Congress in their home districts until this Friday, the American Heart Association is organizing a week of action to keep the pressure on Congress in our fight for healthier kids.

All across the country, advocates are "serving-up" lunch tray petitions to their Senators and Representatives, to urge them to pass the Child Nutrition Act this year- and we need you to join in the action!

Make sure your legislators are receiving this important message by following the steps below:



DOWNLOAD and PRINT your lunch tray petition!
PERSONALIZE your petition with a note and your contact information
DELIVER a copy of the petition to your Senators and Representative by dropping-by their district offices (you can find the office closest to you by visiting your Members' websites)- OR by faxing a copy into their offices (numbers below).
REPORT BACK to let us know you have delivered your lunch tray petition
SHARE this message with family and friends and urge them to deliver their petition too
Your Targets:



Representative Snyder: (501) 324-6029 (fax)
Senator Lincoln: (501) 375-7064 (fax)
Senator Pryor: (501) 324-5320 (fax)
The health of our kids is too important to accept inaction on the Child Nutrition Act this year. Thank you committing to make this important delivery during the recess period!

Act Now!

Childhood obesity is one of the most serious epidemics in the U.S., yet the unhealthy foods available to our kids and the lack of physical activity provided during the school day hinder their ability to make healthy choices to fight it.

We know this problem is urgent. But as the Senate continues to delay voting on the Child Nutrition Act, we need to make sure they know, too.

Take a moment to send a letter to your Senators to tell them how important it is that we improve the school environment for healthier kids.

The more people our Senators hear from, the likelier they are to feel pressure to push for a vote on this crucial act. By writing to them now, you can ask them to sign on to a letter going to the Senate leadership that calls for an immediate debate on this bipartisan bill.

With the growing threat of childhood obesity and related problems, we are long overdue for a re-vamp of our school nutrition programs. The Child Nutrition Act would provide much-needed support to strengthen the ways in which our schools help promote healthy lifestyle habits, such as proper nutrition and adequate daily physical activity. But we need to act now: the deadline for Senators to sign on to this letter to Senate leadership is May 19.

Tell your Senators to take this first step toward ensuring a healthy future for our kids today.

Thank you for your time---together we can make sure this important act gets passed.

Start Walking!!

From multiple events and National Heart month to the announcement of our new 2020 Impact Goal, it has been a busy spring for the American Heart Association and the South Central Affiliate, and we’ve compiled all the news in the latest edition of our volunteer newsletter. Please take a few minutes to check out this online resource, where you’ll be able to read about recent legislative victories, find out what companies earned Fit-Friendly recognition, see photos from our (Inter)National Wear Red Day, learn why people are choosing cupcakes over cash and discover what motivates fellow volunteers.

Before you click through to the newsletter, let me also invite you to participate in National Start Walking day, this Wednesday, April 7. While I know that many of you support our walking programs through Start! at Work and participate in your local Heart Walk, I’m inviting you to join the thousands across the SCA who will be taking one small step towards better heart health on Wednesday. There are countless physical activities out there, but walking has the lowest dropout rate of them all, so grab your tennis shoes and your co-workers and take a walk around the block that day. Or find a Start! Walking path near you.

And speaking of taking a small step towards better heart health, be sure to take the My Life Check assessment. As part of our 2020 Impact Goal, we’ve produced an assessment tool that helps you identify and improve seven health factors, as well as create a simple action plan to work toward ideal heart health. This is the first step toward meeting our 2020 goal, so please pass the Web site and message to friends, family and co-workers. It will take all of us working together to save lives.

Thank you, and have a great National Start Walking Day!

You're the Cure on Capitol Hill

More than 80 American Heart Association advocates donned their red in Washington D.C. on March 10 for meetings with Members of Congress. A mix of heart disease and stroke researchers and survivors asked our nation’s lawmakers to provide significant funding increases for the National Institutes for Health (NIH) medical research. Heart and stroke patients rely on NIH-funded research to develop cutting edge treatment and prevention strategies, and even find cures for heart disease and stroke.


Sadly, our nation’s investment in heart and stroke research continues to fall short. Though heart disease and stroke remain the 1st and 3rd leading causes of death in the United States, NIH invests only four percent and a mere one percent of its budget, respectively, on heart and stroke research.

Research holds our best hope of saving lives that would otherwise be lost to heart disease or stroke. Send a message to your Members of Congress and urge them to provide significant funding increases for NIH heart and stroke research.

Act Now!!

Right now Washington, D.C. is agonizing over ways to put Americans back to work.

We have a simple suggestion for Congress that doesn't just spur economic growth -- it saves lives: investments in job-creating medical research, such as the National Institutes of Health's efforts to combat heart disease and stroke.

Right now, NIH devotes only 4% of its budget to heart research and a mere 1% to stroke research -- and every 38 seconds, someone in the U.S. dies from cardiovascular disease.

That's why American Heart Association advocates are on Capitol Hill today. From researchers who fight for the cure to patients who fight for their lives, we're urging lawmakers to make these crucial, life-saving investments.

We need you to back them up today!

Tell your Members of Congress to increase funding for NIH heart and stroke research that creates jobs while saving lives. Ask them to appropriate $35 billion for the NIH.

NIH invests resources in every state and each NIH grant generates on average 7 jobs. A projected 50,000 jobs will be created or saved between 2009 and 2010, according to the NIH.

But, more importantly, these investments advance promising science to get us closer to finally finding a cure for heart disease and stroke.

Dozens of AHA advocates are making the rounds on Capitol Hill as you read this.

Now's the time to flex our grassroots muscles to ensure their voices aren't lost in the shuffle -- send a message to your Members of Congress today!

Remind them the cost of delay: one more death every 38 seconds in the United States. That's what's at stake -- and that's why we're in this fight.

Schools shoudnever be without...

No school should be without them -- playgrounds, chalkboards, and the one thing that could save a student's life in the event of a heart attack -- a Defibrillator. In fact, two Arkansas students have already been saved with the help of and AED this year.

Take action and help put an AED in every Arkansas school!

Last year you helped us pass a law that requires an AED for every school. But because of funding issues not every school has one. Lawmakers have cut funding for this program but Governor Beebe still considers this issue a priority. We need to have every lawmaker consider funding AEDs in schools a priority.

By taking action today you will be doing two things. You will: 1. Ask your State Representative and State Senator to find funding for AEDs and 2. Thank Governor Beebe for remaining committed to this issue.

Defibrillators in Arkansas: no school should be without one.

16 Cents

You can't even buy a gumball with 16 cents.

Yet, that's all the Center for Disease Control and Prevention spends per person on heart disease and stroke prevention every year.

That's woefully inadequate to fight heart disease and stroke, the No. 1 and No. 3 killers in America. Worse, the President has proposed a $1.2 million CUT in funding for CDC heart disease and stroke prevention.

Tell your Members of Congress to make smart investments in life-saving heart disease and stroke prevention programs.

The CDC's Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program saves lives by tailoring its work to help Americans, particularly underserved populations, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, learn the key signs and symptoms of heart disease and stroke, improve emergency response and quality of care, and end treatment disparities.

And yet, millions of Americans are left behind every year because the CDC doesn't have the funding to reach them. Some states get no funding at all for heart disease and stroke prevention.

When lives are on the line, we can't afford to cut funding and continue to leave behind the ones who need help the most.

Email Congress now and tell them to stand up against the No. 1 and No. 3 killers in America -- invest in heart disease and stroke prevention now!

Even though the budget fight has just begun, it's crucial that Congress hears from heart disease and stroke advocates like us NOW, as the key decisions are being made.

Thanks for doing your part to make sure Congress answers our call.

Help fund AEDs in Schools!

We worked hard last year to pass a bill that would put an AED in every school in the state. Recently numerous students have been saved by an AED while at school showing how important these devices truly are. But not enough funding has been provided so not every school has one.

Help us change that by telling your lawmaker to fund AEDs in schools!

Last year you helped us pass a bill that required an AED on every school campus in the state. An AED is the lifesaving device that can shock a heart back to life after experiencing a sudden cardiac event.

Unfortunately there are still some schools that don't have an AED on site. Within the last month numerous students have collapsed with heart issues only to be revived with the help of an AED. We can't allow a tragedy to occur at a school simply because there wasn't an AED near by.

In Governor Beebe's address to the General Assembly he said funding AEDs should be a top priority. Please tell your lawmakers that funding this program should be a top priority for them as well. Click here to send your message today.

Your message will also thank Governor Beebe for staying committed to this issue

Steps to a healthier life!

We are always asking our lawmakers to vote one way or anther and you do a great job of helping us spread our message. But we thought now would be a good time to make sure they know how to prevent heart disease or stroke in their own lives.

Let your lawmakers know that February is Heart Month and we're thinking of them!

February is American Heart month, a time to raise awareness about heart disease and how we can do things to prevent it. Cardiovascular disease is the number 1 killer in Arkansas, but it doesn't have to be that way. In fact we have just developed 7 Simple Solutions for healthy living. Here are some examples of them:

Exercise - walking just 30 minutes a day can improve your heart and increase your lifespan

Nutrition - trim things like fat, sodium, and cholesterol from your diet and reduce your risk of heart disease

Know Your Numbers - being aware of your weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels can allow you to manage your body. Know your numbers to control your risk.

Signs and Symptoms - chest pains could mean a heart attack and loss of feeling on one side of the body might indicate a stroke. Fast treatment is vital so know the signs and symptoms to take action quickly.

These are just a few things everyone can do to reduce their risk. Please check out http://mylifecheck.heart.org/ for more on the fight against heart disease and stroke. Remember to share this with your friends and family click here to share with your lawmakers.

Act Now!!

Last night a high school student and basketball player at Little Rock's Parkview High School fell to the floor unconscious. School personnel quickly worked to revive the young man who did not have a pulse. The young man is alive today because of the efforts of courageous bystanders and the use of a Defibrillator (AED).

Unfortunate incidents like these are why it is so important to fight for AED and CPR training in all schools. Luckily a tragedy was avoided, but it wasn't always like this at Parkview High. Three years ago another student was not so fortunate.

In January of 2007 Antony Hobbs, III suffered a heart attack at the same high school, in the same gym and died. During the 2009 Session a law was passed that requires AED placement and CPR training on every public school campus in Arkansas. The law was proudly named the Antony Hobbs, III Act to honor Antony.

However because of budget constraints some schools still do not have an AED on campus. Help us fight for AED and CPR training by telling your lawmakers to make funding a priority.

Click here to take action now! Thanks to everyone who emailed their legislators yesterday on this very issue.

A special thanks to the Hobbs family who fought for AEDs in schools over the past 3 years so other parents wouldn't have to suffer the loss of one of their children.

P.S. Be sure to check our blog for more updates on this and other stories. www.YouretheCureAR.blogspot.com.

Take Action!

BIG NEWS: This afternoon, health reform cleared another crucial hurdle in the Senate, with the Finance Committee passing its legislation. This brings us that much closer to making health care reform a reality this year.

But we must continue to raise our voices to ensure the legislation that is passed will result in meaningful reform for heart disease and stroke patients. That means fixing what is broken in our current system, while building on what works well.

These next few weeks will be critical to make an impact, and we need your voice.

If you haven't told your lawmakers how you feel about health care reform, right now is the time. Click here >>>

For nearly 100 years, Washington leaders have floated ideas to fix the health care system, but they've never been as close to comprehensive reform as they are today.

We have our best opportunity in nearly a century to finally relieve the burden on patients and their families struggling under our broken health care system. They are counting on reform that makes health insurance accessible, affordable, and adequate THIS year. Can we count on you to help?

Please email your lawmakers on Capitol Hill TODAY>>>
(It only takes 30 seconds)

The fight for meaningful reform belongs to all of us. And we won't win without you. As the American Heart Association calls on you to act over the next several weeks, we urge you to stand with the 80 million Americans currently living with cardiovascular disease and those at risk.

Thank you in advance for standing with us.

My Supermodels Unlimited Magazine cover and article

From the AMA

Congress is closer than ever to passing a health system reform bill, and we can't lose this opportunity for real health reform. However, members of the AMA's Patients' Action Network and doctors from around the country--in states like Florida, Nebraska, Colorado, Texas and Missouri--are all concerned about how this legislation will affect your access to your doctor.

In the U.S. Senate, the health reform bill that's been proposed would use Medicare as a foundation--and that foundation is crumbling because of an archaic payment system already in place. This system is scheduled to cut Medicare physician payments by more than 20 percent Jan. 1, 2010, with repeated annual cuts coming after that.

These annual cuts are a huge problem for patients--and for many families--because they will prevent doctors from taking on new Medicare patients, discourage many from investing in new health technology and make some think about closing their medical practices altogether.

Right now, the Senate is promoting another one-year Band-Aid for this problem, which means that we’ll be dealing with an even bigger problem next year.

Watch doctors from around the country discuss the reality of what this means for you and your family, then call Sen. Blanche Lambert Lincoln (D) and Sen. Mark Lunsford Pryor (D) at (888) 434-6200 or e-mail them here.

From Senator Blanche Lincoln

This Week in Washington: Senate Finance Committee Begins Debate on Health Care Reform Legislation

Rising health care costs are unsustainable and a growing burden on our families, businesses, and economy. That’s why health care reform is critical for our nation’s future economic security.

This week, the Senate Finance Committee has taken a significant step by beginning the democratic process of considering the initial health care reform bill. Several of my amendments have been included in the legislation, which continues to be a work in progress.

I continue to work with my colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee to craft a fiscally responsible product that reins in rising health care costs, provides stability to those who like their current health care coverage, and provides better options for those in need of affordable coverage. Throughout this process, it has been my goal to ensure health insurance reform works for small businesses and the self-employed so that they have quality health care options, just like federal employees.

Watch portions of my opening statement before the Senate Finance Committee by clicking on the YouTube icon below.

With Arkansas Pride,
Blanche Lincoln

Emceeing Humane Society Fashion Show

I had such a wonderful time emceeing the Humane Society Benefit Fall Fashion Show! There were so many wonderful pieces shown, and over a thousand dollars raised for the Humane Society. And no, I do NOT use notes when I speak. I am reading the list of sponsors for the evening. The community came out en masse for this event, and the list of sponsors was literally a page long! Congrats to Adam, Abby and Rick for an amazing and successful event. Thank you for allowing me to be part of it.

Heart attack rates drop after smoking bans, continue downward over time

DALLAS, Sept. 21, 2009 — One year after passing smoking bans, communities in North America and Europe had 17 percent fewer heart attacks compared to communities without smoking restrictions, and the number of heart attacks kept decreasing with time, according to a report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

The report is a meta-analysis of 13 studies in which researchers examined changes in heart attack rates after smoking bans were enacted in communities in the United States, Canada and Europe.  The researchers found that heart attack rates started to drop immediately following implementation of the law, reaching 17 percent after one year, then continuing to decline over time, with about a 36 percent drop three years after enacting the restrictions.

“While we obviously won’t bring heart attack rates to zero, these findings give us evidence that in the short- to medium-term, smoking bans will prevent a lot of heart attacks,” said James M. Lightwood, Ph.D., co-author of the study and assistant adjunct professor in the department of clinical pharmacy at the University of California–San Francisco.  “The studies on this issue now have long enough follow-up periods so that we can see exactly how big the effect is.” 

Lightwood also noted that the community effect is consistent with probable individual risk and exposure scenarios.

For example, according to the American Heart Association’s Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics 2009 Update, non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke at home or at work have a 25 percent to 30 percent increased risk of developing heart disease.  This new research suggests that the individual increased risk may be higher, said Lightwood.

“This study adds to the already strong evidence that secondhand smoke causes heart attacks, and that passing 100 percent smoke-free laws in all workplaces and public places is something we can do to protect the public,” Lightwood said.  “Now we have a better understanding of how you can predict what will happen if you impose a smoking-free law.” 

David Goff, M.D., Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Prevention and Professor of Public Health Sciences and Internal Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC, and an American Heart Association national spokesperson said the paper provides strong support for the contention that smoke free laws will improve public health.  “This is good evidence that the benefits are realistic and consistent with reasonable estimates of the harm imposed by secondhand smoke,” Goff said. 

“It is important to move forward now with widespread implementation of smoke-free laws,” he added.  “At a time of great concern over the financial sustainability of our healthcare system, smoke free laws represent an inexpensive approach to reducing heart attacks, and, probably, other cardiovascular conditions.”

Stanton Glantz, Ph.D., co-authored the study.  Author disclosures are on the manuscript.

The National Cancer Institute funded the study.

Lung Cancer Advocates in the News

Each year, the Partnership hosts an Advocacy Summit - a two-day conference where lung cancer advocates gather to learn about how to raise awareness in their communities, how to engage the media and other grassroots advocacy strategies.

Congratulations to Kathryn Joosten and Montessa Lee, two Advocacy Summit alumni, for using the skills they learned at the Summit to get national press coverage for their stories.


Kathryn Joosten, two-time Emmy winner for her role as Mrs. McCluskey on ABC's Desperate Housewives, recently found out she once again has lung cancer. After eight years cancer-free, she was surprised by this new diagnosis.

Instead of just taking the news, though, Ms. Joosten took it on. To try to combat the stigma associated with the disease, she has told her story to People Magazine and E! Online, where she was profiled on Ted Casablanca's blog, The Awful Truth.

Kathryn Joosten


Montessa Lee was only 28 when she was diagnosed with lung cancer. It took several visits to her doctors to get them to realize what she had. They never considered a young woman who had never smoked could possibly have this disease. She tells her story for all to know in the October issue of SELF, as well as on the SELF Magazine website.

Our deepest thanks to Ms. Joosten and Ms. Lee for sharing their stories so broadly to raise awareness of this disease!

Montessa Lee

One email Can Help Women with Heart Disease

One E-mail Can Help Women with Heart Disease
Did you know that today, a woman can be charged health insurance premiums 150% higher than a man of the same age?

Unfortunately, it’s true. Studies have found that women pay significantly higher premiums than men of the same age for individual health insurance policies providing identical coverage. And these higher health care costs can put coverage out of reach for women with heart disease and even for women who are taking preventative measures to reduce their risk. And in most states, those with a pre-existing medical condition as common as high blood pressure can be denied coverage altogether or charged unaffordable premiums.

That’s why we’re calling on you, as a member of the Go Red for Women movement, to make your voice heard and join us in letting Congress know that the fight against our Nation’s No. 1 killer of women requires urgent action on health care reform.

On September 30th, American Heart Association advocates will be on Capitol Hill to discuss the challenges they face as heart disease survivors in affording health care coverage -- and they need your help to make their message impossible to ignore. Email your Members of Congress today and let them know women with heart disease need their support in reforming the broken health care system

So much to do, so little time to blog!

First, I must apologize.  I was just certain that upon giving up my title I would have copious amounts of free time.  How wrong I was!  Things are indeed steamrolling along, and sadly my blog has taken more than a back-seat.  It has been located somewhere in the vicinity of the trunk of my "car" of life, wedged somewhere under the floor mat between the spare tire and the first aid kit.  You get the idea, I'm sure.

My work with the AHA continues strong.  The third week of August I was asked by Monica Flores, national cause director of Go Red for Women to help author the Best Practices document for the AHA and International pageant system.  We worked to put into place a plan of action that will help the new state and national titleholders continue the partnership with the AHA I was so honored to work toward.  This document will be disseminated to all the state affiliate offices, encouraging them to use the International titleholders at not only Go Red events, but also You're the Cure events, in PSA televised announcements, and a myriad of other AHA events.  The idea is to broaden the impact of the International pageant group for the AHA, and gain more publicity for both groups.  Luckily, the new Mrs. titleholder lives within 10 minutes of the Dallas offices, where the Go Red movement is housed. This should certainly facilitate a smooth transition and open up ease of action for both programs.  I'm so honored to get to continue my work on behalf of both of these amazing organizations.

On a personal level, I'm thrilled to report that dads forth set of scans came back clear!  We are now at one year from his completion of chemotherapy.  This has been both the longest and shortest year of my life-strange how that can be truth.  We pray for his continued strength and protection from a return of any form of the disease.

I've returned to the "real world" of work, which is stressful but refreshing.  I've also been asked to join our local Junior Auxiliary, and am excited about the opportunity.  It gives me the chance to give back and serve at the community level, which is wonderful.  I'm in my provisional year, and will earn full membership after serving 36 hours.  I think I can do that!

The AHA season is getting geared up again after the summer hiatus, so stay tuned for more updates.  We're going strong-Heart Strong!!