FOR YOUR HEALTH: A Tool To Save Lives

(NAPSI)—Heart disease is a leading cause of death for all Americans, but the death rate is higher for African American men and African American women of all ages than for whites.

To help community health workers in African American communities teach others about heart disease prevention, The Heart Truth®, a program of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, recently released a new resource, “With Every Heartbeat Is Life,” that provides culturally tailored information about heart health. It is a resource for community health workers to use when holding educational sessions on heart disease in their own communities. It has culturally relevant information, such as heart-healthy modifications of traditional recipes, to make the manual particularly useful and meaningful in African American communities.

Heart-health experts developed the toolkit to help community health workers teach the course and engage participants using idea starters and picture cards to generate conversations. The curriculum discusses heart disease risk factors and prevention, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, diabetes, alcohol consumption, weight management, sleep, physical activity, stress, and not smoking. The resource provides practical tips, such as eating healthy even when money is tight, and how to act in time to respond to heart attack signs.

Learn More For more information go to hearttruth.gov.