Murkowski Helps Kick off the American Heart Association's Congressional Heart and Stroke Lobby Day

MURKOWSKI HELPS KICK OFF THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION'S CONGRESSIONAL HEART AND STROKE LOBBY DAY

SENATOR RECIEVES AHA HONOR FOR SPONSORSHIP OF HEART ACT

Senator Lisa Murkowski today joined representatives from the American Heart Association to help kick off their Congressional Heart and Stroke Lobby Day. Hundreds of volunteers, as well as heart disease and stroke survivors, plan to meet with their elected officials in Congress to ask them to support legislative efforts to combat cardiovascular disease. Senator Murkowski is an original sponsor of the HEART for Women Act - a bipartisan initiative aimed at improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart disease and stroke in women.

"We must enable our women, our families and our health care providers to confront cardiovascular disease," said Senator Murkowski at the kickoff event. "Heart disease does not have to be the nation's leading cause of death and I will continue to fight this fight with you. I am proud to do what I can in the U.S. Senate to battle cardiovascular diseases, and will be working with my colleagues to gain support for heart-friendly legislation."

One in three adult women suffers from some form of cardiovascular disease, and heart disease kills more women than the next five causes of death combined. In Alaska, nearly 27 percent of all deaths in women are due to cardiovascular disease. It is not necessarily an older person's disease: 35 percent of all heart disease deaths in Alaska occur among people under the age of 65. The Heart for Women Act takes a three-pronged approach to reducing the cardiovascular disease death rate for women, through improved health education, gender specific analysis and research, and increased access to screening for women. The bill would expand the WISEWOMAN program to all 50 states, providing free screening for heart disease and stroke for low-income women. Today, only 14 states have WISEWOMAN programs, including two programs in Alaska.

http://murkowski.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=255784