An Act Relating to a Cardiovascular Health Coalition

AS PASSED BY SENATES.243

2002Page 1

S.243

AN ACT RELATING TO A CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH COALITION

It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont:

Sec. 1. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS

The General Assembly finds that heart disease is the leading cause of death and stroke is the third-leading cause of death in the United States, and physical inactivity is the single greatest risk factor for this disease. Physical inactivity has great personal and social consequences. One in four adults in the United States is obese, and more than 60 percent of Americans are overweight. Increasing opportunities for physical activity and healthy nutrition in a community can have enormous benefits for society and can lower greatly health care costs.

Sec. 2. 18 V.S.A. § 11 is added to read:

§ 11. CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH; COALITION

The department of health shall:

(1) Form a coalition to be known as “champps,” coalition for healthy activity, motivation and prevention programs.

(2) Include in the coalition interested parties that initially address cardiovascular disease and stroke risk factors, including, but not limited to: legislators; the commissioners, or their respective designees, of state agencies, such as the departments of agriculture, food and markets, education, forests, parks and recreation, public safety, and transportation; municipalities; representatives of the business community; the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports; the University of Vermont College of Medicine; Vermont’s State Children’s Health Insurance Program; Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center; agricultural and nutritional initiatives; and organizations whose missions are associated with promoting heart health and reducing heart disease and stroke, such as the American Cancer Society, the Diabetes Association, and the Heart Association. As needed, coalition members shall provide technical assistance, data sources, model intervention programs, entry into organizations and populations, and promotional support.

(3) Meet, gather testimony and other information, and hold public hearings as necessary to develop the capacity to define the cardiovascular disease and stroke burden on the state, and publish a cardiovascular disease and stroke burden document, which shall include:

(A) a description of the burden of cardiovascular disease and stroke and related risk factors;

(B) a description of the geographic and demographic distribution of cardiovascular disease and stroke;

(C) identification of trends in cardiovascular disease and stroke, including trends in mortality, age of onset of disease, and age at death; and

(D) mortality data, hospital discharge data, and behavioral risk factor surveillance system data.

(4) Develop an inventory of policy and environmental supports related to cardiovascular and stroke risk factors.

(5) Develop a cardiovascular and stroke health state plan, using Healthy Vermonters 2010 as a framework. The plan shall be submitted to the governor, the secretary of human services, and the general assembly on or before December 1, 2004, and shall include:

(A) a summary of the burden of cardiovascular disease on the state;

(B) challenges or obstacles to chronic disease prevention that require legislative, administrative, and community solutions;

(D) risk factors which support chronic disease prevention;

(E) strategies for promoting cardiovascular health, and reducing the burden of cardiovascular disease and related risk factors;

(F) the needs of priority populations; and

(G) any other information relevant to eligibility for funding from the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or from other public or private sources, to support cardiovascular health programs.