[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 16 (Monday, February 25, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S999-S1000]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    RECOGNIZING AMERICAN HEART MONTH

  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, February is American Heart 
Month. This is the 38th year that the President and the Congress have 
acknowledged the need to continue the fight against heart disease. Let 
me describe my interest in this condition and why I have a special 
desire to promote practices that will lead to healthier hearts for all 
Americans.
  It is important to recognize that heart disease is this country's 
number one killer and the leading cause of disability and death in our 
country. It is estimated that if all forms of cardiovascular disease 
were eliminated, life expectancy would rise by almost 7 years.
  We need all of our citizens to become more knowledgeable about this 
condition and what can be done to identify and control it. Too often, 
we think of heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases as 
``men's diseases.'' But we need to get the message out that these 
conditions actually kill more American women than men, and that 
cardiovascular diseases kill more females each year than the next 9 
causes of death combined.
  More deaths occur due to cardiac defects than to any other birth 
defect. Which leads me to one of the reasons I have a special passion 
to do what I can to promote healthy hearts. I lost a beautiful young 
daughter to heart disease some years ago, and I have another daughter 
who has a heart defect. So I have spent a lot of time visiting with 
cardiologists about the human heart and have first hand knowledge of 
the devastation of this disease.
  How can Members of Congress help fight heart disease? For one thing, 
we should continue on our course to increase funding for the National 
Institutes of Health. We have made a lot of progress and I hope that in 
2003 we will have met our goal of doubled the funding of the NIH to $24 
billion in only five years. I have visited the researchers at NIH and 
what is going on there is remarkable.
  I am pleased to have been one of those who stimulated this increase 
in research not only of heart disease, but also, of a variety of other 
conditions such as cancer and diabetes. Yet even with this increase in 
funding we must focus our eyes, and those of the Nation, on the many 
areas of research yet to be pursued. Even with the significant 
increases in funding, NIH still only has the ability to fund a fraction 
of meritorious applications. That means many missed opportunities for 
scientific advancement.
  Much of what we know about the causes of cardiovascular disease has 
been discovered as the result of research sponsored by NIH and has lead 
to much improved treatment. For example, 50 years ago heart attack 
patients faced a long ordeal of six weeks or more in the hospital and 
six months before they could sit up in a chair. Now most patients 
return to normal activities within weeks of a heart attack.
  One of the top priorities at NIH is to support studies to facilitate 
reduction of the epidemic of obesity in American children and adults. 
Obesity is an important factor leading to diabetes, hypertension and 
lipid imbalances, all of which are implicated in cardiovascular 
disease.
  I urge my colleagues to join the Congressional Heart and Stroke 
Coalition that we founded in 1996. I am a co-chairman in the Senate of 
this bicameral, bipartisan Coalition with Senator Frist, who is a 
former heart transplant surgeon. The purpose of the Coalition, which 
has grown to over 210 Members, is to raise awareness among Congress and 
the public about cardiovascular diseases and to support public policies 
to prevent, treat, and ultimately cure these diseases.
  The theme for this year's Heart Month is ``Be Prepared for Cardiac 
Emergencies.'' Although more than 600 Americans die every day of sudden 
cardiac arrest, the good news is that normal heart rhythm can be 
restored in many cases using an electric shock

[[Page S1000]]

from an automated external defibrillator, or AED.
  Thanks to modern technology, AEDs are now portable, the size of a 
briefcase, user friendly, and quite affordable, less than $3500. I was 
in Fargo, ND, with an ambulance crew who showed me how to hook it up 
and use it. Believe me, if I can be trained to use it, I am sure any of 
my colleagues here in the Senate can as well!
  Congress has taken several steps to make AEDs more readily available. 
It passed the Cardiac Arrest Survival Act, which I cosponsored. This 
new law facilities the placement of AEDs in Federal buildings and other 
public places which are visited each day by countless visitors, and 
where more than 1 million federal workers are employed. It also 
extended ``Good Samaritan" protection from legal liability for people 
who use an AED to provide emergency medical care and for those who 
acquire AEDs.
  As the Chairman of the Treasury-General Government Appropriations 
Subcommittee, I provided $2 million to place AEDs in Federal buildings 
in FY2002. The Senate earlier this month passed the Community Access to 
Emergency Defibrillation Act of 2002, that I cosponsored, which will 
provide grants for public access defibrillation programs and 
demonstration projects.
  Programs to place defibrillators in public places are already paying 
off. For instance, a retired professor in my part of the country, Roger 
Spiled, suffered cardiac arrest while playing basketball. Due to the 
quick action of an ordinary person with no medical training, who had 
ready access to an automatic defibrillator that had been put in place 
just one month earlier, Mr. Spiled was shocked back to life.
  Finally, Congress can help to encourage cholesterol screening, which 
is one of the best ways to quickly gauge the risk for developing 
cardiovascular diseases. Although cardiovascular diseases account for 
one-third of all of Medicare's spending for hospitalizations, 
remarkably, the identification of one of the major, changeable risk 
factors for cardiovascular disease, high levels of cholesterol is not 
covered by Medicare.
  The most recent guidelines from the National Heart, Lung and Blood 
Institute recommend that all Americans over the age of 20 be screened 
for high cholesterol, but when an American turns 65 and enters the 
Medicare program, they are not eligible for cholesterol screening. This 
makes no sense.
  In recent years, Congress in its wisdom has acted to improve 
Medicare's coverage of preventive services. Medicare now covers 
screening for breast, cervical, colorectal and prostate cancer, testing 
for loss of bone mass, diabetes monitoring, and vaccinations for flu, 
pneumonia, and Hepatitis B.
  Now we must act to provide Medicare coverage of cholesterol 
screening. I urge you to cosponsor the Medicare Cholesterol Screening 
Coverage Act that I have introduced, along with Senators Campbell and 
Bingaman, which adds this important benefit to the menu of preventive 
services already covered by Medicare.
  My family and every family is touched by, and is acquainted in some 
way with, heart disease. The American Heart Association is a wonderful 
organization of volunteers that does extraordinary work. I will 
continue to work with them and with the Heart and Stroke Coalition in 
the Congress to continue to make progress in battling this dreaded 
disease that kills, and reduces the quality of life of, so many 
Americans.

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