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February is heart month, and Michele Skalicky caught up with Stephen Hall, spokesman for the local chapter of the American Heart Association to talk about the organization’s new strategic goal and about an upcoming casting call to find women to be part of the Go Red for Women 2010-2011 campaign…

Ten years ago, the American Heart Association set a goal of reducing the death rates for heart disease and stroke by 25% by 2010. Stephen Hall, local Heart Association spokesman, says that goal was reached 2 years early…

"I think it is for several reasons. One of those is research is ongoing, and we are seeing unbelievable advances both in the detection and treatment of heart disease and related issues. And the other key is education. People are becoming more aware that heart disease is their number one health threat. It is the number one killer of men and women. It is the number one birth defect, and, as people begin to understand that more, they begin to make proactive choices in their life to live a heart healthy life."

Now, the association has set a new national goal: to improve the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20% while reducing deaths from cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20% by the year 2020.
Hall says the Heart Association is being more proactive by encouraging people to live heart healthy lives.
The AHA is promoting what it calls Life’s Simple 7: Don’t smoke, achieve a body mass index of lower than 25, get at least 150 minutes of physical activity each week, meet the healthy diet requirements of the association—posted online at americanheart.org—have a total cholesterol of less than 200, blood pressure of below 120/80 and a fasting blood glucose level less than 100.
Hall says it’s important to see your doctor to find out your numbers.
You can enter you numbers into on online resource called “My Life Check” at americanheart.org, and find out how heart healthy or unhealthy you are. It allows you to map out a plan for how to improve your health.
As a reminder of the importance of heart health, buildings throughout Springfield are lit up in red lights as part of Heart Month. Some businesses are providing education materials to their customers.
And the American Heart Association will hold a casting call for the 1st time in Springfield...

"We are looking for the new face of the national Go Red for Women campaign. What we're doing is we're asking women who have a personal story with heart disease whether they've been personally impacted or someone in their family has, to share their story on camera."

The casting call is this Friday (2/12) from 11 to 2 inside the Battlefield Mall just outside Macy’s. St. John’s will hold a free health screening at the Mall in conjunction with the casting call.
For KSMU News, I’m Michele Skalicky.
 

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