By contacting our lawmakers through legislative visits, attending lobby days, sending e-mails, and your phone calls, we can achieve our goals and make Missouri a healthier place to live in 2010. If you haven't already, please sign up for You're The Cure!
How Heart Disease and Stroke Touch All Americans
2010-2011 Missouri Public Policy Legislative Priorities
Tobacco Control
• Local Smoke-free Laws- At the local level, work with health partners and community coalitions to pass comprehensive smoke-free workplace laws. Currently, 8 communities are working towards smoke-free workplace laws in 2010/2011. To date, 18 Missouri communities have passed smoke-free laws. Our goal is to protect an additional 290,000 Missouri residents from exposure to secondhand smoke.
• Protect & Secure Additional Funding for State Tobacco Prevention & Cessation Programs- Missouri has an adult smoking rate at 24.9%. In 2009, we received $1 million for youth tobacco prevention, in addition to $200,000 (previously in the core) for a media literacy youth tobacco prevention program. In 2010, we helped secure $3.2 Million for a cessation program that assisted Medicaid patients who were pregnant. We want to re-establish the prevention fund, and help increase the coverage of the cessation fund to cover ALL Medicaid recipients. Long term goal is for these programs to meet the CDC’s standards for our state.
Statewide STEMI and Stroke Systems of Care
• Advocate for the Regulation of a State Time Critical Diagnosis System of Care for STEMI and Stroke patients – Through the regulatory process, work to ensure that the proposed Time Critical Diagnosis Regulations incorporate key components as recommended by the AHA into the STEMI System of Care Plan (TCDS) and the Stroke System of Care Plan (TCDS) through working with our health partners and lobbying legislators and key stakeholders throughout the regulatory process.
Obesity Prevention
• Promote the Passage of A Farm to School Bill- we’re working with the Missouri Council for Activity & Nutrition & the Dept. of Agriculture to create and promote a statewide Farm to School Program that would enable local Missouri Farmers the ability to provide Missouri Public Schools with fresh fruits and vegetables grown by Missouri Farmers. This would help support Missouri Farmers and provide students with a healthier food option.
Acute Cardiovascular Care
• CPR in Schools-High School Graduation Requirement- Advocate that AHA CPR training, which has been developed using nationally recognized, evidence-based guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and incorporates psychomotor skills to support the instruction, be a high school graduation requirement for Missouri students.
• Encourage Access and Use of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) – Champion public policy initiatives that promote the purchasing and placement of AEDs for first responders and targeted responders in high-risk locations.
2009 - 2010 Missouri Legislative Successes
- Missouri helped to encourage the use of AEDs by passing immunity legislation. Those acting in good faith in an emergency are immune from civil damages. The law also protects the owners of the AEDs.
- In working towards improving physical education among students statewide, a new law increases physical activity for all elementary school students. All school districts must implement a minimum of 150 minutes of physical activity a week. The law also requires elementary schools to have recess daily. At the middle school level, districts are encouraged to implement at least 225 minutes of physical
activity per week for students. - In tobacco prevention funding news, Missouri appropriated $1.2 million to prevent and reduce tobacco use. A media literacy youth tobacco prevention program will receive $200,000 of this funding.
BLOG With Us in Missouri!
Across the Midwest Affiliate, we engage advocates on our state blogs. Each blog provides an exclusive, current information source for You’re the Cure advocates and others who want to join the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association in the fight against heart disease and stroke. Keep up-to-date on state policy issues, check out what is going on in the media and let us know what you are doing as a You’re the Cure advocate!
Visit heartofmissouri.blogspot.com
Join our page “You’re the Cure: Midwest Clicks for Hearts” at www.facebook.com/heartofthemidwest
Make sure all your friends and family know you care about advocating for heart issues on Facebook! Our facebook page has posts from all the states in our affiliate and highlights successes and opportunities in advocacy for heart and stroke issues. (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, SD, WI)
As more communities pass smoke-free workplace laws, smoke-free coalitions are starting to form in cities near you. Each day more and more findings are showing that secondhand smoke is deadly. Below are some ways you can get involved!
- Contact your local city council and urge them to take action to protect the citizens in their community by passing a clean indoor air ordinance.
- Get involved with a local clean indoor air coalition.
- Write letters to your local newspaper about the benefits of being smoke-free and for businesses to go smoke-free.
- Contact your American Heart Association to find out what’s going on in your area.
- Websites that offer clean air news and opportunities for the community to get involved are listed below:
Clean Air Kansas City
Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights
Tobacco Free Kids
breathe easy Missouri
| Jace Smith Director of State Advocacy, Missouri 913-652-1993 | Christy Dreiling Regional Grassroots Advocacy Director - Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri (913) 652-1918 |
