American Heart Association

Michigan

Help us ensure everyone in Michigan has the opportunity to live longer, healthier lives.

Slow Cooker Vegetable Turkey Soup

Garden vegetables and beans add color and flavor to this hearty comfort food. Prepare the ingredients in the morning or the night before, let them slow cook all day, and at dinnertime all that's left to do is ladle the soup into bowls.

Make this recipe!

Check out our other recipes

Kalamazoo man’s wife saves her husband using hands-only CPR

Jeff Brazda woke up to a room full of people in the hospital and had no idea why he was there. With loved ones looking on, Jeff was awake and alert. He was alive. The last thing he remembers was stepping off the pickleball court. Jeff, 63, suffered Ventricular fibrillation, which is considered the most serious abnormal heart rhythm. Thanks to his beloved bystanders, Jeff survived. His wife Kathleen remembers watching the two lifesaving steps to hands-only CPR in videos like those posted on the American Heart Association’s YouTube channel. First, Kathleen pointed to a friend and said to “call 9-1-1.” Then she jumped in with two hands in the center of the chest and pushed hard and fast at 100-120 beats a minute. Within four minutes, the first responder, a local police officer arrived on scene to assist. With the help of the American Heart Association, Jeff, is helping ensure everyone has the opportunity to live longer, healthier lives.

In Your Community

For more than 40 years, Advocacy has had a mission-critical role in the American Heart Association's work. Our legislative and regulatory priorities help to mitigate risk factors and protect survivors in communities across the country. We support the enactment of evidence-based public policies that lead to longer, healthier lives.

Public policy advocacy is an essential strategy used by the Association to affect necessary and sustainable policy, system and environmental changes that help Michigan citizens build healthier lives free of cardiovascular disease and stroke.

Our efforts in Michigan and its communities are focused on the following policy areas: Tobacco and Vaping, Access to Care, Healthy Eating, and Hypertension Prevention and Control.

The American Heart Association is committed to driving equitable health impact in Michigan through five key priority areas: women, readiness, tobacco and vaping, patients, and healthy living. Equity is always at the center of our work, and it will continue to guide all that we do.

Through our focus on these key impact areas, and with collaboration among local organizations, sponsors, businesses, and others that serve the community, we are working to improve the health and well-being of Michigan citizens while saving and improving countless lives.

Throughout the state of Michigan, we’ve seen our community impact work grow, including efforts around creating avenues for greater access to care, expanding healthy food access and education, building a network of first responders through CPR kits in schools, supporting blood pressure screenings and education, and educating on the dangers of tobacco and vaping.

People are counting on us as never before. We at the American Heart Association, along with our supporters, will drive change, and we will be relentless. Thank you for your continued support.

The American Heart Association - Michigan is looking to form a strong group of event volunteers in the Detroit, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, and Grand Rapids areas. If you have a passion for our life saving mission and are looking to get involved, please fill out the form to tell us more about yourself. We’d love to have you on our volunteer team!

Board Chair
Sharon Gipson, CPA
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

Board President
Brian J. O’Neil, MD, FACEP, FAHA
Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center

Members

Amy Acs
Adient

Deborah Greenman
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.

Dr. Phillip Levy, MD, MPH, FAHA
Wayne State University

Dr. Pamela Marcovitz, MD
William Beaumont Hospital Health System

Stefanie Roberts Newman
Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital

Kristy Sidlar
The Mom Project

Paula Silver
DTE Energy

Andrew Wasiniak
Buildings Group-Detroit

Board Chair
Carlos Cubia
Corewell Health

Board President
Kate Veenstra, DNP, MSN, RN, CNL, CMSRN, NEA-BC
UofM Health-West

Leadership Development Chair
India Manns
Community Leader

Giving Society Chair
Paul Jaeckle
Meijer

MEMBERS

Matthew Bates
Parker Hannifin

Tasha Blackmon
Cherry Health

Tyler Crawford
Frey Foundation

Katie Golomb
Mercantile Bank of MI

Michael Hebreard
Black Diamond Group Inc.

Karen Kennedy, MD
Optum Health

Maureen Kirkwood
Health Net of West Michigan

Melissa Meitz
Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital

Laura Moody
Community Leader

Juan Olivarez
JRO Consulting, LLC

Chuck Osterink
MVP Sports Clubs

Michelle Peña, MSN, RN, NEA-BC
Trinity Health

Amy Stahley, PhD, MSN-Ed, RN
Davenport College

Kirstyn Wade
Grand Rapids Public Schools

Tom Welch
Fifth Third Bank

Krischa Winright
Medicare Advantage / BCBSM

President

Mary Boylan, MD
President
St. Luke's Regional Heart & Vascular Center

Chair

Joseph Haas
SVP of Private Wealth
Associated Bank

Members

Heather Baker, EdD
Principal
Dorothy Simon Elementary School/Winnebago CUSD #323

Tasha Blackmon
President & CEO
Cherry Health

Kim Bors
Senior Vice President
Chief Human Resources Officer
Dover Corporation

Mercedes Carnethon, PhD
Vice Chair, Department of Preventive Medicine and Mary Harris Thompson Professor of Medicine
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Gyasi Chisley
Managing Director
Head of Corporate Healthcare
PNC Bank

Monte Curnutt
Vice President, Corporate Development
Roche Diagnostics

Eileen Robertson Hamra
CEO
Fit Together, LLC

Karen Harbin
President & CEO
Commonwealth Credit Union

Delores Hargrove-Young
Vice Chairwoman
d.e. Foxx & Associates, Inc.

Linda Imonti
Managing Partner
KMPG LLP
Retired

Joshua J. Joseph, MD
Associate Professor of Internal Medicine
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

Cathy O’Malley Kearney, JD
Executive Vice President
Head of Institutional Services
KeyBank

Devray Kirkland
Vice President
Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer
Cardinal Health

Brett Kissela, MD, MS
Executive Vice-Dean
Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Research
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Chief of Research Services
UC Health

Sharon Langshur
Research Project Coordinator
Northwestern Medicine

Karen Larimer, PhD ACNP-BC, FAHA, FPCNA
Director Clinical and Research Operations
Cardiosense

Keith Miller, MD, PhD, FACC
Cardiologist
Bryan Health

John Mongelluzzo
Managing Partner
Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP

Howard O’Brien
Associate
Howard & O’Brien Executive Search

Karen Rieck
Vice President, Human Resources
Farm Bureau Financial Services

Lee Shapiro, JD
Managing Partner
7wire Ventures

John Walsh, DSc, MBA, FACHE
Louisville, Kentucky

Michigan

Michigan Lawmakers Approve Funding for AHA Priorities

Cardiac Emergency Response Plans in MI Schools

Washtenaw County Physical Health Initiative

Slow Cooker Vegetable Turkey Soup

Kalamazoo man’s wife saves her husband using hands-only CPR

New Moms Face the Highest Risk

Events in Your Area

Grand Rapids Heart Ball

Detroit Heart Walk

Ann Arbor Heart Ball

Grand Rapids Heart Walk

In Your Community

President

Chair

Members

Contact Us

Southeast Michigan

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Kalamazoo, Michigan

Heart and Stroke News

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