North Carolina
A relentless force for longer, healthier lives in North Carolina.
More North Carolinians can get healthcare beginning December 1
For almost a decade, the American Heart Association has tirelessly championed accessible health care for all North Carolinians. On March 27, 2023, the North Carolina Legislature made history by approving Medicaid expansion, marking a remarkable bipartisan milestone. This monumental decision will extend affordable health care to hundreds of thousands. Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association, praised this crucial step and urged other states to follow suit. Starting December 1, 2023, NC Medicaid will transform the lives of over 600,000 residents, making it the most significant health care investment in decades.
Healthy For Life Training Community Cooking Demo
AHA recently hosted a Healthy for Life Train-the-Trainer session with community organizations excited to provide nutrition education to their networks. Healthy for Life is an evidence-based community nutrition and well-being program that empowers people to make healthy food, nutrition and lifestyle choices.
NC resident shares her heart story on a national stage
Stephanie Bowden, a North Carolina resident, is a part of the American Heart Association’s National 2024 Class of Real Women Survivors. From being diagnosed at 11 with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy to losing her mother to heart disease in 2022 to living her life as a survivor with her husband and hoping to start a family of her own, Stephanie dedicates her journey to helping others know that there is hope for people fighting heart disease, even when they are impacted at a young age.
Annual STEM Goes Red Event held in Raleigh
The American Heart Association hosted its annual STEM Goes Red event in Raleigh recently to bring careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics to life for young women. Over 100 local middle school girls participated in engaging breakout sessions and connected with inspiring professionals to learn about jobs across STEM fields.
Statewide health initiative set to improve chronic disease risk factors
The American Heart Association and Novant Health announce a three-year health equity initiative to reduce heart disease and stroke risk factors by improving blood pressure and nutrition security in communities spanning the Charlotte, Piedmont, Triad and Cape Fear regions.
Get the facts on high blood pressure (Video)Learning How to Save a Life in Eastern NC
The American Heart Association in Eastern NC worked with International Paper to provide Craven County schools with 5 CPR Anytime and First Aid Training Kits. These five kits have the potential to train up to 6,000 students in the life-saving skill of Hands-Only CPR.
Watch this short video to learn how to save a life todayFeatured recipe: Apple Bread Pudding
As temperatures drop, cozy up with a warm bowl of apple bread pudding. Whole-grain bread, apples, and cinnamon make a sweet dessert that's healthy, too. Serve it warm and enjoy with a glass of low-fat or fat-free milk.
Grab your favorite variety of apples and the recipe
Check out our other recipesJoin 100 Ways In 100 Days
To celebrate our 100-year anniversary, we have a gift for you! Join our FREE, exclusive program to get an email each week for the next 100 days providing you with valuable health tips on eating better, moving more, and improving overall wellbeing.
Make 2024 your best year yet! Join now.
In Your Community
The American Heart Association is committed to driving equitable health impact in North Carolina 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 North Carolina citizens while saving and improving countless lives.
Throughout the state of North Carolina, 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.
Advocacy has had a mission-critical role in the Association's work for more than 40 years. 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 American Heart Association and American Stroke Association to affect necessary and sustainable policy, system and environmental changes that help Americans build healthier lives free of cardiovascular disease and stroke.
The American Heart Association's Hair, Heart & Health program is expanding to barbershops and beauty salons in Caswell County.
For the past three years, this program has collaborated with salons and barbershops throughout the Triad, making health conversations in the barber’s chair even more possible. At participating salons and shops, staff have been trained, blood pressure checks are being encouraged, and stylists and barbers are engaging their clients with accurate, heart health information to help reduce risk factors for heart disease and stroke.
According to the American Heart Association, over half of Black adults have high blood pressure, with high blood pressure developing earlier in Black Americans and often being more severe. Black Americans also have a higher prevalence of stroke and the highest death rate from stroke. Increased prevalence of high blood pressure, increased overweight and obesity rates, and increased prevalence of diabetes, makes the focus of this awareness, education and preventative program so vital.
“Barbershops are pillars in the neighborhood and imperative to the education of our people. We encourage our neighbors to come in, sit and talk about everything related to having a healthy family,” shared Derek Brooks, Owner of Gentleman’s Grooming Lounge in Winston-Salem.
“For the past few years, I have been focused on living a more health conscious lifestyle for myself and my family. I am intentional about my heart-healthy lifestyle and share any helpful information I can to bring forth awareness. I converse with so many clients from different walks of life, but the one thing we all have in common is the desire to live a long, heart-healthy life. If any of my knowledge and experiences can help the next person, I'm ready to share it,” said Jermaine Foster, Owner of Supreme Legacy Barbershop in Winston-Salem.
For barbershops and salons in Caswell County that are interested in participating in the Hair, Heart & Health program, contact: Jennifer Graziano, Senior Community Impact Director at [email protected].
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Are you doing your part to keep the Queen City healthy? Healthy Charlotte, a popular coalition of leaders and organizations dedicated to the health and wellbeing of our city, is back in action and we need your help! Learn about the “refresh” of this important initiative and how you can get involved in improving your health and the health of your friends, family and workforce.
Chair
Gary Michel
Community Volunteer
President
Sherry Saxonhouse, M.D.
Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute, Atrium Health
Leadership Development Chair
Stacy Gray
Weisiger Group
Board Members
Sandy Charles, MD
Novant Health
Denise Coleman
Norsan Media
Le Roy Davis
Mike Desmond
Grant Thornton
Erika Duncan
Bank of America
Jamie Ergle
Cushman & Wakefield
Shaina Hall
Belk
Lynn Hansen
Crowder Constructors
Ty Jeffers
SPX Flow
David Legrand
Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools
Chuck Munn
Harris Teeter
Nancy McNelis
Amy Roberts
Jerry A. Saunders, M.D., Ph.D
Amity Medical Group
Dan Soto
Ally Financial
Raynard Washington, Ph.D.
Mecklenburg County
Angela Yochem
2022 – 2023 Campaign Chairs
Greater Charlotte Heart Challenge
Dan Soto
Ally Financial
Brian Weisker
Natural Gas Business Unit Duke Energy
Heart Of Charlotte / Heart Ball
Melany Arjona & Vicente Reynal
Ingersoll Rand
Go Red For Women
Kimberly Moore-Wright
Truist
Janice Dupre
Lowe’s Corporation, Inc.
Chairman
Vern Hawkins
Syngenta North America Crop Protection
President
Cynthia Williams Brown, Ph.D.
Winston-Salem State University
Leadership Development Chair
David Daggett
Daggett Shuler, Attorneys at Law
Board Members
Suzie Burrow
Allegacy Federal Credit Union
Alison Ashe-Card
Duke University School of Law
Debra Diz, Ph.D.
Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist,
Hypertension & Vascular Research
Ruth Fisher
Cone Health System
Sandy & Lafayette Jones
SMSi Urban Call Marketing,
SMSi Healthy Living Solutions, Inc.
Brad Roehrenbeck
Sherita Eastmon Sutton, MPH, MSW, CHESM.D., MPH
Forsyth County Department of Public Health
Iulia Vann, M.D., MPH
Guilford County
P. Kevin Williamson
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Linda Wilson, Ph.D.
Guilford County School District
2024 Campaign Chairs
Heart of the Triad / Triad Heart Ball:
Dr. James Hoekstra
Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist
High Point Medical Center
Heart Challenge Chair
Preston Hammock
Cone Health
Executives with Heart Chair
Robert Braiman
Cogent Analytics
Triad Go Red For Women Co-Chair
Mousumi M. Andersen, M.D
Novant Health
Triad Go Red For Women Co-Chair
Ashley M. Perrott, M.D.
Novant Health
Chairperson
Tiffany Gholston
Gholston Consulting Group LLC
Immediate Past Chairperson
Terri L. Phillips, M.D.
Merz Aesthetics
President
Christopher Kelly, M.D, MS, FACC.
North Carolina Heart & Vascular
Leadership Development Chairperson
Kristen Soler
Advance Auto Parts
Board Members
Peter Benton
Worldwide Clinical Trials
Jason Christie
Triangle Business Journal
Buzz Crosby
Martin Marietta
Wayne Feng, M.D., FAHA
Duke Health
Corrine Greco
Community Volunteer
Deana Labriola
Fox Rothschild, LLP
Bob Myer
SKANSKA USA Building
Neha Pagidipati, M.D., MPH
Duke Heart/Duke Clinical Research Institute
Jeff Pfeifer
LexisNexis
Anuradha Rao-Patel, M.D.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina
Trevor Upham, M.D.
WakeMed Heart & Vascular
2023-2024 Campaign Chairpersons
2024 Triangle Go Red for Women Chairperson
Joy Clark
Worldwide Clinical Trials
2024 Triangle Heart Challenge Chairperson
Mark Morelli
Vontier
2023 Triangle Heart Walk Chairperson
Christine Vannais
FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies
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Heart and Stroke News
Find science-based stories about heart and brain health and inspiring survivor profiles from American Heart Association News.