Village HeartBEAT: People, partnership, pride and progress

Issues: Greater percentages of Black than White women (37.9% vs. 19.4%) and Black than White men (61.5% vs. 41.5%) die from cardiovascular diseases (CVD) before age 75, and Blacks have a higher prevalence of all major CVD risk factors. The American Heart Association emphatically recommends lifestyle interventions for reducing CVD risk, prevalence, and related health disparities. Faith-based organizations (i.e., churches) represent viable settings for implementing sustainable heart-healthy lifestyle programs.

Description: Village HeartBEAT (VHB) is a collaborative, community-coalition program for reducing CVD through Black and Hispanic/Latino churches in Charlotte, NC.  It uses a 9-month, heart-health community-challenge framework, to improve fitness levels among residents with self-identified CVD risk factors. The intervention phase is a 12-week recruitment and screening period followed by a 16-week church-team weight-loss challenge.  Ambassadors (or Promotoras) lead 10-member teams that compete to see which church-team can lose the most weight. Participants receive heart-health risk management education through the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s With Every Heart Beat curriculum.

Lessons Learned: In 2013-2014, 140 participants from 14 churches participated in 122 health-promotion events in their respective congregations. The challenge produced an absolute weight loss of 535 pounds (range, 10-61 pounds/team; mean, 3.8 pounds/person).  Satisfaction with the program was extremely high: 93% (program overall); 98% (information quality); and 98% (program process). 

Recommendations: Because of high levels of community satisfaction and perceived value of VHB, the program is presently enhancing its research and evaluation component, developing a more systematic approach to implementation, and planning to extend its reach throughout the County.