BALTIMORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation’s Connections for Cardiovascular HealthSM program is awarding a grant of $215,647 to Saint Agnes Hospital Foundation to support its Heart-to-Heart program, which works to improve cardiovascular health in the community. This is the third consecutive year in which Saint Agnes Hospital Foundation has received a grant from the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation, totaling $657,736.
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 Saint 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.
“Southwest Baltimore continues to have some of the highest rates of premature death due to cardiovascular disease and Saint Agnes Hospital has made it a priority not only to raise awareness about heart disease, but also to help prevent and cure it,” said Shannon Winakur, MD, director of the Saint Agnes Women’s Heart Center. “The Heart-to-Heart program allows us to extend our Women’s Heart Center, the only program of its kind in Maryland, into the community, bringing critical services and screenings to a population in need. The program has reached hundreds of women, successfully improving their cardiovascular health, and we look forward to improving even more lives this year.”
As a result of previous funding from the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation, there was significant improvement from average baseline measures to average four-month follow-up measures for 175 participants from nine different churches. Diastolic blood pressure dropped significantly from an average value of 80 to 76 mm Hg and mean arterial pressure decreased from 97 to 94 mm Hg. In addition, 100 percent of 171 women who received heart risk assessments increased their cardiovascular knowledge and knew their heart risk score for heart disease.
“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’s Heart-to-Heart program to improve cardiovascular health at the local level.”
The Connections for Cardiovascular HealthSM program annually awards grants to U.S.-based nonprofit organizations across the country. More than $2.6 million in grants to 13 organizations will be announced this year. More than $17 million in grants have been awarded through the program since its inception in 2010. In 2015, the Connections for Cardiovascular HealthSM program will award grants from $150,000 to $180,000.
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 Saint Agnes Hospital
Founded by the Daughters of Charity in 1862, Saint Agnes Hospital is a 276-bed hospital that recently completed a $200 million-plus expansion emphasizing patient safety in a high quality healthcare environment. Saint Agnes is the oldest Catholic hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and is a full-service teaching hospital with residency programs in medicine and surgery. The hospital’s key institutes include the: Cancer Institute; Cardiovascular Institute; Maryland Metabolic Institute; Orthopedic & Spine Institute; Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery; and The Bunting Health Institute for Women & Children. Saint Agnes opened the first Chest Pain Emergency Department in the world more than 30 years ago, and continues to expand and grow its Emergency Services. Learn more at www.stagnes.org or call 410-732-6542.
About Saint Agnes Hospital Foundation, Inc.
The Saint Agnes Foundation is a nonprofit corporation that raises millions of dollars annually in support of Saint Agnes HealthCare. Its focus is on the strategic expansion of the six centers of excellence, new health programs, campus expansion, supplemental education for healthcare professionals, and leading-edge medical equipment and technology.
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.