The AHA applauds several efforts and seeks support for others that help women, particularly women of color, including:
• HEART for Women Act: A new federal law designed to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart disease and stroke in women.
• WISEWOMAN, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention program that provides cardiovascular screening and lifestyle intervention services to low-income uninsured and underinsured women.
• Medicare and Medicaid, both of which disproportionately serve women.
• Affordable Care Act, which includes provisions to ban the discriminatory practice of charging women higher premiums than men for insurance coverage.
• Health Equity and Accountability Act, federal legislation to help eliminate health inequities among minorities, women and other groups.
• Public funding and state appropriations that support eliminating health disparities initiatives.
With careful monitoring, especially of pregnant women with heart disease, the outlook is promising, Volgman said.
“There are hundreds of women that come to the Rush Heart Center for Women and ask me to help them deal with their risks,” Volgman told the magazine. “Some have required gastric bypass surgery as a last resort to deal with their weight problems. Most just needed to be told they have to be more active and eat a healthier diet. Some have required angioplasties, stents, open-heart surgeries, catheter ablations, pacemakers and defibrillators. But all of them just needed to know their doctor was helping them get healthier and live a better quality of life. They just needed someone who cared for them.”
Are you interested in learning more about how heart disease impacts African-American women? Are you looking for resources for African-American women to improve their heart health?
WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease presents African-American Women and Heart Disease – What You Need to Know
What: African-American Women and Heart Disease – What You Need to Know, a national patient education webinar
When: Tuesday, February 26, 6:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. CT/4:00 p.m. MT/3:00 p.m. PT
Featured Presenter: Nakela Cook, MD, MPH, clinical medical officer, Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
How: Register today!
Share this invitation with patients, family, friends & co-workers!
