Take The Million Hearts Pledge to Prevent Heart Attacks and Strokes
02/08/2012
by
Joseph
I'm going to present you with four eye-opening facts about heart attack and stroke.
Fact: 800,000 Americans are killed by heart disease every year. Fact: 107.3 millions Americans (nearly 50% of the US population) 20 years of age and older have at least one heart disease risk factor. Fact: the direct and overall costs of heart disease stands at $717 billion each year. Fact: working together, we can do something to bring these numbers down.
Partnering With Million Hearts
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which operates within the Department of Health and Human Services, has asked Living Fit, Healthy and Happy to join them in their goal to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes over the next five years.
They intend to implement this goal through the Million Hearts initiative. This initiative brings together federal, state and private organizations to increase public awareness about the dangers of cardiovascular disease.
Million Hearts intends to prevent stroke and heart disease by:
- Improving access to effective care.
- Improving the quality of care of the ABCS (aspirin for high risk patients, blood pressure control, cholesterol management, and smoking cessation).
- Focusing clinical attention on the prevention of heart attack and stroke.
- Activating the public to lead a heart-healthy lifestyle.
- Improving the prescription and adherence to appropriate medications for the ABCS.
Without a doubt cardiovascular disease and stroke effects tens of millions of Americans in terms of health, productivity and quality of life. Medical research provides us with evidence that these diseases are largely preventable. Millions of lives can be saved by changing lifestyle habits.
Stroke, for example, which claims the lives of 140,00 Americans each year, is often triggered by diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and smoking (read my article "What You Need To Know About Stroke Symptoms" to learn more).
According to the CDC, cardiovascular disease kills one American every 39 seconds. In addition to that, 68 million Americans have been diagnosed with high blood pressure and another 71 million have been diagnosed with high cholesterol (read my article "Cardiovascular Disease Leading Cause of Death For Americans: CDC" to learn more).
Each of the above mentioned heart disease and stroke risk factors can be managed by regular medical check ups, healthy nutrition, exercise and avoidance of smoking and other bad habits.
A Simple Pledge To Lead A Healthy Lifestyle
That's where Million Hearts comes in. The Department of Health and Human Services is asking Americans to take a pledge to make heart healthy choices.
To make the pledge click on the link to Million Hearts.
By making the pledge, you're promising to take better care of yourself rather than becoming another victim of heart disease or stroke.
When Ogilvy Public Relations contacted me on behalf of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, asking for my help to spread the word about Million Hearts, I was told that I could receive a prize from the CDC. But that's just a side benefit.
As a heath and wellness website, it's the responsibility of Living Fit, Healthy and Happy(SM) to educate the public about ways to lead a healthy lifestyle, and the government's plan to reduce the number of heart attacks and strokes by one million over the course of the next five years is a good one, and this website stands behind it.
So take the pledge and make a change for the better.
Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life such that anyone who believes in Him and dies shall be resurrected to eternal life, and anyone who believes in Him and has not died by the time He returns shall never die. He asked if we belive this. We do. Do you?
**Spread the word!! Use Twitter, Facebook, Stumbleupon and the other social media tools located in the sidebar and bottom of this article to tell others about the Million Hearts initiative.**
I'm living fit, healthy and happy(SM). Are you?
Article Sources
Million Hearts: Strategies to Reduce the Prevalence of Leading Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors --- United States, 2011. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6036a4.htm?s_cid=mm6036a4_w
Frieden, T.R., and Berwick, D.M. The "Million Hearts" Initiative - Preventing Heart Attacks and Strokes. N Engl J Med 2011; 365: e27
"Take The Million Hearts Pledge To Prevent Heart Attacks And Strokes" copyright 2012 Living Fit, Healthy and Happy(SM). All Rights Reserved.
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