Tennessee

This Stroke Month, if you're a stroke survivor or caregiver, check out our Stroke Connection magazine. It brings information and inspiration right to you in in print or e-zine format. From in-depth information on conditions such as aphasia, central pain, high blood pressure and depression, to tips for daily living from healthcare professionals and other stroke survivors. Stroke Connection keeps you abreast of how to cope, how to reduce your risk of stroke and how to make the most of each day. 

The Tennessee General Assembly adjourned on Friday, April 19. Thank you to You're the Cure advocates who contacted lawmakers in support of our issues, signed letters to the editor, and much more!

Although we didn’t have a specific agenda this legislative session, we made great strides in several of our priority areas and we are looking forward to a robust agenda in 2014.

• Governor’s Health and Wellness Initiative: This initiative is intended to evaluate and promote adoption of health and wellness programs and to promote sustained local initiatives; leverage private contributions and foundation support to develop sustained local initiatives; and perform research, education, awareness, measurement, and reporting on the initiative.
• 95 County Anti-tobacco Initiative: This initiative includes both primary prevention, which is to help folks not to begin using tobacco products, and secondary prevention, which is to help tobacco users cease tobacco use. It is designed to prevent child and adolescent tobacco use, reducing the long-term cost of related illnesses; reduce exposure to second-hand smoke; and eliminate smoking during pregnancy and cessation of smoking by adults.
• Decreases sales tax on food: The sales tax rate was reduced on food by a quarter of a cent, from 5.25% to 5%
• Community Gardens: Produce raised in community gardens can now be sold. Previously, vegetables, herbs, fruit, or flowers grown in community gardens were not legal for resale in the State of Tennessee

Again, thank you for your help! Together, we can continue to improve heart health in Tennessee.

Governor Bill Haslam made his long-awaited decision on expanding Medicaid on March 27^th, where he announced that he would not expand Medicaid coverage now, but perhaps later, under the right circumstances.  The governor made the much anticipated announcement in an address to a joint session of the Tennessee General Assembly.  The governor said he would not recommend Tennessee move toward accepting billions of federal dollars made available for expanding TennCare under the Affordable Care Act.  Instead he offered what he called the “Tennessee Plan”, a hybrid plan similar to what has been proposed in Arkansas, who chose to use the federal funds to purchase private insurance plans for eligible recipients. 

 Nationally, the American Heart Association has come out in favor of expanding Medicaid to improve health care for low-income families and individuals.  In Tennessee, the expansion of Medicaid would mean more than 181,000 low-income Tennesseans would be provided the security of quality health coverage in the first year.  It is still unclear as to what impact Governor Haslam’s decision will have in its current form.

On March 13^th, the Tennessee Obesity Taskforce and the American Heart Association held its 2013 Day on the Hill activities. 
 
This year we had well over 60 people attend and those volunteers took part in 43 scheduled one-on-one meetings with their legislators.  It was a great day and I have had a lot of positive feedback about the meetings that were held with legislators.  We would like to say THANK YOU to each of you who made time out of their busy day to attend, and for those who weren’t able to, there’s always next year!  To see the issues we discussed with our lawmakers, please visit this link: http://www.heart.org/idc/groups/heart-public/@wcm/@gsa/documents/downloadable/ucm_450456.pdf

Today is the 10^th National Wear Red Day. In honor of the day, Go Red for Women asks that women Go Red across the country in new and bold ways. Go Red by wearing red, raising funds for research and standing with women in their fight against their No. 1 killer – heart disease. Let’s turn America Red to shine a spotlight on heart disease in women.

So, how are you going red today? Let us know in the comment section below.

On January 1, a new state law went into effect mandating that children will be screened at birth for Critical Congenital Heart Defects (CCHD). 

The Tennessee government relations staff worked extensively with the Tennessee Department of Health and Senate sponsor, Doug Overbey, himself diagnosed with a CCHD, to ensure doctors can detect CCHD early and provide immediate care that will reduce their future heart complications and extend their lives.

Congenital heart disease is responsible for more deaths in the first year of life than any other birth defects.  Although few newborns in Tennessee have heart defects, they can be fatal if not treated.

A pulse oximeter is a non-evasive device which uses a light emitter with infrared LEDs that shines through a reasonably translucent site with good blood flow.  It is usually attached to the infant’s foots of the palm of the hand. The procedure allows medical professionals to evaluate any potential problems with CCHD.

Read the news story here from NewsChannel5.com.

According to a recent study by the The Food Trust, nearly 1 million Tennessee residents, including more than 200,000 children, live in food deserts. Research indicates that people who live in communities without a supermarket suffer from disproportionately high rates of obesity, diabetes and other diet-related health problems. This situation is pressing; Tennessee spends an estimated $3.6 billion each year treating obesity-related diseases. Providing Tennesseans with greater access to nutritious, affordable food will help alleviate these public health concerns.

That's why the American Heart Association partnered with over 50 public and private sector groups to form the Tennessee Grocery Access Task Force. The task force developed ten recommendations for state and local public policies that will improve the availability of affordable and nutritious food in underserved areas through the development of supermarkets and other healthy food stores. They released their recommendation in a report, "Stimulating Supermarket Development in Tennessee", on November 19, 2012. 

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, we’d like to thank you, as a You’re the Cure advocate, for educating your lawmakers and others on many important heart and stroke issues. Our turkeys are holding signs for key issues that we’re thankful you supported. We did leave one sign blank just for you! Leave a comment below and tell us what your turkey is thankful for this year.

On Tuesday, October 23^rd, the American Heart Association held a news conference with government, community, and faith leaders to kick off “Faith United to End Childhood Obesity”, a campaign to end childhood obesity in Tennessee.  Faith United is part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Campaign and encourages faith leaders to promote healthier lifestyles in their congregations and communities through improved practices and policies.

Faith United can make a positive difference in our state.  Right now in Tennessee, 36.5% of children between the ages of 10 and 17 are overweight or obese.  Of students in grades 9^th through 12^th, 18% are overweight while another 17% are obese.  If we can teach children to make healthy decisions at an early age, we can decrease adult obesity rates and in turn help Tennesseans lead healthier lives—free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke.

Because of the work of the American Heart Association, our volunteers, and our partner coalition groups, Tennessee is used as a model for campaigns all over the country that require their community to collaborate with non-profits to bring significant improvements in the overall health of their state.  Research is showing this works, too.  A study conducted at East Tennessee State University found that the percent of school-aged children who are overweight or obese decreased almost 2% from 2007-2009 thanks to Coordinated School Health, a strategy actively supported by the American Heart Association and partner organizations to improve students’ health and learning in schools.

Click here to read the press release about the “Faith United” kick off.

Hello Tenessee Advocates,

Here's the latest update from Rick Casebeer, our Government Relations Director, about the work going on across your state.

Healthy Vending in Memphis

On September 18, a conference call took place to discuss the Healthy Vending initiative in Shelby County/Memphis.  The initiative is being undertaken by the Shelby County Department of Health and Healthy Memphis Common Table.  We had a very good discussion with Dr. Robinson and others on the call with him updating us on the effort and with us offering any assistance that we can offer as an organization going forward.  We left the dialog open for future discussion as we described that our (AHA’s) vending standards are still being developed and are awaiting scientific outcomes.  

If you're interested in healthy vending, check out some of the stories that have been published on this topic:

• Healthy snack options added to Shelby County vending machines: http://wreg.com/2012/09/25/healthy-snack-options-added-to-shelby-county-vending-machines/
• "Shelby County Facilities Get Healthy Vending Options": http://www.memphisflyer.com/NewsBlog/archives/2012/09/26/shelby-county-facilities-get-healthy-vending-options

Advocacy Sub-Committee Conference Call

During the advocacy subcommittee conference call on September 24, 2012.  The committee agreed that the following policy priorities would be the focus of the efforts going into the upcoming Tennessee General Assembly, which begins January 8, 2013.

• Food Deserts/Access to Fresh Foods
• Procurement/Healthy Vending
• Support of Coordinated School Health Program Funding