AHA & OHSA Ally for Heart Health

The American Heart Association (AHA) is dedicated to improving heart health. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is concerned with job safety. What could they achieve by joining forces?

That will be determined in an effort to disseminate the AHA’s good advice to OSHA’s workplace audiences. In a new alliance, the groups will work together to raise awareness about heart disease and stroke, and develop programs to reduce death and disability from them in the workplace.

“The goal is that through OSHA’s communication channels and compliance assistance network, we’ll be able to reach more people with lifesaving information,” says Robin McCune, director of national accounts for the AHA’s Emergency Cardiovascular Care programs. “We’ve just really expanded our audience.”

The first step in the effort involved creating pages for OSHA’s website containing AHA guidance for implementing AED programs. Other aspects will include additional AED education and implementation; delivery of CPR, AED and first aid courses; training of health/safety personnel in AHA best practices; and discussions to help raise awareness of the importance of employee health.

Looking at this joining of forces, it’s not hard to wonder if EMS could ally in a similar way and help the cause of heart health. The AHA offers many programs that could be promoted in an EMS environment, and better public education and a greater overall emphasis on healthy heart habits certainly would be a boon to those who ultimately respond to heart-related calls.

“I would think there could be ways” to involve EMS in this kind of effort, says McCune. “I’m not sure what the specifics might be, but we’re definitely looking at that prevention aspect. I’m sure there are ways in which we could [involve EMS].”

Services interested in working with the AHA, or in learning more about the AHA/OSHA alliance and heart health in general, should visit www.americanheart.org.

—JE