Let’s face it your health matters. Your health is the one thing you can’t be without. Being healthy is not somethings to be taken lightly or for granted. Once you lose your health is nearly impossible to get it back. We have to look at health not as just an individual thing but as a community effort. According to the American Heart Association, individual behaviors aren’t the only factors that affect health. Community environments also play a determining role in health outcomes. In fact, people living just five miles can have a difference in life expectancy of more than 20 years.

 

The American Heart Association is hosting the EmPOWERED To Serve Summit, October 17-18 at Galludet University in Washington, D.C. During the summit, the Association and it alliances are convening to discuss community transformation and the root causes that impact social determinants of health, and engaging unconventional partners to drive creative solutions for collaborative health impact. They will discuss

  • Community transformation and the root causes that impact social determinants of health
  • Why and how your zip code many increase your risk of stroke, high blood pressure and other types of heart disease.
  • Engaging unconventional partners to drive creative solutions for collaborative health impact.

Nearly half of all non-Hispanic black adults have some form of cardiovascular disease, 47.7 percent of females and 46.0 percent of males. Hispanics (and African-Americans) with high blood pressure are less likely Caucasians to get their condition under control, according to January 2017 research published in the Association’s Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes journal.

On October 17th, as a part of the summit, 10 finalists from the Association’s EmPOWERED To Serve Urban Business Storytelling Competition, which launched online on August 18, will resent to a panel of judges, innovative, clearly defined urban business solutions to address barriers to sustainable healthy living.

The 10 finalists have been selected from 128 submissions. These winners will be chosen to implement their plans in their selected community and will receive financial awards ranging from 10,000-30,000 to implement their plans.

The American Heart Association through its EmPOWERED To Serve movement, which exists to improve health within multicultural communities, is working in communities and joining with partners to address key factors that impact health: economic stability, education, societal influences, neighborhoods and healthcare.

For more information about EmPOWERED To Serve and the summit, visit empoweredtoserve.org

This is a sponsored post by American Heart Association. All opinions expressed are my own.