WILMINGTON, Del.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation’s Connections for Cardiovascular HealthSM program today announced grants to two nonprofit organizations dedicated to improving cardiovascular health in the northeast region of the U.S., totaling $422,894.
The organizations receiving the grants are Christiana Care Health System in Wilmington, Del. and The Food Trust in Philadelphia, Pa. Over the last three years, these organizations have received $771,377 in grants.
Heart disease accounts for 25 percent of deaths in Pennsylvania and 23 percent of deaths in Delaware, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.1
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 communities across the United States. 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.
“Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States, and organizations like these two 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 these organizations for their commitment to improving heart health in their communities.”
The Connections for Cardiovascular HealthSM grant awardees are:
Christiana Care Health System in Wilmington, Del; $213,094: 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. This is the third consecutive year in which Christiana Care has received a grant from the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation, totaling $561,577.
The Food Trust in Philadelphia, Pa; $209,800: The Healthy Corner Store Network Heart Smarts program will develop new prevention-based services in low-income Philadelphia neighborhoods as part of The Food Trust’s Healthy Corner Store Initiative, with the goal of reducing modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The program seeks to accomplish this through a corner store-based education focused on good nutrition and healthy behaviors, increased access to affordable, nutritious food, new policy measures to curb tobacco use, and the piloting of an innovative model to integrate free health screenings in healthy corner stores with a health referral process for at-risk adults. This is the first year The Food Trust has received a grant from the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation.
Organizations can learn more and apply online for a Connections for Cardiovascular HealthSM grant at www.astrazeneca-us.com/foundation. Applications must be submitted online no later than 5 p.m. EST on Feb. 27, 2014.
About AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation
Established in 1993, the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation is a Delaware not-for-profit corporation and a 501(c)(3) entity organized for charitable purposes, including to promote public awareness of healthcare issues, to promote public education of medical knowledge, and to support or contribute to charitable and qualified exempt organizations consistent with its charitable purpose. Connections for Cardiovascular HealthSM was launched in 2010 through a charitable contribution of $25 million from AstraZeneca.
1 Murphy, S.L., Xu, J., & Kochanek, K.D. Deaths: Final data for 2010. National vital statistics reports; vol 61 no 4, 85-86. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2013.
