American Heart Association

In 2018 more than a third of Veterans in VA health care were diagnosed with high blood pressure. A team at the Dallas VA organized a virtual symposium to educate Veterans and their caregivers on HBP.

Central Virginia Health Care System has implemented the Resuscitation Quality Improvement (RQI) Program training with stations where clinicians can train without having to leave their clinical areas.

Previous studies have suggested that meditation may have beneficial effects on a number of conditions. A 2017 American Heart Association scientific statement suggests that meditation may be of benefit for cardiovascular risk reduction. Data show that it may help with blood pressure, cholesterol level, quitting smoking, and overall cardiovascular health. However, this connection is far from definitive.

VA and non-VA cardiac rehabilitation programs offer similar benefits, found a VA Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) study.

A large study that included data on more than 150,000 Veterans finds that risk of coronary artery disease—a form of heart disease—rises based on the rate of fried food consumption.

VA encourages women Veterans to talk to their providers about how they can prevent heart disease. VA and the American Heart Association want to help women Veterans reduce their risk of heart disease.

Join VA and Go Red for women this February as we encourage women Veterans to commit to their heart health.

The American Heart Association recently selected Beverly Buchanan of VA’s William Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Medical Center in Columbia, South Carolina, as one of its national spokespersons.