AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION: THE POWER OF YOU

How your donation is making a difference

Welcome to our inaugural issue of The Power of You! Every month we will be showing you how your donations are saving lives. Without you, we wouldn't be able to fund life-saving research, educate about the importance of a healthy lifestyle or advocate for new health standards. February has been a big month for us with "National Wear Red Day®" on Feb. 5th sponsored by "Go Red for Women." But here are some other areas where your donation is making a difference.

Kelli Carlson knows the fear a parent goes through when they are told their newborn has a congenital heart defect (CHD). Her son, Will — now 10 years old — had a defective valve and a malfunction of the electrical signals of the heart. Now she participates in Little Hats, Big Hearts™ which raises awareness of CHDs in babies. Volunteers knit little red hats for newborns which are distributed at participating hospitals. And now, because of supporters like you, the program has expanded to 33 states and over 400 hospitals with 90,000 caps distributed this month.

The research that you help fund directly saves lives — from better treatment to better preventive measures. For years, the threshold for treating high blood pressure has been 140. However a new study may change the norm. Researchers found that a test group of patients whose blood pressure was reduced to 120 were 27% less likely to die of any cause. Acceptance of this new goal would mean that 16.8 million Americans may become eligible for treatment or have their treatment increased.

The Heart-Check mark: Helping people make heart healthy decisions.

Supporters like you have enabled the Heart-Check mark become the most trusted mark in groceries and restaurants. Over the past 20 years, this mark has been serving up trust when it comes to heart-healthy foods. Want to know what makes the Heart-Check mark different?

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