TX

The 2013 Legislative Session is now in full swing and for the next 5 months they will determine policies and priorities for the state of Texas. This is our opportunity to make sure heart and stroke issues are properly represented.

Will you help make heart and stroke prevention a priority for all Texas decision makers? Click here to email our top priorities to lawmakers today! Here are a few of the things we will be supporting this year:

1. CPR in Schools. CPRs and AEDs save lives when a sudden cardiac event occurs. What better way to train an entire generation of lifesavers than by including a simple 30 minute CPR class into high school curriculum?

2. Newborn Heart Screening. Congenital Heart Defects are the number one cause of death for babies with birth defects. We’d like to see every baby screened with a simple non-invasive test that would improve detection of congenital heart defects.

3. Smoke-Free Workplaces. We believe everyone deserves to work in a smoke-free environment. Earning a paycheck shouldn’t come with an increased risk for heart disease and cancer.

4. Heart and Stroke Prevention. It is much cheaper to prevent disease than it is to treat it which is why we support increasing funding for prevention programs that have proven to work. Tobacco and Obesity programs have been dramatically cut in recent years and we’d like to see a renewed investment in preventing the top risk factors for heart disease and stroke.

There will be specific bills attached with all of these issues and we will keep you up to date on all them. We will also need your help contacting your elected officials in support of them throughout the year.

Please help us get off to a good start by emailing Texas lawmakers our priorities today. Click here to take action now!

Brian Bowser
Grassroots Director
 Heart Disease and Stroke. You’re the Cure.

The Texas legislative session began January 8^th 2013 and obesity prevention is one of our top priorities. At the top of the list is our hope to restore cuts that were made to PE and Health courses in Texas schools.

Help Us Restore Lost PE and Health Cuts by clicking on the link below!

http://yourethecure.org/aha/advocacy/composeletters.aspx?AlertID=31211

Lucky for us several measures have already been proposed that will do just that. Bills by Senator Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) and Representative Carol Alvarado (D-Houston) were recently filed and would restore cuts to PE and Health that were lost in 2009.

If passed these bills would simply add a half credit of PE and half credit of Health to the graduation requirement for Texas students.

While there isn’t a single solution to this statewide and national problem adding PE and Health back into school is one easy step. We believe daily physical activity should be an essential part of every student’s school day and these courses are critical to teaching kids healthy habits that can last a lifetime.

Clicking on the link above will help us get this issue on the radar of lawmakers today. Your message will also thank the bill authors for their leadership on this issue.

 Brian Bowser

Grassroots Director

Heart Disease and Stroke. You’re the Cure.