Celebrate a healthy Valentine's Day month! In this issue, we highlight heart-healthy resources, our new video clip on exercise for persons with multiple sclerosis, a video on fall prevention exercises for older adults, some quick and healthy meal ideas, and more.
- Give yourself and your loved one a health-related Valentine's gift this year by accessing resources on heart health:
- The American Heart Association offers dietary advice, free heart-healthy cookbooks, and information on exercising. The "Go Red for Women" campaign focuses on heart disease as the number-one killer of women, and its website provides healthy lifestyle information, such as how to factor exercise into one's daily life: http://www.ncpad.org/687/3102/2005-02-01#1.
- Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week is February 7-14 (the Congenital Heart Information Network (http://www.ncpad.org/687/3102/2005-02-01#2), and Cardiac Rehabilitation Week is February 13-19 (the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (http://www.ncpad.org/687/3102/2005-02-01#3). Visit these websites for health-promoting resource information.
- NCHPAD Programs Survey:
If you have an exercise, sports, or recreation-related program for people with disabilities, please complete NCPAD's Accessible Programs survey so that this information can be made available on the NCHPAD website. E-mail Cheeri Ong (cheeri@uic.edu) with your requests for a programs survey or with corrections on existing entries.
- NCHPAD News Updates:
- The Justice Department has established a website to solicit comments on the future of specialized golf carts for persons with paraplegia, an issue that has sparked a legal battle between a Tuscaloosa man with disabilities and David Bronner, CEO of the Retirement Systems of Alabama. At issue is a complaint filed in November with the Justice Department by Jerry Pope of Tuscaloosa, who insists the RSA-owned Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Alabama be required to provide two single-rider carts at each of its courses. The move is standard procedure before the Justice Department decides whether to issue an Americans with Disabilities Act ruling on the cart requirement. See the new Justice Department website at http://www.ncpad.org/687/3102/2005-02-01#4.
- The Transportation Research Board recently issued Special Report 282: Does the Built Environment Influence Physical Activity? Examining the Evidence. This report reviews the broad trends affecting the relationships among physical activity, health, transportation, and land use; summarizes what is known about these relationships, including the strength and magnitude of any causal connections; examines implications for policy; and recommends priorities for future research.
The report, a summary of the report, and background papers used by the committee to help develop the report are available at http://www.ncpad.org/687/3102/2005-02-01#5.