Throughout the year, our blog will feature AHA volunteer stories of survival and hope. We know there are thousands of stories like these - thats why we want to say “Thanks” to all of you for giving your time and sharing your lives with us. You can’t spell CURE without U! Thank you for all you do to build healthier lives free of cardiovascular disease and stroke. YOU’RE THE CURE!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

It’s Crunch Time for Childhood Obesity…Reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act This Year!

Today, our nation’s kids are struggling to maintain healthy lifestyles, complete with proper nutrition and physical activity. But through the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, Congress can be part of the solution. But we need your help to get the job done on the Child Nutrition Act this year and ensure that the final bill includes:

• Increased funding for the school meal programs to help improve nutrition standards;

• Restrictions on the junk food sold in cafeterias, snack shops, and vending machines (H.R.1324/S.934);

• Guidelines to strengthen local wellness policies that establish the nutrition and physical activity goals of school districts (H.R. 5090 and S.3126).

Take 3 important steps to ensure our nation's kids have healthier options in the cafeterias:

1. Follow the link below to send a message to your legislator:

Reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act

2. Click on the image below to open, print, and fill out our "lunch tray petition" and fax it to your U.S. Representative and U.S. Senators today!

*Not sure who your legislators are or where to fax your message? No problem! Click "My Profile" when you log in to http://www.yourethecure.org/ , which lists your legislators contact information including their picture. You can also click on "Information Resources" to find other elected officials in your area.

*Don't forget to tell us that you sent your message by RSVP-ing here.

3. Tell Your Friends and Family to Take Action!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Legislative Update: PE Bill Signed by Governor Pawlenty and More!

Legislative Update from American Heart Association Senior Advocacy Director, Rachel Callanan:

Great News!!!! Today, Governor Tim Pawlenty signed the Healthy Kids/PE Bill into law. This makes 3 for 3 this year in policy victories for American Heart Association!

Thank Your Legislators for Passing the Healthy Kids/PE Bill

The 2010 legislative session was a real roller coaster ride. American Heart Association thanks YOU for toughing it out and seeing these important policy victories through to the end! Thanks to your in-person visits, letters, emails, and phone calls we were able to make significant headway in preventing heart disease and stroke. Here are the victories that you helped achieve in 2010:

1. The Healthy Kids/PE Bill passed the House 121-7 and the Senate unanimously supported the bill. The new law will ensure more kids are provided quality physical education by enacting statewide standards. The bill also asks that the Minnesota Department of Education track the phy ed classes offered at schools around the state and asks them to make recommendations for how to use recess time to encourage more physical activity so that kids can get their recommended 60 minutes/day. The bill promotes transparency and promotes a discussion about these issues by creating a Healthy Kids Awards program that will recognize schools for promoting physical activity and better school nutrition. Finally, federally required school wellness policies will now be posted online so that all parents can monitor and participate in the implementation of their school's wellness plans. Follow the link below to thank your legislators for passing the Healthy Kids/PE Bill into law:

Thank Your Legislators for Passing the Healthy Kids/PE Bill

2. Tobacco Modernization and Compliance Act (aka Tic Tac Tobacco Act) will ensure that the new dissolvable tobacco products that are candy flavored and resemble mints and breath strips are taxed and regulated as tobacco products; require all tobacco products to be sold behind the counter and ensure youth do not have easy access to these products; and prevent the sale of new tobacco products and e-cigarettes to youth. These changes will help ensure that this generation of kids are not exposed to these new products and will have a direct impact on tobacco use among kids.

3. Complete Streets Policy. "Complete Streets" means that our roads are planned and designed to be safe and accessible for drivers, pedestrians, transit riders, and bicyclists--all users, regardless of age or ability. American Heart Association supported this bill because one of the key barriers to physical activity is the lack of access to safe walking/biking routes. This new law remedies the problem by involving stakeholders to help Mn/DOT implement Complete Streets; by addressing the existing barriers in relevant laws and regulations; it directs Mn/DOT to report back to the legislature on work to implement Complete Streets; and provide immediate design flexibility for local communities interested in implementing Complete Streets. The law encourages (but does not require) local governments to consider Complete Streets policies.

Additionally, American Heart Association and our public health partners successfully fended off proposed cuts to the Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP). The program will continue full steam ahead over the next year to reduce obesity and tobacco use in local communities across the state.

I thank each of you for taking the time to contact legislators about these important issues during the legislative session. These victories will have long-lasting effects on preventing heart disease and stroke.


Sincerely,







Rachel Callanan
Senior Advocacy Director

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Urgent Action Needed: 12 Days Left for Governor Pawlenty to Sign PE Bill

The governor has up to 14 days to sign a bill from the date it was presented to him. As you know, our PE Bill passed 2 days ago and was presented to Governor Pawlenty on May 18th. So it's Day 2 of the countdown. Without his signature, the bill will not become law!

So we need YOUR help more than ever to urge the Governor to sign our PE bill into law! Help us urge Governor Pawlenty to sign our bill into law!

Follow the link below to ask Governor Pawlenty to sign our Healthy Kids/PE Bill:
Sign the Healthy Kids Bill

The Healthy Kids/PE bill includes:
-Statewide PE standards that will be phased in by school districts as they do their curriculum review;
-Posting school wellness policies on school district web sites to promote local discussion about healthier schools;
-Direction to MN Dept. of Ed. to develop quality recess guidelines that schools may adopt;
-Direction to MN Dept. of Ed. to begin tracking the amount and quality of PE offered in the schools;
-The creation of a Healthy Kids Awards program that would encourage schools to help their kids get the recommended 60 minutes/day of physical activity and recommended servings of fruits and vegetables.

Sign the Healthy Kids Bill

Thank you for your support on this important health issue.

Monday, May 17, 2010

PE Bill Passes; Headed to Governor's Desk to be Signed!

It is my pleasure to announce that we passed our PE Bill with 5 minutes to spare at the close of legislative session late last night!!! The Healthy Kids/PE legislation is a HUGE win for the state of Minnesota and it is because of YOU that we were able to pass it! Thank you to all of you for taking action over the years in support of this important bill! Your countless letters of support, e-mails, phone calls, and visits with your legislators were vital in helping us pass PE standards in Minnesota!

Now, we have one more step to take before we fully celebrate this victory. Help us urge Governor Pawlenty to sign our bill into law!

Follow the link below to ask Governor Pawlenty to sign our Healthy Kids/PE Bill:
Sign the Healthy Kids Bill

The Healthy Kids/PE bill includes:
-Statewide PE standards that will be phased in by school districts as they do their curriculum review;
-Posting school wellness policies on school district web sites to promote local discussion about healthier schools;
-Direction to MN Dept. of Ed. to develop quality recess guidelines that schools may adopt;
-Direction to MN Dept. of Ed. to begin tracking the amount and quality of PE offered in the schools;
-The creation of a Healthy Kids Awards program that would encourage schools to help their kids get the recommended 60 minutes/day of physical activity and recommended servings of fruits and vegetables.

Sign the Healthy Kids Bill

Thank you for your support on this important health issue.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Is PE an Rx for ABCs?

From left: Anna Shenehon, 9, Nicey Hardin, 9, and Melissa Peck, 9, try out the climbing wall during a physical education class at Meadowbrook Elementary. Meadowbrook is one of several schools in the metro area seeking to improve academic performance through increased physical activity.

In the struggle to teach students to read, Jack Olwell may seem an unlikely role model. He's a teacher, yes, but his subject?

Physical education.

Yet Olwell has drawn praise for his efforts to boost test scores at North Trail Elementary in Farmington. A program he started has taken students behind in reading or math and put them in the gym the first thing in the morning, right before they head to classes in those subjects.

The idea is that exercise helps kids learn -- and it's not just Olwell who believes this. A growing body of research links physical activity and academic performance, according to a report released last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

That's why Olwell had students racing around the gym before math lessons this winter, why third-graders did jumping-jack exercises on stability balls during a break this week in Golden Valley, and why kids at a St. Paul school ran twice a day during testing in April.

The report is ammo for PE teachers who have long fought the notion that their classes are expendable. Despite campaigns against childhood obesity, many schools have cut back on gym time because of tight budgets, competition from other subjects or pressure to prepare for high-stakes tests.

"Some schools have reduced the time required for physical education in the mistaken belief that having children spend more time in the classroom and less time in the gym will lead to improved scores on standardized tests," said Mary Thissen-Milder of the Minnesota Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.

In fact, the CDC's review of 50 studies found "substantial evidence" that physical activity can help with academics. Maintaining or adding time for PE does not appear to hurt -- and may help.

Meadowbrook Elementary in Golden Valley is also trying to apply the lessons of such research. There, kids get regular "brain breaks" to stretch or run around outside. In some classes, they sit on stability balls instead of chairs, punctuating their work with an occasional bounce.

On Monday, fourth-graders in the gym rushed to the climbing wall when they weren't counting push-ups or being weighed as part of fitness assessments.

Last fall, the school doubled the time that fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders spent in PE. But that plan hit a snag: Classroom teachers found they could no longer cram in all the other lessons they needed to teach. Midway into the year, the older students went back to having PE twice a week, while the fourth-graders dropped from four to three 30-minute sessions.

The school's teachers all know that PE is important, "but they just couldn't fit in all of the things they needed to be teaching," said principal Greta Evans-Becker. "On the other hand, when [students] have the extra phy-ed time, you don't need to spend as much time getting them to focus on what they're doing" in class.





'Desperate measures'

The National Association for Sport and Physical Education recommends 150 minutes per week of physical education for elementary students, and 225 for older ones.

In Minnesota, the PE time students actually get varies widely, with some schools teaching only a short lesson every other week, Thissen-Milder said.

PE hasn't been a state graduation requirement since 2003, and "since then, the programming has really begun to shift," she said.

Schools still must provide PE every year in grades K-8 and at least once in high school, but how much is a local decision. The consensus is that PE time has decreased, Thissen-Milder said.

Minnesota is one of three states that lack statewide standards for PE, she said, but legislation on the move this spring would change that.

In Farmington, Olwell started Literacy and Math PE classes after the school board made cuts to PE several years ago. "Desperate times call for desperate measures," he said.

Determined to prove "that physical education has academic relevance," he asked his principal if he could do an experiment: He'd take the fifth-graders who were reading below grade level, give them an extra 15 minutes of PE every morning for a few months, and see if he could catch them up.

Olwell wove reading lessons into activities such as tag, sometimes requiring kids to spell words as they played. Then the kids went to regular reading classes.

When the students sat for standardized tests that winter, their gains in reading exceeded both the national and district averages for fifth-graders.

They also outpaced peers reading below grade level at other Farmington schools.

Olwell is quick to add that he can't prove his students improved as a result of the lessons, and said test gains were not as striking -- though still good -- after the Math PE class he taught this winter.

Active all day long

Of course, the gym isn't the only place students can be active. "Physical education is great and needed, but it's another piece of the puzzle," said Cara McNulty, director of the Office of Statewide Health Improvement.

McNulty's office oversees grants aimed to improve Minnesotans' health. Many communities that have gotten funding are spending some of the money on increasing physical activity during the school day.

At Jackson Elementary in St. Paul, students run two-fifths of a mile every day, said principal Patrick Bryan. It's part of a fight against childhood obesity and diabetes, but he also believes the extra activity shows on state tests. During testing in April, the kids run twice a day.

"We know that all of our kids are better focused, better attuned and better able to sustain their concentration for the duration of these long tests in reading and math," he said.

Find this article at http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/93641299.html?page=3&c=y

Friday, May 7, 2010

Local view: Minnesota’s smoking laws need to be updated

By passing a comprehensive, smoke-free law, Minnesota took a giant step toward protecting residents from secondhand smoke in all workplaces and enclosed public spaces.
By: Dr. Mary J. Boylan, Duluth News Tribune

By passing a comprehensive, smoke-free law, Minnesota took a giant step toward protecting residents from secondhand smoke in all workplaces and enclosed public spaces.

But the tobacco industry has found new ways to grow its business and to put health at risk. The industry continues to thrive through clever marketing, by exploiting legal loopholes and by introducing new products. These tobacco products are particularly appealing to youth because they are very inexpensive and come in a variety of candy and fruit flavors and are widely available.

Minnesota laws need to keep pace with these new tobacco threats. Smokeless tobacco products such as Snus come in pouches that don’t require spitting. Camel has introduced a line of smokeless tobacco orbs, sticks and strips, which are finely milled tobacco and look like toothpicks, mints or breath strips. They dissolve in your mouth and are packaged to look like a container of breath mints or a small cell phone. These products are discreet, addictive and attract young customers.

This new line of tobacco products may look harmless, but it is not. Smokeless tobacco is linked to oral cancers, gum disease, addiction and heart disease. Even a single tobacco orb the size of a breath mint contains enough nicotine to sicken a small child. The strong product marketing has led to 13.4 percent of high school boys and

2.3 percent of high school girls using smokeless tobacco, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Unfortunately, state laws and regulations were crafted for a 20th-century industry and already are outdated and failing to protect young people from these 21st-century products. The scariest part is that current Minnesota law does not restrict kids from buying these sticks, strips or orbs.

Thankfully, the Tobacco Modernization and Compliance Act of 2010 has worked its way through the Minnesota Legislature and hopefully will be signed by the governor soon. Supported by leading Minnesota health organizations, this bill would expand the definition of tobacco products to cover any type of product made from tobacco and intended for human consumption. The bill also would require all tobacco products to be sold behind the counter, ensuring youth do not have easy access.

I strongly urge the governor to sign this critical legislation into law. It is a common-sense solution to the growing problem of new smokeless tobacco products. It will keep pace with the tobacco industry’s efforts to increase its profits at the expense of our children’s health. And it is the first step necessary to protect our kids from the harms of tobacco use.

Now is the time to act and continue to focus on the harmful nature of tobacco products. This is a public-health priority. The Tobacco Modernization and Compliance Act of 2010 will bring state laws into the 21st century.

Dr. Mary J. Boylan of St. Luke’s Cardiothoracic Surgery Associates in Duluth is a member of the Midwest Affiliate Board of the American Heart Association.

Find this article at http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/167983/group/Opinion/

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Great News! Tobacco Bill Heads to the Governor's Desk

All your hard work, phone calls and emails over the past few months have paid off! The Tobacco Modernization and Compliance Act of 2010 passed both the House and the Senate and is headed to the Governor's desk.

Please contact the Governor and urge him to sign this bill by following the link below:

Ask Governor Pawlenty to Sign Our Bill!

One simple signature will significantly reduce youth access to tobacco products.

The Tobacco Industry hasn't given up. Neither will we.

The American Heart Association and other tobacco control advocates support the Tobacco Modernization and Compliance Act of 2010 (Senate File 3055/House File 3467), a bill that will:

-Expand the definition of tobacco products to include any product that contains tobacco and is intended for human consumption. This change ensures that the new dissolvable tobacco products that are candy flavored and resemble mints and breath strips are taxed and regulated as tobacco products.

-Require all tobacco products to be sold behind the counter and ensure youth do not have easy access to these products.

-Prevent the sale of new tobacco products and e-cigarettes to youth.

Just click on the link below to send your message now:

Ask Governor Pawlenty to Sign Our Bill!

Thank you for your support on this important health issue.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Don't Forget to Take Action: Tobacco Bill on House Floor TODAY!

As you may have heard, the Tobacco Modernization and Compliance Act of 2010 passed the Senate last Wednesday by a vote of 63-4! Though slightly amended, the bill still accomplishes our goal of restricting youth access to new dissolvable tobacco products like Sticks, Strips and Orbs. THANK YOU to all who took action and contacted your Senator!

We expect the amended bill will be up in the House for a vote TODAY! Don't forget to follow the link below to contact your Representative:

Support the Tobacco Modernization and Compliance Act in the House

The Tobacco Industry hasn't given up. Neither will we. The American Heart Association and other tobacco control advocates support the Tobacco Modernization and Compliance Act of 2010 (Senate File 3055/House File 3467), a bill that will:

-Expand the definition of tobacco products to include any product that contains tobacco and is intended for human consumption. This change ensures that the new dissolvable tobacco products that are candy flavored and resemble mints and breath strips are taxed and regulated as tobacco products.

-Require all tobacco products to be sold behind the counter and ensure youth do not have easy access to these products.

-Prevent the sale of new tobacco products and e-cigarettes to youth.

Just click on the link below to send your message now:

Support the Tobacco Modernization and Compliance Act in the House

Thank you for your support on this important health issue.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

May is Stroke Month - Learn about Power to End Stroke

Click on the image above or visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEO45N_BAW8 to learn about the American Stroke Association and the Power to End Stroke campaign.

Stroke is the #3 killer of Americans and leading cause of long-term disability; Power to End Stroke initiative raises awareness of increased stroke risk among minorities

Monday, May 3, 2010 – May is American Stroke Month, a special opportunity to focus on the risks and warning signs associated with stroke, the third leading cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of long-term disability. More than 700,000 people suffer a stroke each year – that’s one person every 45 seconds.

About Stroke:
Stroke is not inevitable and it does not have to be debilitating or deadly. By knowing your risks, controlling your risk factors, and working with your doctor to eliminate or manage your risks, you may prevent stroke. By knowing the warning signs and seeking prompt medical attention, rehabilitation and survival are possible – even probable.

To help prevent a stroke, the American Stroke Association recommends maintaining a healthy weight through diet and physical activity, controlling high blood pressure and cholesterol, refraining from smoking, avoiding exposure to second-hand smoke, and treating disorders that increase the risk of stroke.

About the Power to End Stroke Campaign:
In addition to their increased likelihood of suffering a stroke, African Americans are more likely to be affected by stroke at an earlier age, often facing disability during the prime of life. Power to End Stroke is an educational and awareness campaign designed to embrace and celebrate the culture, energy, creativity and lifestyles of African Americans. It unites African Americans to help make an impact on the high incidence of stroke within the community.

To accomplish this, the campaign encourages the public to reduce their individual risks for stroke, to recognize the signs of stroke, to respond quickly if faced with stroke-like symptoms, and to take the pledge to get personally involved in spreading the word.

About Stroke Warning Signs:
It is important for the public to recognize the signs and symptoms of stroke. Although the following is a summary, not all of these signs occur in every attack. If an individual notices one or more of these signs, the American Stroke Association encourages them to seek medical attention by calling 9-1-1 immediately.

• Sudden weakness or numbness of the face, arm or leg on one side of the body.
• Sudden dimness or loss of vision, particularly in one eye.
• Loss of speech, or trouble talking or understanding speech.
• Sudden, severe headaches with no apparent cause.
• Unexplained dizziness, unsteadiness or sudden falls, especially along with any of the previous symptoms.

For More Information:
To learn more about American Stroke Month or the American Stroke Association and its lifesaving mission, please call 1-888-4STROKE or log on to http://www.strokeassociation.org/

About the American Stroke Association
Created in 1997 as a division of the American Heart Association, the American Stroke Association works to improve stroke prevention, diagnosis and treatment to save lives from stroke — America’s No. 3 killer and a leading cause of serious disability. To do this, the association funds scientific research, helps people better understand and avoid stroke, encourages government support, guides healthcare professionals, and provides information to stroke survivors and their caregivers to enhance their quality of life. To learn more, call 1-888-4STROKE or visit www.strokeassociation.org