Heart Health

Course Description:

Our hearts are responsible for pumping oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood throughout our bodies. The heart has one of the most important jobs in keeping our bodies alive and healthy. This online heart health training course addresses this most amazing muscle in our body, how it works to keep us alive, and what we can do right now to make sure our hearts are healthy for years to come. Cardiac health can be managed and improved with some simple guidelines. The benefits to you, the employer, are numerous, from lower healthcare costs to increased employee productivity.

Why “Heart Health” Matters:

Heart disease and stroke are the first and third leading causes of death in the United States. In 2003 alone, 1.1 million Americans will have a heart attack. Cardiovascular diseases cost the nation more than $300 billion each year.

For many Americans, individual behavior and lifestyle choices influence the development and course of these chronic conditions.

Heart disease also results in significant disability among working adults. Stroke is a leading cause of serious, long-term disability that accounts for more than one-half of all patients hospitalized for a neurological disease. Of the 4.5 million Americans who have had a stroke, 1 million have been impaired by some form of long-term disability. Almost 6 million hospitalizations each year are due to cardiovascular disease.

An estimated 3 million Americans aged 35 to 64 who are currently free of coronary heart disease will develop the disease in the next 10 years in the absence of intervention to reduce risk factors.

Key Points:

The main objectives of this course are to familiarize trainees with the heart, the common coronary diseases that affect the heart, and how to maintain a healthy heart by making some lifestyle changes. By the end of this course, employees will know:

• The structure of the heart and how it works.
• Hereditary and controllable risk factors for heart disease.
• Signs and symptoms of common heart diseases.
• Lifestyle changes that can be made to keep a heart healthy.