Heart health program proposed

PROVIDENCE – A Providence legislator is proposing that Rhode Island establish a cardiovascular disease screening and lifestyle intervention pilot program for at-risk women in urban communities, modeled after a program run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC initiative, WISEWOMAN, provides chronic disease risk-factor screening, lifestyle intervention, and referral services to low-income, underinsured or uninsured women ages 40 to 64, aiming to prevent cardiovascular disease and promote healthy lifestyles.
State Rep. Joanne M. Giannini, D-Providence, has introduced a bill, H-7341, to create a similar program as a pilot in six core cities: Central Falls, Newport, Pawtucket, Providence, Woonsocket and West Warwick.
“Women who have little access to health care or information that would help them make health changes in their lifestyles are much more at risk for preventable cardiovascular health problems,” she said. “Besides the obvious health benefits for them that this program would provide, it would also save the public money, because it could prevent these women from ending up in emergency rooms and hospitals with serious and expensive health problems.”
The program would be run by the R.I. Department of Health and run through July 1, 2013. It would provide standard preventive services, including blood pressure and cholesterol testing and lifestyle programs targeting poor nutrition, physical inactivity and smoking.
The department would have to measure the pilot’s impact by recording, among other things, the number of women served, the number who received lifestyle interventions and the progress in reducing risk factors for those women. Each year, a report would be published comparing those women’s cardiovascular health to national averages.
Giannini submitted the bill on Feb. 4, the day before National Wear Red for Women Day. Many legislators wore red and participated in a “Leading Ladies of Rhode Island” program to raise awareness of the importance of cardiovascular health for women.
Cardiovascular diseases claim more women’s lives each year than the next five causes of death combined, contributing to the deaths of more than 460,000 American women each year.