Natalie Littlefield, the community health director for the Lexington Division of the American Heart Association (AHA) has partnered with the Kentucky’s CDC State Disability & Health Program called Project CHEER (Community Health Education & Exercise Resources) to co-author a presentation titled “Promotion of Successful Inclusion of Individuals with Disabilities Through Universal Design in American Heart Association’s Health Programs,” that will be presented at the 2019 American Public Health Association’s (APHA) annual meeting and expo, November 2 – 6 in Philadelphia.
Presenting with Littlefield from Project CHEER will be Lindsey Mullis, Megan Jaspersen, and Danielle Augustin of the University of Kentucky Human Development Institute.
The presentation, scheduled for 3 pm EST on Monday, November 4, will review the community collaborations, universal design strategies in health programming, and pilot results of an inclusive offering of the AHA’s Mobile Kitchen series. Future directions for broadening efforts and sustainability will be explained. Additionally, presenters will briefly discuss adaptation and implementation of a second inclusive pilot of AHA’s Healthy for Life program with implementation late spring 2019. “This is such an important partnership with the AHA because we want to promote the broad accessibility of great health services to individuals who are often at the highest risk for being unhealthy and underserved, and this presentation provides us the opportunity to encourage other programs to do the same.” Lindsey Mullis, Inclusive Health Director, Project CHEER.
“Kentucky has one of the highest rates of disability in the nation at 34.6%,” said Littlefield. “The CDC reports that heart disease, stroke and diabetes occur at a rate three times higher than the general population. That’s why the AHA is partnering with Project CHEER to promote inclusion for all individuals in our community programs.”
Here is a short video highlighting the Inclusive Mobile Kitchen Series: http://bit.ly/InclusiveMKS
For more information on Project CHEER, go to https://www.wellness4ky.org/
For more information about APHA 2020, log on to www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
