Fort Bend County vies for $50K to fund Million Hearts program for cardiovascular health

On Nov. 1, Fort Bend County approved an application for $50,000 from the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors to implement the Million Hearts Strategies Project, which aims to improve cardiovascular health in high-risk populations in the community. The program would be effective through July 31, 2023.

Individuals with low income, who are from racial and ethnic minorities, and who live in health access deserts are the priority population for planned outreach, per the grant application. The county plans to promote access to care, connect individuals with elevated blood pressure to primary care community partners and encourage these populations to use self-measured blood pressure monitoring on a regular basis—in a home setting.

This document states diseases of the heart are the leading cause of death in Fort Bend County, and stroke is the fourth leading cause. These conditions particularly affect African American people, who have the highest rate of deaths due to heart disease in Fort Bend County compared to other ethnic groups, according to the application.

Fort Bend County’s health and human services department has established partnerships with churches to target populations in Missouri City ZIP codes 77459 and 77489; Sugar Land ZIP code 77498; parts of Houston within the county with ZIP codes 77053 and 77053; and Rosenberg ZIP code 77471.

The health and human services department conducted a Community Health Assessment in June, which, in part, mapped the rates of heart disease over the county. Results showed an increase in morbidity in many of the same populations as were found to have increased morbidity from COVID-19.

The internal referral and community outreach Million Hearts program has goals to increase the number of individuals who are screened for hypertension, decrease the number of people living with undiagnosed hypertension, increase blood pressure control in adults identified with hypertension and improve food literacy as it relates to this diet-related condition.

The department’s Community Health and Wellness Program goal is to reach 250 individuals with newly diagnosed or untreated hypertension for the chosen interventions of outreach, screening, education, self-measured blood pressure devices and monitoring over the seven-month period of this funding opportunity, per the grant application.

Funds would be used to supply 25% of the salary of one community health worker and 25% of the salary of one chronic disease nurse for the seven-month operation period. Portions of the $50,000 would also be used to reimburse travel between outreach sites and to supply educational materials for cardiovascular health and blood pressure monitoring cuffs to program participants.