Abstract
The Role of American Heart Association (AHA) in Advancing Workplace Health Promotion
Examples abound of simple things that are not all that easy. Try as we might, most of us struggle with what comes naturally to a few. A golf swing, singing in tune, and, for me, the simple promise of “just one more” M&M. In this issue of The Art of Health Promotion (TAHP), you’ll learn about “Life’s Simple 7” and the ambitious plans of the American Heart Association (AHA) to work with CEOs and workplaces to improve heart health by 20%. Life’s Simple 7 is easy for health promotion professionals to embrace given they are science-based metrics and all too common habits that foretell ill health. But, as you’ll see in the articles that follow, these have not been easy for 99% of Americans to achieve. This issue of TAHP challenges some of this nation’s best scientific minds to address questions concerning how to make Life’s Simple 7 more accessible in America’s workplaces. All of our authors were presenters last November (2015) at the first Workplace Health Workshop held by “Scientific Sessions,” the Association’s annual conference on the latest science of cardiovascular disease and stroke treatment and prevention.
It would be easy for workplace health promotion to get lost at what leading heart disease scientists demonstratively call “sessions.” After all, sessions are an annual pilgrimage for about 18 000 scientists and researchers from over 100 countries. Many at AHA are creating space for workplace wellness by inviting workplace health researchers, behavioral economists, and employers. But none are more passionate about the potential for making the workplace an abiding home to Life’s Simple 7 than Chris Calitz, the AHA Director of the Association’s new Center for Workplace Health Research and Evaluation and the contributing editor for this issue of TAHP, and Eduardo Sanchez, AHA’s Chief Medical Officer for Prevention.
