FOOD INSECURITY
Cooking with Heart Mobile Kitchen.
With a grant provided by Lift a Life, Simple Cooking with Heart
Mobile Kitchen is designed to teach cooking competence and confi-
dence. The program’s primary goal is the empowerment of families
to change their health for the positive by choosing to eat nutritious,
delicious and affordable meals they cook at home. The Simple
Cooking with Heart Mobile Kitchen provides “hands on” cooking
classes which teach everyday cooking skills, increase knowledge of
nutrition, and build confidence of participants to prepare healthy
meals many times over.
The Simple Cooking program plans to leverage expertise of
local partners to implement at sites throughout the city, such as
Smoketown Family Wellness Center, Fresh Stop Markets, Louisville
Grows and more.
CHECK. CHANGE. CONTROL.
“Check. Change. Control.” was designed to eliminate the disparity of
high blood pressure among our city’s residents. It’s an evidence-based
hypertension management program which uses blood pressure
self-monitoring to empower participants to take ownership of their
cardiovascular health. The program incorporates the concepts of
remote monitoring, online tracking and recruitment of local vol-
unteer health mentors to encourage participants. The first step of
managing your blood pressure is monitoring it on a regular basis.
This initiative is a four-month program which uses the online
tracker and enables participants to check their blood pressure twice
a month. The educational program focuses on simple changes you
can make to improve your overall health.
TARGET: BP/YMCA
The AHA has a strong history of collaboration, and now we have
combined forces with the American Medical Association (AMA)
and the National YMCA to deliver a blood pressure control program
known as “Target: BP” to eight cities. Along with Atlanta, St. Louis,
Lexington, Nashville, Memphis, Jacksonville and Tulsa, Louisville
will serve as a growth center for this exciting partnership. Presently,
we have nine Family Health Centers engaged in this initiative and
seeking providers.
Target: BP provides access to supporting materials including fact
sheets, podcasts and videos to help patients and physicians under-
stand and use the evidence-based best practices and standardized
processes of the M.A.P. framework: measure accurately, act rapidly
and partner with patients, families and communities.
In our test cities, the YMCA enables community engagement
by delivering their Blood Pressure Self-Monitoring Program, while
the AHA simultaneously engages clinicians by offering access to the
latest research and resources to meet and sustain blood pressure
goal rates within patient populations. By collaborating, we are
systematically developing a model for improving blood pressure
control that includes identifying individuals with high blood pres-
sure, connecting them to treatment (both clinic and community),
promoting home and community-based self-management, and
facilitating communication among patients and community-based
providers. Our end goal is for insured patients in each city to have
a blood pressure control rate above 70 percent.
Participants who come to two scheduled sessions with the YMCA
in the first month will receive a free three-month family membership
at the YMCA facilities.
Our efforts continue to result in extraordinarily positive impact
by focusing on health equity and empowering individuals and com-
munities to live longer, healthier lives. If you would like to learn
more about any of our programs including how you can get involved,
contact our Community Impact Director at [email protected].
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
» » Implement Target: BP in your clinical setting
» » Join the Target Blood Pressure Symposium Planning Committee
» » Implement Check. Change. Control. in your clinical setting
» » Implement a Mobile Kitchen in an underserved community
or host one at your site
» » Encourage your worksite to participate in the Workplace Well-
ness Index
Dawn Wigginton is the Communications Director for the American
Heart Association’s Louisville branch.
Tracy Monks is the Community Impact Director for the AHA Louisville
branch.
Target: BP is a nationwide initiative to address high blood pres-
sure (HBP) in the United States. Its goal is to reduce the number
of Americans who have heart attacks and strokes by supporting
physician practices and health systems in improving diagnosis and
blood pressure control rates among patients with hypertension.
NOVEMBER 2018
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