WILMINGTON, Del.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation’s Connections for Cardiovascular HealthSM program is awarding grants totaling $413,599 to two nonprofit organizations dedicated to improving cardiovascular health.
The organizations receiving the grants are Saint Agnes Hospital Foundation, Inc. in Baltimore, Md; and Sundance Research Institute in Bethesda, Md. Over the last three years, these organizations have received nearly $1.1 million in grants.
Heart disease accounts for 25 percent of all deaths in Maryland and 22 percent of all deaths in Wyoming, where the Sundance Research Institute program promotes heart health, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.1
Since 2010, the Connections for Cardiovascular HealthSM program has awarded more than $17 million in grants to 43 organizations nationwide. More than 40,000 people have participated in a variety of programs funded through Connections for Cardiovascular HealthSM and, as a result, are making healthier food choices and exercising more. They are reducing their body mass index, lowering their blood pressure and hemoglobin A1C levels and learning more about nutrition and how to lower their cardiovascular risk factors.
“The Connections for Cardiovascular HealthSM program works to identify innovative, community-based approaches to reducing cardiovascular disease,” said Michael Miller, MD, FACC, FAHA, AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation trustee. “We are proud to support Saint Agnes Hospital Foundation and Sundance Research Institute to improve cardiovascular health at the local level.”
The Connections for Cardiovascular HealthSM grant awardees are:
Saint Agnes Hospital Foundation, Inc. in Baltimore, Md; $215,647: “Heart-to-Heart” aims to empower its faith-based partners to effectively reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in communities with severe healthcare disparities. Through an evidence-based CVD intervention program, St. Agnes is reaching African American women at high risk of CVD, providing screenings and assessments and establishing systems such as support networks, peer community health workers and resource development that will ultimately make “Heart-to-Heart” self-sustaining within the community. This is the third consecutive year in which the Saint Agnes Hospital Foundation has received a grant from the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation, for a total of $657,736.
Sundance Research Institute in Bethesda, Md; $197,952: “Honoring Your Heart on the Wind River Indian Reservation” aims to build on and expand a coordinated clinical-community health education program to increase cardiovascular health knowledge and reduce cardiovascular disease risk factors among American Indian adults and families with children through a two-part program consisting of classes offered concurrently with a 12-week Lifestyle Balance Program focusing on physical activity and healthy diet. This is the second consecutive year Sundance has received a grant from the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation, totaling $436,852.
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. 26, 2015.
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 Deaths: Final data for 2012. National vital statistics reports; vol 63 no. 9. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2014.
