With the American Heart Association

February is American Heart Month, a federally designated event, and is an ideal time to remind Americans to focus on their hearts and encourage them to get their families, friends and communities involved. The first American Heart Month, which took place in February 1964, was proclaimed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on December 30, 1963.

 While American Heart Month is a federally designated month in the United States, it’s important to realize that cardiovascular disease knows no borders. Cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke, remains the leading global cause of death with more than 17.6 million deaths each year. That number is expected to rise to more than 23.6 million by 2030.

The American Heart Association of Middle Tennessee works on education, community health, engagement and more and has had several accomplishments over the past year. Here are a few highlights. Go to their website for more information on the many programs of the American Heart Association at heart.org.

• Distributed over 2,100 hand-knitted hats to 15 Middle TN hospitals who participated in Little Hats Big Hearts during Heart Month.
• Fulfilled over 120 community requests for health fairs, BP screenings, lunch & learn events, and CPR trainings.
• Partnered with 11 faith-based organizations on Go Red Sundays and Empowered To Serve.
• Partnered with metro government agencies on employee wellness through AHA Lifeís Simple 7 Journey To Health.
• Partnered with 298 schools in Middle Tennessee with the AHA Kids Heart Challenge program engaging over 15,000 students with the program and taking a heart healthy challenge.
• Celebrated National Wear Red Day with over twenty landmarks and buildings lit red to raise awareness for womenís heart health and February as Heart Month.
• As the largest not-for-profit funder of research related to cardiovascular disease and stroke outside of the federal government, the AHA is a leader in cutting-edge science with $16.6 million in active research grants in Middle Tennessee.

Heart Facts:

• Cardiovascular disease (CVD), listed as the underlying cause of death, accounted for 840,678 deaths in the US in 2016, approximately 1 of every 3 deaths.
• In 2016, Coronary Heart Disease was the leading cause (43.2%) of deaths attributable to cardiovascular disease in the US, followed by stroke (16.9%), High Blood Pressure (9.8%), Heart Failure (9.3%), diseases of the arteries (3.0%), and other cardiovascular diseases (17.7%).
• Between 2013 and 2016, 121.5 million American adults had some form of cardiovascular disease.
• Someone in the US has a stroke every 40 seconds on average.