NEWS RELEASE
Detroit walking program promotes heart health
August 16, 2013
DETROIT, Mich. —The Healthy Environments Partnership (HEP) has been awarded a Community-Based Participatory Research Initiative grant by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Community Approaches to Cardiovascular Health – Dissemination (CATCH-D) aims to share and integrate findings from the Walk Your Heart to Health walking group intervention (WYHH) that HEP began in 2008. Over the next 3 years, HEP will work with community-based, faith-based and health services organizations in Detroit to expand the walking group initiative and enhance neighborhood environments to promote heart health in Detroit.
"Our goal is to support walkers in Detroit," said Amy Schulz, professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and principal investigator of HEP.
Cardiovascular risk is significantly higher in some Detroit neighborhoods than state and national averages. Disparities in income, access to health care and safe places to be physically active make it more challenging for residents who live in these neighborhoods to address health concerns. Results from WYHH showed that Detroit residents who participated in the walking groups increased the number of steps they walked and saw significant decreases in risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease, including waist circumference, body mass index (BMI), blood sugar levels, cholesterol and high blood pressure.
Through CATCH-D, HEP plans to share these findings with Detroit residents, public health professionals, local funding organizations, policy makers and other key decision makers to encourage them to support activity friendly environments in Detroit. HEP will facilitate town hall meetings, community forums, and meetings with policy makers to share the benefits of WYHH and build the capacity of communities to engage in research initiatives that benefit the communities in which participants live.
"The vision is that residents will enjoy improved health through physical activity, community and faith-based organizations will support walking groups, and decision-makers will back policies to enhance neighborhood environments and encourage active living," says Schulz.
For more details about CATCH-D and WYHH and for information about how to get involved visit: www.hepdetroit.org.
About the Healthy Environments Partnership (HEP)
HEP is a community-based participatory research partnership made up of community-based organizations, health services organizations and academic partners with a focus on understanding and promoting heart health in Detroit neighborhoods. HEP examines and develops interventions to address aspects of the social and physical environment that contribute to racial and socioeconomic disparities in cardiovascular disease.
Partner organizations include: Brightmoor Community Center, Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation, Friends of Parkside, Detroit Neighborhood Partnership East- Warren/Conner Development Coalition, the Institute for Population Health, Henry Ford Health System, the University of Michigan School of Public Health and a community member at large. HEP uses a community-based participatory research approach in which all partners are involved in all phases of the work, including defining the research problem, design and implementation of the study, interpretation and dissemination of the results, and decisions about how the results will be applied to improve heart health in the city of Detroit.
HEP is an affiliated partnership of the Detroit URC.
Contact: Julia Weinert, Communications Specialist
Phone: 734.763.0741
Email: weinertj@umich.edu
