Mission Statement
Since 1924, the American Heart Association has helped protect people of all ages and ethnicities from the ravages of heart disease and stroke. Thease diseases, the nation's No. 1 and No. 3 killers, claim more than 910,000 American lives a year. The association invested nearly $474 million in fiscal year 2004-2005 for research, professional and public education, advocacy, and community service programs so people across America can live stronger, longer lives. Our impact goal - by the year 2010, to reduce coronary heart disease, stroke and risk by 25%.
Description
The American Heart Association is a voluntee-driven organization, and our succuss is dependent upon our ability to make connections. In 1998, we established an impact goal to reduce coronary heart disease, stroke and risk by 25% by 2010. This aggressive goal drove home the importance of making connections with high-risk audiences, scientists, physicians, advocates, donors and corporations. It also spurred us to reexamine our strategies and redeploy our assets to increase our impact. As a result, we've become more of a knowledge-trensfer organization, providing information to meet the needs of key audiences; we've allocated more resources to create broad systems change, such as improving the healthcare system and making schools healthier for kids; and we've formed strategic partnerships with hospitals, governments and other organizations.
These changes are working. We have made substantial progress towars our 2010 goal. Since our 1999 benchmark, the death rates from coronary heart disease and stroke in the United States have declined by 16.9% and 12.1% respectively. That's tremendous news, but we still have major work to do.
With your help, we can make a difference.
