The AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation’s Connections for Cardiovascular HealthSM program today announced a grant of $213,094 to Christiana Care Health System to support its No Heart Left Behind program. This is the third consecutive year in which Christiana Care has received a grant from the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation, totaling $561,557.
No Heart Left Behind aims to engage teens to increase their knowledge and confidence in their ability to make healthy lifestyle changes and connect with community-based resources. The program teaches teens skills to also improve the heart health and weight management of their mothers or other important adults in their lives.
“The biggest advantage to our program is that we are reaching teenagers before they have developed unhealthy habits,” said Omar Khan, M.D., associate vice chair for Christiana Care’s Department of Family and Community Medicine and medical director for both the Eugene du Pont Preventive Medicine & Rehabilitation Institute and the Center for Community Health at Christiana Care. “Funding from the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation has helped our program not only improve the lives of teens, but of their peers and their families.”
During the last two years, the program doubled participants’ weekly exercise to four days per week from two days a week. By the program’s completion, teen participants drank five fewer sugar-sweetened drinks per week.
“The program has helped us interact with our parents more,” said Greg Graves, a graduate of the program. His brother is currently participating. “We talk about how when we eat well, we feel well. We also make grocery lists with our mother so she can be sure to add foods that we enjoy and are heart healthy.”
The program also has educated more than 3,000 adults and teens on ways to prevent heart disease through outreach activities as a result of previous funding from the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation.
“Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States, and organizations like Christiana Care Health System are creating innovative programs to help prevent and decrease the associated risks with this devastating disease,” said James W. Blasetto, M.D., MPH, FACC, chairman of the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation. “We are grateful to Christiana Care Health System for its commitment to improving heart health in their community.”
The Connections for Cardiovascular HealthSM program annually awards grants of $150,000 or more to U.S.-based nonprofit organizations dedicated to improving cardiovascular health in local communities. This year, the program awarded nearly $3.7 million in grants to 19 organizations. More than $14 million in grants have been awarded through the program since its inception in 2010.
Organizations can learn more and apply online for a Connections for Cardiovascular HealthSMgrant at www.astrazeneca-us.com/foundation. Applications must be submitted online no later than 5 p.m. EST on Feb. 27, 2014.