Mission: Our vision is to advance health and hope for everyone everywhere and to be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives.
As we celebrate the Centennial of the American Heart Association (The Association), we will move into our second century with Bold Hearts™ focused on the work ahead while honoring the lifesaving history of our volunteers, donors, advocates, and staff. The American Heart Association of Greater New Orleans has moved health and well-being forward, with equity toward populations with the most need always at the center of our work.
As champions for health equity, the Association aims to advance cardiovascular health for all, including identifying and removing barriers to healthcare access and quality. This work is done through policy, systems, and environmental changes with companies, clinics, community partners, and cities or parishes. Collaboration among local organizations, sponsors, businesses, and others is crucial for transformational community health impact as we focus on four local priorities:
We’ve prioritized improving the access and consumption of healthy foods by passing healthy foods in public places and healthy restaurant kids’ meal policies. We continue to improve access through:
– Collective impact campaigns like Heart Boxes and Smart Snacks initiatives,
– Nutritional standards and nudge interventions in corner stores and food pantries,
– Healthy food demonstrations and cooking classes with local mentorship organizations, low-income housing facilities, and senior centers.
The Association is also committed to turning a nation of bystanders into lifesavers by preparing anyone, anywhere, to perform CPR and utilize an AED. We’ve trained hundreds of thousands of people across Louisiana to ensure that in the face of a cardiac emergency, they become a vital link in the chain of survival. The CPR In Schools program has filled an urgent need for local schools by providing CPR in School Kits to all public and private high schools in Greater New Orleans. These kits are sustainable and reusable, meaning the recipient schools can continue to train year after year to add more potential lifesavers to our community.
Over 550,000 adults in Greater New Orleans have uncontrolled high blood pressure, causing unnecessary and inequitable disease and death, particularly in under-resourced communities and those living in rural areas. We have partnerships with Outpace CVD, focused on managing uncontrolled blood pressure and other chronic conditions in clinical settings – providing over one million patients access in Louisiana to resources that improve health systems, promote outpatient programs, and tailor engagement to improve clinical-community linkages.
Through our advocacy efforts as a leader in the Tobacco Endgame Movement and critical partner with state-wide smoke-free efforts, the Association has helped communities enact smoke-free policies and recommended policies that penalize retailers (not youth) for underage smoking and vaping. In addition, we are working within our schools and communities to teach the next generation about the dangers of smoking and vaping, providing support within our communities for those who choose to quit.
We’ve also impacted more than a dozen local students at Historically Black Colleges and hundreds of local middle and high school students through the Association’s HBCU scholars program, and STEM Goes Red initiatives.
How To Help :
Support us by volunteering or donating to one of our upcoming area events:
– May 11 – Northshore Heart Walk
– June 1 – New Orleans Heart Ball
– November 16 – New Orleans Heart Walk
Learn more at heart.org/louisiana or email the team at AHANeworleans@heart.org.
Or follow us on social media and help spread the work we do in the community to your friends, family, followers, and more. We are on Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter) at @AHALouisiana.
504-830-2300 // heart.org/louisiana
