Some area organizations have kicked off a local effort to help people in the Rochester area become more heart-healthy. It's actually part of a nationwide initiative, called Million Hearts, something the federal government started to try and prevent one million heart attacks and strokes by 2017. Dr. Cynthia Reddeck-LiDestri is co-chair of the local initiative and she says getting area companies and other organizations involved in this effort is important since people spend so much of their day at work.
“We can encourage people to have healthy menus when they have meetings. We can look at vending machines and make sure there are healthy options in the vending machines; we can put in bike racks so people can bike to work.”
The effort is being led by the Center For Community Health, which is part of the U of R Medical Center. Dr. Nancy Bennett heads up the center and she says this campaign will focus on things like blood pressure control, cholesterol management and smoking cessation.
“People will come into contact with this message in other ways; they’ll come into contact with it in their churches, they’ll come into contact with it in their workplaces, they’ll come into contact with it when they speak to their pharmacists, they will hear it over and over and over again. “
Bennett notes that one out of every three deaths is caused by heart disease and stroke.
This campaign also involves trying to reach the most vulnerable populations through various community locations.
