Vermont

Eat Well, Play More Vermont is taking on childhood obesity in Vermont.  The American Heart Association is a leading member of this newly-formed coalition funded by the Y of the USA and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to focus on policy efforts to reduce childhood obesity.  Our vision – Vermont is a state where all children can eat healthy food and are physically active every day. Eat Well, Play More Vermont will focus on:

• Improving nutrition in school, out-of-school, and early care and education settings
• Increasing physical activity in school, out-of-school, and early care and education settings
• Increasing access to high-quality, affordable foods through pricing strategies and availability in retail outlets

What do you think? Have policy ideas? Post your ideas and let us know.

The American Heart Association and the Vermont Department of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) have launched the HEARTsafe  Program,  a community-based effort designed to improve the odds of survival for people suffering sudden cardiac arrest events.  Residents and visitors will know they have entered a HEARTsafe Community by road signage denoting the city or town's HEARTsafe status.

 Congratulations to Stowe Rescue, Bennington Rescue and Calex Ambulance who have been leaders in this effort, working over the past year to become HEARTsafe. Please encourage communities in your district to contact the AHA at tina.zuk@heart.org and join this important effort to save lives. 

May is American Stroke Month.

Every 40 seconds someone has a stroke and every four minutes someone dies of a stroke. But stroke is largely preventable, treatable, and beatable with your help.

The American Heart Association is working to improve acute stroke care in Vermont. Together with the Vermont Department of Health and the Vermont Stroke Work Group we’re working to get Vermont hospitals to implement recommendations for a quality stroke system of care. 

As a way to be a part of Stroke Month and build momentum please click here to tell legislators about this new stroke project.

 And take a minute yourself to learn a F.A.S.T. way to remember stroke warnings signs and the need to act quickly.

F-Face Drooping

A-Arm Weakness

S-Speech Difficulty

T-Time to Call 9-1-1  

It’s a scary number that leads to even scarier disease and death. But the good news is that we have a proven solution.  Kids are particular vulnerable to price increases.  By raising the state cigarette tax by just .80 cents we can prevent kids from a lifetime of addiction.  And the good news gets even better. If we use the money raised by the increase on proven public health measures like health care access, cessation, prevention and education programs we can save even more lives. It’s a simple and proven solution.   Click here to take action today! 

 Let us know what you think by replying to this blog? Is 80 cents worth it?

I am so lucky. Everyday I get to work with the best volunteers and staff in the world.  Together we are able to help make our families and our communities more heart healthy and stroke-free. I want to make sure you know how thankful all of the AHA staff is for you and all of your actions.  Every time you click a take action link in an email,  you make a phone call to an elected official, tell a friend about You're the Cure, or visit this new website, You're the Cure!  All of your actions, along with the actions of your fellow You're the Cure members, make the real difference in our fight for healthy communities.

On Thanksgiving, I hope you have time to relax and enjoy the holiday with your loved ones. And please remember how thankful the AHA is for you each and everyday of the year.

Exciting?  Yes!  Ambitious?  You, bet!  Attainable?  Absolutely! The AHA & the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation are proud to announce a new collaboration aimed at reversing the childhood obesity epidemic in the U.S. by 2015.  And we’ll need your help!  Learn more http://bit.ly/QJ8gmk   What do you think?

Right now, nearly 27% of Vermont kids are overweight. Providing them with more options for physical acticity and limiting their consumption of sugary drinks can help them to be healthier.  Let your legislators know that you want them to make fighting obesity a priority to help our kids and keep health care spending down. The AHA is supporting legislation that will allow communities to easily use school property after hours for recreational purposes and increasing the price of  sugary drinks to deter kids and others from drinking them.

The Vermont Low Income Advocacy Council just gave their support for an excise tax on sugary drinks in Vermont to deter people from drinking them and provide funding for an obesity education campaign and provide funding for health care and healthy fruits and vegetables for low income Vermonters!

The American Heart Association recommends limiting the consumption of sugar-added drinks to no more than 36 ounces a week. A 20-ounce bottle of soda has 16 teaspoons of sugar, and many Americans don't stop at one. In fact, sugar-sweetened beverage consumption has more than doubled over the last 30 years --  with the average American now drinking 45 gallons annually!

 It's not surprising obesity has also increased.  Sugar sweetened beverages account for at least one-fifth of the weight gained between 1977 and 2007 in the U.S. population.  For kids, each extra can or glass of SSB consumed per day increases their chance of becoming obese by 60%.

And Vermont's not immune. More than 1/2  of our adults and 1/4 of our kids are overweight or obese.

Help reduce sugar sweetened beverage consumption. Make a better choice. Water is healthy and free!

Over 58% of Vermont adults and nearly 27% of our kids are overweight or obese.  Obesity is costing Vermont $183 million/year in Medicare and Medicaid expenses.  

The lack of physical activity and poor nutrition are a leading contributor to the obesity epidemic.  It's time to act.

School facilities, especially those that are centered in the community, can be an excellent resource for recreation and exercise where there is limited availability or private options are too expensive.
Research has shown that people who have parks or recreational facilities nearby exercise 38% more than those who do not have easy access.

The American Heart Association is supporting legislation to encourage schoolsto make school property available to community members outside the school day for non-school recreational activities by providing them with greater protection from liability.

Urge your legislators to give schools this important tool!

Hi, my name is David Day and I am the Vice President of Government Relations for the American Heart Association’s “Founders” Affiliate.  The photo you see here is of me participating in the New England "Tough Mudder" race at Mt. Snow, Vermont earlier this past spring.  I wanted to share this with you to show that I believe that in addition to being an Advocate it is important that I lead through example and that I show what I can do to personally live a healthier life.
In my role I have the privilege of working with a great team of staff and volunteers from CT, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, RI and VT in promoting our public policy efforts to help all Americans achieve better cardiovascular health. From time to time I will be joining our Government Relations Directors and our volunteer leaders in posting information here that will help you be an even stronger voice in the fight against Heart Disease and Stroke and from time to time I will also share stories about how I am trying to lead by example – remember You’re the Cure!