Daley to advocate for physical activity in Washington, D.C.

Innovative research and initiatives to increase physical activity among children will reduce the devastating toll of heart disease and stroke in communities across the country.  American Heart Association patient advocates and researchers will deliver that message to members of Congress during the association?s You?re the Cure on the Hill Tuesday.

Five Iowans will be among the advocate.: Ken Daley of Fairfield is the editor and past president of the Iowa Association for Physical Education, Recreation and Dance and was instrumental in bringing the Healthy Kids Act to Iowa.

Sarah Galbraith and her mom Laura from Maxwell will travel to D.C. as well. Sarah Galbraith is a high school honor student with a passion for healthy living and ambitions to go into a career where she can help people prevent heart disease and stroke.

Tyler LaPlant is a member of the Siouxland American Heart Association?s Sweetheart and Heart Throb program, which teaches prevention and community service to high schoolers. He and his father, Tom will advocate.

They will join other American Heart Association advocates to meet with Iowa legislators in Washington, D.C. to urge them to appropriate $35 billion for the National Institutes of Health for FY 2012, co-sponsor the Fitness Integrated with Teaching Kids Act and support the Safe Routes to Schools program in the next transportation bill. 

The FIT Kids Act would encourage quality physical education and activity during the school day, and Safe Routes to Schools promote the development of walking and biking paths for schoolchildren.

?Obesity, hypertension and other risk factors for heart disease and stroke have created, for the most part, an unhealthy Generation X, Y and Z,? said Daley. ?Robust funding increases for the NIH budget and measures to get more kids moving will put us on the right path toward healthier lifestyles.? 

Currently, NIH invests only 4 percent of its budget on heart research and a mere one percent on stroke research. 

?These funding levels are simply not enough to advance research and bring us closer to a cure,? said Daley.