<0> Public Communications Inc.Colleen O’Donnell or Sky Opila, 312-558-1770orUnityPoint Health – TrinityErin Platt, 309-779-2981 </0>
The AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation’s program today announced a grant of $187,270 to UnityPoint Health – Trinity to support its Helping Everyone Access heaRt Treatment (HEART) program.
The HEART program works to improve cardiovascular disease prevention and disease awareness among uninsured, hard-to-reach adults who live in the medically underserved areas of Rock Island County by providing on-site cardiovascular risk screenings, health literacy education sessions/materials and healthy behavior tools and support at neighborhood centers. The program also will use a health coach to provide support and motivation to help participants achieve healthy outcomes.
“While heart disease can strike anyone, low socioeconomic status increases one’s risk,” said Joni Griffin, RN, manager of Trinity’s wellness department, which is administering the program. “This grant from the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation allows us to overcome that risk factor by helping us reach underserved populations who may not always have access to this kind of screening and education.”
Heart disease accounts for 25 percent of all deaths in Illinois, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Low-income households and minorities are disproportionately affected by cardiovascular disease. The grant from the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation will help UnityPoint Health – Trinity improve cardiovascular health in Rock Island County.
“Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States, and organizations like Trinity UnityPoint Health – Trinity are creating innovative programs to help prevent and decrease the associated risks with this devastating disease,” said James W. Blasetto, M.D., MPH, FACC, chairman of the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation. “We are grateful to Trinity for its commitment to improving heart health in their community.”
The program annually awards grants of $150,000 or more to U.S.-based nonprofit organizations dedicated to improving cardiovascular health in local communities. This year, the program awarded nearly $3.7 million in grants to 19 organizations. More than $14 million in grants have been awarded through the program since its inception in 2010.
Organizations can learn more and apply online for a grant at . Applications must be submitted online no later than 5 p.m. EST on Feb. 27, 2014.
UnityPoint Health – Trinity (formerly Trinity Regional Health System) operates four full-service hospitals in Rock Island and Moline, Illinois, and Bettendorf and Muscatine, Iowa, with a total of 584 licensed inpatient beds. It also includes affiliated entities the Trinity College of Nursing & Health Sciences, the Robert Young Center for Community Mental Health, Trinity Health Enterprises and the Trinity Health Foundation. UnityPoint Health – Trinity’s leadership in quality and service excellence has helped earn top industry awards for patient safety, excellent outcomes and cost control. Its Illinois hospital campuses have been recognized twice on the Thomson Reuters “100 Top Hospitals” list. UnityPoint Health - Trinity has nearly 3,100 employees and 600 physicians on its medical staffs providing care to patients throughout eastern Iowa and western Illinois. In 2012, Trinity hospitals delivered 2,507 babies, admitted 23,205 patients and had more than 97,954 emergency visits. Learn more at .
Established in 1993, the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation is a Delaware not-for-profit corporation and a 501(c)(3) entity organized for charitable purposes, including to promote public awareness of healthcare issues, to promote public education of medical knowledge, and to support or contribute to charitable and qualified exempt organizations consistent with its charitable purpose. was launched in 2010 through a charitable contribution of $25 million from AstraZeneca.
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