Washington

Guest Blogger: Karen Dionne, Stroke Survivor

It’s a fact, medical emergencies happen every day.  No one thinks anything bad will happen to them.  That’s human nature, right?  But if something happens to you or a loved one will you be prepared to take action immediately to save a life?

As a Go Red For Women Ambassador for the American Heart Association South Sound, I am surrounded with amazing friends, many of whom are survivors of heart disease or stroke.  Each story will captivate your attention and leave an impact on you about heart disease and stroke prevention.

One special friend and fellow Go Red For Women Ambassador comes to mind and her name is Carol Mathewson.  She is a sudden cardiac arrest survivor and is alive today because a stranger performed CPR on her after she sank during the swimming portion of a triathlon a few years ago.  Her story touched me deeply which led both my husband Michael and me to become CPR certified immediately.   Proudly she serves today as the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association Tacoma-Pierce County, WA Chapter co-chair with Angela Taylor.

When I was asked to participate in the You’re The Cure efforts in Olympia to pass the CPR in Schools bill, I was honored to do so for not only my friend, but the thousands of others who may be in need of CPR one day.  It made sense to me that all high school students should be taught this lifesaving skill before they graduate high school.

Since November 2012, I’ve made five trips to Olympia to lobby our legislators about the CPR bill.  I am a volunteer and I made it known to them that this was a bill I was passionate about and I wanted them to feel the same.  So on my sixth trip to Olympia I was so proud to watch Governor Jay Inslee sign this bill into law preparing our next generation of first responders.

Stroke is a medical emergency and time lost is brain lost.  Yet, a recent study published in the American Heart Association journal, Circulation, showed less than one-third of stroke patients arrive at the hospital via ambulance. This can mean delayed treatment and a more difficult recovery.

When you recognize the symptoms of a stroke, call 9-1-1 right away. When stroke patients are transported to the hospital via ambulance, emergency responders can call ahead to ensure the hospital is prepared to receive and quickly treat the patient. Prompt treatment is critical to ensuring positive patient outcomes.

Remember the acronym F.A.S.T. to help you recognize symptoms and what to do:

                F - Face Drooping: Does one side of the face droop or is it numb?

                A - Arm Weakness: Is one arm weak or numb?

                S - Speech Difficulty: Is speech slurred, are they unable to speak, or are they hard to understand?

                T - Time to call 911: If the person shows any of these symptoms, call 9-1-1 immediately.

Do you have a story of stroke survival? Did you recognize the symptoms? Share your stroke story here.

Learn more about the American Heart Association’s advocacy efforts to improve stroke care in every state.

Guest Blogger: Vance Lobe

On April 8 and 9, I again attended “You’re the Cure on the Hill” in Washington DC.  This was the 2^nd time that I was honored to represent AHA as a survivor and advocate for AHA. 

I am a two-time heart attack survivor and 3 years ago decided that I needed to give back to AHA for all that they have done for people like me through research and healthy living advice.

This event in Washington DC is important for all of us, as it helps our elected officials put a face to a statistic that may otherwise be just an abstract number.  This year we were given the task to ask that the funding for the National Institute of Health be again funded at the 2012 levels (before the cuts from the sequester) and I believe that myself and the other three advocates from our state made a difference talking to our elected officials about this important issue.  In addition to that, we also asked them to support an allocation of $35 million to the Million Hearts campaign (already appropriated) to support an education campaign for the 67 million of us who have high blood pressure. Here again, I think we all made a difference.

Along with the meetings that we had ‘on the hill’, the best part of this trip is the friendships we make with other advocates.  We all come from different backgrounds and have different health issues, but the recurring thing about us all is our dedication to health issues.  Most of us have been dealt some setbacks in our lives, but I can’t help but think that this is the most POSITIVE group of people I have ever met and am proud to be associated with all of them.

Guest Blogger: Ginny, Survivor

This past week I had the opportunity to join hundreds of other AHA volunteers from across the country in Washington D.C.  It's amazing how empowered you can feel when you join with other survivors, caretakers, and medical staff with the joint mission of fighting heart disease and stroke. On the first day we took a break from training to join in on a rally to support funding for medical research. We heard stories from various survivors and speeches by supporters of medical research. Needless to say, we all went crazy when a heart survivor took to the podium.

The next day we invaded the Capitol with a sea of red. Meeting with our respective representatives and senators, we were able to share our stories and ask for their support for our two initiatives: restoring funding to the NIH and supporting the Million Hearts campaign. By the end of the two days we were all left feeling empowered and hopeful. To be able to share our stories and find strength and courage from our pain is truly an amazing experience. I encourage all those reading this to find a way to do this yourself; it is the best form of medicine or therapy that you will find!

Last week at the Capitol, AHA hosted a CPR training and awareness event.  Volunteer firefighters from Olympia and Tumwater helped us offer CPR trainings to legislators and their staff.  While volunteers delivered the message that nearly 3,000 people across our state support CPR training in schools. Later that day, the Senate Education Committee heard testimony on our bill.  Everyone who testified did great and the committee reacted very positively to our bill.  Now we’re working hard to get the bill moved out of committee and onto the Senate floor for a vote!

- Lucy Asdourian, Washington Government Relations Director

The sequester has taken effect and the battle over the budget continues in Congress. Yet You’re the Cure advocates are preparing to go to Washington, DC to fight for critical heart and stroke funding. Our Western States Affiliate delegation, made up of survivors, caregivers, researchers, and physicians, represents seven of our ten states.

This tremendous group will urge legislators to restore funding to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that was recently cut by the sequester. While a 5% cut may not sound like a lot, the impact on the NIH was in fact truly significant: a 5% cut to the NIH budget equates to $1.6 billion. This cut reduced the number of grants given, cut more than 20,000 jobs nationwide and reduced economic activity by $3 billion. To repair this economic damage and to ensure the U.S. remains a leader in medical research, advocates will urge Congress to fund the NIH at $32 billion for 2014. Research remains our best hope to find more effective ways to prevent, treat and cure heart disease and stroke.

Advocates will also encourage Congress to allocate $35 million of prevention fund dollars to the Million Hearts Initiative. This will create a nationwide high blood pressure educational campaign. One in three Americans have high blood pressure but many either don’t know it or don’t have it under control. Someone with high blood pressure is four times more likely to die of a stroke and three times more likely to die of heart disease. The Million Hearts Initiative will helps Americans get this dangerous risk factor under control.

You can be a part of this important advocacy event. Send your “heart” to Washington and urge legislators to fund these lifesaving heart and stroke programs. 

- Guest Blogger, Eric Rothenberg

We know CPR saves lives. Recent studies have shown that CPR can double the survival rate from a Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA). The math is clear: When more people receive CPR, more people live. Yet only about 1/3 of the nearly 360,000 annual cardiac arrest victims receive bystander CPR. We can do better.

It is with these encouraging but sobering statistics that the AHA and a group of passionate advocates have been lobbying the Washington State Legislature (and state lawmakers nationwide) to require CPR training in our high schools. Our efforts to this point culminated with a public hearing before the House Committee on Education on February 15 to consider House Bill 1556 – “Creating initiatives in high school to save lives in the event of cardiac arrest.”

Four of us presented brief testimony to the committee: Graham Nichol, M.D., UW Medicine; Darla Varrenti, Executive Director, Nick of Time Foundation; Tori Sorenson, SCA survivor; and myself, also a survivor.

Graham laid out the clear medical case for CPR training. Darla discussed how the Nick of Time Foundation provides free CPR training (and youth heart screenings) in WA high schools each month, training up to 500 students in a day. Darla focused on the CPR training piece so she didn’t mention how Nick of Time is potentially saving lives through their free heart screenings, uncovering heart defects and abnormalities in otherwise healthy students. (Read more about their great work here and see how you can get involved.)

Tori talked about her experience as a healthy, athletic college student at Gonzaga who, without warning, dropped from SCA while playing intramural basketball. CPR and an AED saved her life. Over the past few months Tori worked on a survey of WA high schools regarding CPR and AED. Of the schools that responded, nearly 60% reported to already include some form of CPR training in school. This is a great number but we know we can do better. Should be easy enough to get the other 40% on board, right?

I told my story of playing tennis in September 2009 when, also without warning, my heart went into fibrillation from sudden cardiac arrest. I’m alive due to the fast actions of a few guys playing on nearby courts and the AED the club had purchased less than a year earlier. I also related to the committee an anecdote my teenage sons told me earlier that day: Of all the things they were taught in high school health class (yes, our school district includes CPR training in middle school and high school health), CPR is one of the things they remember and found worthwhile. I’m confident that if the time comes they would feel well prepared to jump in and perform CPR to save a life.

We throw a lot of knowledge at our high school students these days, perhaps overwhelming them with information in an attempt to prepare them for college and their next stage in life, but relatively little of the details stick beyond the semester’s final exam. High school is about preparing students for life and is full of life lessons, both in and out of the classroom. We should include a lifesaving lesson and teach all students CPR.

I’m happy to report the effort is gathering momentum and that just this week the Appropriations Subcommittee of the House Committee on Education voted unanimously to move the bill forward. That’s a unanimous vote in the full committee and a unanimous vote in the subcommittee… So if I remember my Schoolhouse Rock and How a Bill Becomes a Law I believe now it goes on to the Rules Committee and then to the House floor for a vote before the Senate takes up the issue. 

Special thanks to Lucy Asdourian, our wonderful Sr. Government Relations Director from the AHA, for providing steady guidance and working tirelessly with the legislators and members of the committee to move this bill forward.

A bipartisan group of women from the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate joined the American Heart Association on Valentine’s Day to ‘Go Red’ in support of the 43 million women who are currently living with heart disease.

Women members from the House and Senate gathered for a photo at the U.S. Capitol dressed in red to remind people across the country that heart disease is not just a “man’s disease.”  It is the number one killer of women in the United States and accounts for one out of three female deaths annually. Every minute one woman dies because of heart disease.

February is American Heart Month and it also marks the 10th anniversary of the American Heart Association’s ‘Go Red for Women’ campaign. In the last decade more than 627,000 women’s lives have been saved and awareness that heart disease is women’s number one killer has increased 23 percent.

Last week, forty volunteers and survivors descended on the Capitol for the American Heart Association’s annual Heart on the Hill Lobby Day. Volunteers spent the morning hearing from legislators and lobbyists and preparing for their meetings. Then they lobbied legislators in support of CPR in schools legislation, healthy state food purchasing and funding for tobacco prevention. In just a few short hours, YTC advocates were able to convince an additional 9 Representatives and 3 Senators to sign on as sponsors of the CPR bills before the 2:00pm deadline. CPR Anytime kits were delivered to all the legislators and the Governor! We have strong bipartisan support in the House and Senate and commitments from the Education Committee Chairs to give them hearings soon!

A huge thanks goes out to all the volunteers and staff who took time out of their lives to lobby the legislature for better heart health!

- Lucy Asdourian, Washington Government Relations Director

Guest Blogger: Christine Wooley, Advocate Leader

With the holidays in full swing, it can be a challenge to stick to your normal workout routine and stay on a healthy diet. This holiday I have been wearing a pedometer and keeping healthy food choices available to help stay fit and ward off unwanted pounds.

My goal is to walk 8,000 to 10,000 steps per day. This sounds like a lot of walking, but you will be amazed at how quickly the steps add up. Wearing a pedometer has helped me to be more aware of my daily physical activity. It’s actually been really fun to set step goals. I purchased my pedometer through my healthcare provider. You can also purchase pedometers with the AHA logo on them at the American Heart Association website, shop.heart.org

Last Saturday, knowing that I wanted to get at least 8,000 steps of walking in and having Christmas shopping to do, I parked my car outside of the downtown shopping area and walked rather than parking next to the shops. I loved periodically checking my pedometer to see how many steps were accumulating, and to my surprise ended up walking 13,580 steps.

Another thing that I have been doing to try and stay ahead of the curve, so to speak, is to have healthy snacks around the house. Our fruit bowl is full of fresh yummy fruits, and we have crunchy veggies in the refrigerator ready for snacking. The T.V. room has nuts in the shell to eat while watching our favorite holiday shows. Having to crack the shells keeps me from eating too fast.

The holiday season only comes around once a year, so don’t feel guilty about eating your favorite holiday treats. Just grab a pedometer, get your daily exercise in, eat healthy when you can, and most importantly enjoy!