Gearing up for the legislative session!

Virginia’s legislative session kicks off on January 13 – with lots of new faces. We’ll welcome a new governor and many new General Assembly members – any one of whom could become a champion for heart-healthy legislation. The American Heart Association will be actively represented in Richmond, advocating for public policies that advance the fight against heart disease and stroke. The budget will be a primary focus for legislators this year. Virginia is facing at $3.5 - $4 billion shortfall, and we’ll need your help to ensure public health is not a casualty of the budget crunch. Be on the look-out for opportunities to show your support for our top legislative priorities: Healthy Snack legislation for Virginia schools and preservation of tobacco prevention funding. For more information or to learn how you can help, e-mail Cathleen Grzesiek at Cathleen.Grzesiek@heart.org

Improving nutrition in Virginia schools

Childhood obesity has reached epidemic levels in Virginia and across the nation with 31% of Virginia’s 10- to 17- year olds classified as overweight or obese. Consumption of unhealthy foods is a significant factor in the skyrocketing obesity rates of the last three decades. Virginia needs to get childhood obesity under control, and schools have an important role to play. Students often consume up to 50% of their daily calories at school, and young people today are eating on average 8% more than they were less than 30 years ago. Schools’ sale of low-nutrition foods outside of school meals bears a lot of the blame. It is estimated that a fifth of the average increase in body mass index (BMI) in teens between 1994 and 2000 was attributable to increased availability of junk food in schools. This year, AHA will introduce school nutrition legislation based on the Alliance for a Healthier Generation Competitive Foods Guidelines. These standards are science-based, age-appropriate, and practical. They will help schools significantly reduce the calories, saturated and trans fat, sodium and sugar available to children in schools. With your support, we can create a healthier environment in our schools and give Virginia’s kids the healthy start they deserve.

Tobacco prevention funding: Take Action

In this very difficult budget time, the American Heart Association is advocating to protect funding for the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth (VFHY) and its Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation (VTSF) division. The CDC recommends that Virginia spend a minimum of $103.2 million a year on proven programs to prevent and reduce tobacco use. Virginia will spend less than $14 million this year, or just over 13% of the recommendation. Meanwhile, tobacco companies spend $411.3 million a year to market their products in Virginia. This is 31 times what the state spends on tobacco prevention. VHFY directly reaches more than 60,000 children across the Commonwealth each year with community-based classroom programs, and it reaches hundreds of thousands more through its award-winning radio and TV ads and Web sites Smoking among high school students within the state fell from 28.6 percent in 2001, to 15.5 percent in 2007, largely due to VHFY’s prevention work. It has been proven in states that cut youth prevention funding that youth smoking rates go back up. To continue making progress, it is critical that Virginia’s leaders increase funding for tobacco prevention. Even in these difficult budget times, tobacco prevention is a smart investment that reduces smoking, saves lives and saves money by reducing tobacco-related health care costs. Tobacco use prevention will also save taxpayers money in the long run by reducing the number of Virginians who will need medical treatment for smoking-related illnesses. The annual health care costs in Virginia directly caused by smoking total $2.08 billion ($401 million of this is covered by the state Medicaid program). Tell your legislators that you believe VHFY is doing important work and funding for youth tobacco prevention programs must be protected.