HeartSmarts Ambassadors

 The HeartSmarts program was developed by Dr. Naa-Solo Tettey to empower  people to live heart healthy  lifestyles. Cardiovascular disease, which  includes coronary heart  disease and stroke, is the leading cause of  death in the United States.  Blacks and Hispanics in underserved  communities are at the greatest risk  for both heart disease and stroke.  The good news is that cardiovascular  disease is largely preventable.  The goal of the HeartSmarts program is  to reduce the incidence of  cardiovascular disease. 

Through “HeartSmarts” we would like to partner with  your organization to  educate the members about heart disease and its  prevention. We will do  this by training Lay Health Ambassadors, free of  charge, to lead an  education program about heart disease prevention  for your community.

Lay Health  Ambassadors play a  key role in promoting better health throughout  communities by teaching  and empowering others. We strongly believe that  this endeavor will be  greatly beneficial to all involved.
 Some of the topics that are addressed in HeartSmarts are:

• Heart Disease
 • High Blood Pressure
 • Stress Management
 • Nutrition
 • Physical Activity

Heart disease & stroke is the No. 1 killer in  women, and stroke  disproportionately affects African-Americans.  Importantly,  African-American women are less likely than Caucasian  women to be aware  that heart disease is the leading cause of death.

Diabetes,  smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol,  physical  inactivity, obesity and a family history of heart disease are  all  greatly prevalent among African-Americans and are major risk factors   for heart disease and stroke. What’s more, African-American women have   almost two times the risk of stroke than Caucasians, and more likely to   die at an earlier age when compared to women of other ethnicities.

Here are a few unsettling stats:

• Cardiovascular diseases kill nearly 50,000 African-American women annually.
• Of African-American women ages 20 and older, 49 percent have heart diseases.
• Only 1 in 5 African-American women believes she is personally at risk.
• Only 52 percent of African-American women are aware of the signs and symptoms of a heart attack.
• Only 36 percent of African-American women know that heart disease is their greatest health risk.