Minnesota Women's Healthy Heart Project

Minnesota Women’s Healthy Heart Project

The Minnesota Women’s Healthy Heart Project is a new initiative by the Minnesota Women’s Health Collaborative, comprised of the University of Minnesota Deborah E. Powell Center for Women’s Health, NorthPoint Health & Wellness, and the Minnesota Department of Health, in partnership with the Northeast Area Health Education Center, and Fairview Range Regional Health Services Mesaba Clinic.

The project is jointly funded by the Academic Health Center and the Office of Clinical Research at the University of Minnesota. 

The Minnesota Healthy Heart Project will offer cardiovascular and diabetes screening, education and coaching regarding healthy life style change, and referral to appropriate care for women in our target communities.   The project will particularly focus on assuring that groups of women who experience health disparities have access to needed care.   The project will utilize Community Health Workers, a proven method for overcoming cultural and language barriers when immigrant and ethnic groups attempt to access health care. 

The University of Minnesota already has comprehensive cardiovascular programs in place, as does NorthPoint Health & Wellness.  However, these programs are not adequately reaching the immigrant communities.  The Minnesota Women’s Healthy Heart Project will allow an expansion of programming to effectively reach immigrant communities in both an urban and rural setting.  This will be accomplished by implementing culturally specific approaches and strategies for outreach and clinical care, and by implementing care coordination and case management, through interprofessional education and clinical practice teams.

The project will run for three years, with an estimated impact through education and clinical practice for 50,000 women.