The following are the public policy priorities for Delaware in 2011-2012:
- Support Physical Activity and Healthy Eating in the School Environment – The American Heart Association will work with the Secretaries of the Department of Education and of the Department of Health and Social Services, the Director of the Division of Public Health, the Administration, Nemours Health and Prevention Services, and the legislature to advance legislation that will expand opportunities for kids to engage in physical activity throughout the school day and ask schools to report on the physical activity students engage in throughout the school day.
- Support Physical Activity and Healthy Eating in the Community Environment – The American Heart Association will provide continued leadership to the Delaware Healthy Eating and Active Living Coalition (DE HEAL) to incorporate policy, systems, and environmental changes that weave better eating and increased activity into the lives of all Delawareans. This coalition and its numerous participants are working together to change the health care setting, communities, schools, everywhere that people live, play, learn, and work. Specifically, we will seek to advance built environment and transportation priorities that emphasize physical activity and access to healthy foods in communities; including advocacy for bike and walking trails related to a significant Bond Bill appropriation during the last legislative session. The coalition supports healthy communities’ concepts, including the development and use of community assessment tools that encourage walk-ability, multi-modal transportation, linkages and multiuse zoning, and recreational facilities and amenities integration.
- Support Implementation of Health Care Reform - The American Heart Association long recognized the need to reform our health care system and applauded passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act by the 111th Congress. The AHA will work with state, local, and community partners public and private to ensure that reforms are implemented with fidelity to the Act’s patient-centered protections, vision for improving the quality of health care delivery, and focus on prevention. AHA recognizes that reducing fragmentation within the health care system is integral to the success of reform’s goals of improving patient care and reducing costs.
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