(gentle piano music)
- [Narrator] Since 1924, the American Heart Association
has been fighting heart disease and stroke
and helping families and communities thrive.
With 40 million volunteers and supporters,
we've contributed more than $4.6 billion
to life-saving research.
With your help, we have saved lives,
but our country still faces systemic problems
that contribute to health disparities,
things such as a person's race, gender, income,
and even zip code can impact their health.
We believe everyone, no matter who they are,
no matter where they live, work, or play,
deserves to live their healthiest life.
Our community initiatives are making a difference.
They're helping to reduce barriers
and increase equitable access to health
and quality healthcare.
We are working to impel leaders
to adopt community-driven health equity plans
that ensure progress
toward addressing today's biggest issues.
Almost 50% of Americans have high blood pressure.
This silent killer is often undetected and untreated
and it disproportionately impacts
historically excluded communities.
We meet people where they are
to help improve blood pressure care, self-monitoring,
and connect community organizations with the right tools
and resources to join these efforts.
One in every 10 Americans is at risk
for not having enough food or enough healthy food every day.
We dedicate efforts and resources
to increasing access to healthy foods
while reducing the consumption of unhealthy options
like sugary drinks.
We advance these changes via increased screening
and intervention for nutrition insecurity and clinical care,
improved nutrition policy,
such as healthier kids' meals in restaurants,
increased participation in nutrition programs,
such as school and afterschool meals,
and increased funding
for local, community-based entrepreneurs in food deserts.
Tobacco continues to kill
nearly half a million Americans every year
and an alarming one in four high school students nationwide
reported using an e-cigarette and targeted marketing
has disproportionately impacted communities of color.
We work with communities in schools to prevent youth
from starting, support individuals in quitting,
and tirelessly advocate for public policies and funding
that supports those most disproportionately impacted
by the burden of tobacco use.
Heart disease is still the number one killer of women
and women of color are at a 47% higher risk for stroke.
Our initiatives address these risks,
helping women take charge of their health.
We are focused on closing the gender and ethnicity gaps
in maternal mortality,
research representation, and science and medicine careers.
And when prevention efforts aren't enough,
everyone deserves an immediate life-saving response.
Today, where someone lives, their gender,
or the color of their skin
can greatly diminish their chances
of receiving CPR, emergency services,
and the quality health care needed to survive.
We are working to end these disparities by ensuring places
like schools and businesses require CPR training
and emergency response plans that save lives.
9-1-1 operators can provide high quality CPR instructions
when someone calls for help
and hospitals are providing the highest quality of care.
It's because of issues such as these
that improving the health and wellbeing of our communities
is essential for ourselves, for our loved ones,
for our communities,
we have one mission; to be a relentless force
for a world of longer, healthier lives.
Together, we will continue to make a difference. Join us.
(gentle music)