The American Heart Association (AHA) | American Stroke Association has been a Colorado Black Health Collaborative (CBHC) partner for many years. AHA’s mission is to help reduce disability and death from heart disease and stroke. CBHC collaborates with AHA on health events and activities, reaching out to the Community to inform and educate on cardiovascular health. Rebecca Levin Dubroff of the American Heart Association (AHA) shares the following article helping to ensure our Community is informed about how local governmental policies have direct (and indirect) impact on our health.
The Colorado legislature begins it’s 120-day legislative session on January 10th. This is a short amount of time with a lot to do. The buzz around Colorado is about transportation and the state-pension fund. So how do we, the AHA, as a public health organization ensure that policy is made to build healthier lives, free of cardiovascular disease and stroke? We make less obvious connections and focus on the root of problems.
One major factor in promoting heart heath is physical activity. Many people in lower socio-economic conditions are unlikely to spend their pay check on gym memberships and are more likely opt-outside for physical activity. However, it is this same population that often lives in neighborhoods lacking sidewalks and bike lanes. This creates a cycle of ongoing health disparities and the further it continues, the more difficult (and expensive) it becomes to correct. As the state focuses on ways to solve our transportation infrastructure problems it is crucial that we advocate to include multimodal (active) transportation in the discussion. By creating funding mechanisms to improve sidewalks and bike lanes we increase the opportunity for physical activity and therefore, improve cardiovascular health.
Another way to prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD) is to focus on our children and take measures to prevent obesity, a major cause of CVD. The Colorado Department of Human Services is currently updating the rules that regulate child care centers for school age children. It is important to incorporate nutrition, active play, sugary drink, and screen time standards into the state child care licensing structure to ensure our children develop healthy habits that will last a lifetime.
These are just two examples of state policy work being done to prevent cardiovascular disease and we look forward to sharing more with you in the future.
Rebecca Levin Dubroff – Director of Government Relations | American Heart Association, SouthWest Affiliate