Michigan Receives Million Hearts Funding to Fight Heart Disease and

Stroke
Contact: Jennifer Smith (517) 241-2112

For Immediate Release: Oct. 8, 2014

LANSING, Mich. High blood pressure is a serious public health concern for many Americans,
including Michigan residents. As part of the Million Hearts initiative launched by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
(ASTHO) has selected Michigan and five other states to participate in a learning collaborative to
improve blood pressure control. Michigan is joined by Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, North Dakota,
and Virginia.
As participants in the collaborative, each state will receive at least $100,000 in funding. Michigan
was awarded funding through the Cardiovascular Health, Nutrition and Physical Activity Section at
the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH). The grant will support a nine-month public
health project in Muskegon County to increase control of and reduce high blood pressure, and the
project will be implemented by a team of state and local partners.
Controlling high blood pressure is key to reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke, which are
leading causes of death in Michigan and the U.S., said Dr. Matthew Davis, Chief Medical Executive
at the MDCH. We are pleased to be working with Muskegon County to connect residents to health
care services that will help them control their high blood pressure, and, ultimately, improve their
health outcomes.
According to the 2013 Michigan Behavioral Risk Factor Survey, an estimated 34.6 percent of
Michigan adults reported ever being told by a doctor that they had high blood pressure and the
majority of these Michigan adults do not have it under control.
The Million Hearts initiative is a national initiative to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes by
2017. To help achieve this goal, Million Hearts aims to increase the number of persons in the United
States who have their blood pressure under control by 10 million. The initiative brings together
communities, health systems, nonprofit organizations, federal agencies, and private-sector partners
from across the country to fight heart disease and stroke.
For more information about the ASTHO Million Hearts learning collaborative,
visit www.astho.org/Million-Hearts/State-Learning-Collaborative-to-Improve-Blood-Pressure-
Control and for more information about Million Hearts, visitwww.millionhearts.hhs.gov.
# # #