Closing The Gap Week Summary

Raleigh, NC - American Heart Association announced today the kick-off of Closing the Gap week of activities aimed at increasing African American awareness about Heart disease prevention. Local events including Simply 7 steps seminars that will take place the week of July 21st -25th. This effort is part of Closing the Gap: Take Steps to Learn about Heart disease, an awareness campaign from The American Heart Association aimed at helping African Americans adults between ages of 40-50 to learn about heart disease prevention. Seminars will provide strategies related to improving nutrition and increasing physical activity to initiate and reinforce lifestyle changes. Participants will be provided with a Simply 7 steps guide book that enrolled in the seminars. Closing the Gap Week is an opportunity for the African American community to learn about Heart disease risk factors and the steps that can be taken to reduce their risk for this deadly disease. Heart disease is caused by physical inactivity, poor eating habits, high blood pressure

Timely detection and lifestyles changes can decrease the risk of heart attacks and possibly save lives. Heart disease is the second leading cause of death in North Carolina. African American North Carolinians are more likely to die of heart disease at younger ages than their white counterparts.1 Among African Americans, 69.1 percent of total heart deaths occur before age 65, compared with 36.3 percent among Whites, according to N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.1 The good news for African-Americans that are concerned about their heart health is that making simple choices and lifestyles changes can often make a huge difference in risk factors and preventing heart