Since 1964, when February was declared American Heart Month, organizations like the American Heart Association have seized this opportunity to raise awareness about heart disease. American Heart Month encourages people to take preventive steps and supports efforts aimed at improving diagnosis and treatment.
For more than 60 years, the American Heart Association has designated American Heart Month as a time to highlight the leading cause of death among Americans while creating better opportunities for everyone to live a healthy life.
The Association has implemented science-based awareness and educational programs to address cardiovascular health. Over the past three years, the Association has also focused on transforming individuals from bystanders into a Nation of Lifesavers™. This initiative provides community members with numerous opportunities to learn CPR, including Hands-Only CPR and lifesaving education. The Association also partnered with AmeriCorps to create a new national service program, HeartCorps, to further support creating healthy futures for all Americans.
What is HeartCorps?
HeartCorps is an AmeriCorps program that provides a service opportunity for individuals passionate about enhancing their communities' health and wellness while developing valuable career skills. HeartCorps addresses the challenges residents in rural areas face, where there is a significant shortage of health care professionals, including public health workers. This shortage negatively impacts the health and wellness of these communities as well as the quality of care they receive.
Since its launch in 2022, people across the country have benefited from the services of HeartCorps. More than 160 members who have served since its inception and this year alone, more than 80 AmeriCorps members offer blood pressure screenings, nutrition awareness, Hands-Only CPR demonstrations, and other valuable services to their neighbors in rural and tribal communities in up to 44 states. AmeriCorps members with HeartCorps conduct these programs daily in some of the most rural communities across the country and in ways that are tailored to match the needs of the people they serve while maintaining a focus on the American Heart Association’s mission to be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives.
A Member Learns How to Empower Her Rural Community
Growing up in rural Indiana, Basil witnessed the challenges smaller communities face. After a family friend suffered a heart attack while working in a community garden, her father rushed him to a larger town for care. This experience motivated her to join HeartCorps at Story County Public Health in Ames, Iowa, in 2023. There, she provided Hands-Only CPR training, shared resources at small-town events, and educated locals on recognizing heart attacks and cardiac arrest.
“It really drives home the message of why this is important to know and how it could be someone they know,” Basil said. After completing her HeartCorps assignment in 2024, she enrolled in medical school at Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine, equipped with new skills, to continue her commitment to advancing rural healthcare.
A New Purpose for A Certified Nursing Assistant
Ayden joined HeartCorps as an AmeriCorps member in 2023 in Gillette, Wyoming, after years as a certified nursing assistant. She viewed HeartCorps as a chance to work closely with clients and promote healthy habits. At a soup kitchen during the Day of Hope event, a community gathering that draws individuals experiencing homelessness or other difficulties and connects them to available community services, she met a stressed mother juggling her baby and teenager. After listening to the mother's struggles with self-care, Ayden screened her for high blood pressure, saw the elevated levels, and started her on a free treatment plan to improve her physical and mental well-being.
"I really saw us making an impact, and it felt very good to have her just take that sigh of relief and know that someone cares for her, someone is there, and we will get her help," Ayden said. "It was sort of everything I had been missing, but it was a new challenge for me."
Ayden thinks she might eventually return to being a CNA, and if she does, she'll return armed with new knowledge and experience from working in rural public health.
A Former Nurse Empowers Youth and Older Adults
As a former certified nursing assistant, member TyLinn always enjoyed helping others. She serves with HeartCorps as a health educator in the North Central District Health Department in O'Neill, Nebraska, providing training and educating communities about heart health.
TyLinn travels to senior centers in nearby towns to lead Bingocize sessions, a blend of bingo, exercise, and fall prevention education. The workshops aim to improve all functional fitness in older adults, including range of motion, balance, muscle strength, and cardio-respiratory endurance.
"I've always enjoyed taking care of people and helping people, and this is just a different version of that," she said.
TyLinn is also excited to serve in the Healthy for Life program, a community-based nutrition and well-being initiative launched by the American Heart Association and Aramark that encourages people to make healthy food, nutrition, and lifestyle choices. She will educate high school juniors and seniors on how to adopt a healthier lifestyle and diet.
A Movement to Support Healthy Futures for Americans
Much like Basil, Ayden, and TyLinn, thousands of Americans choose to serve in national service programs to promote Americans’ physical and mental well-being every day. Whether through education or hands-on training, these members use their talents and experience to create unique opportunities that improve the health and wellness of their rural neighbors.
HeartCorps testimonials provided by The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust in celebration of American Heart Month.
