PBS Launches Heart Disease Awareness Site - Take One Step

URL: http://www.pbs.org/takeonestep

New site features healthy heart resources, audio podcasts, recipes, and streaming video

The Take One Step PBS Health Campaign recently launched with a public awareness campaign about heart disease, including a wide variety of resources to help inform the American public about the number one killer in the country and inspire them to action. 

In addition to the premiere of THE HIDDEN EPIDEMIC: HEART DISEASE IN AMERICA documentary and panel discussion (produced by WGBH Boston and airing Wednesday, February 14th on most PBS stations), pbs.org has launched a web site with resources, tips, tools, and ideas to improve your heart’s health, a series of audio podcasts, and extensive information from community and promotion partners. The documentary and web site also coincide with National Heart Month in February. 

“Our goal with the Take One Step campaign for heart health is to let Americans know that heart disease is largely preventable,” states Laurie Donnelly, Executive Producer for the PBS documentary. “In addition to the broadcast program, our online resources help show visitors that there are a number of simple steps and actions they can take to reduce their risks for heart disease.” 

Available now, pbs.org/takeonestep serves as a resource to help Americans take their first step toward better health. The web site includes hands-on materials for individuals and families, including downloadable pdfs with heart disease symptoms, surprising facts, risk factors, and advice on what visitors can do to prevent and treat heart disease. 

Twenty “Did you know..?” steps to better health inform visitors about common misconceptions about diet and exercise; these health tips come to life through online video tips featuring ten U.S. Senators, including Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, Mel Martinez of Florida, and John McCain of Arizona. 

PBS is also working with fifteen public television stations on local and state-wide outreach activities to support Take One Step efforts. Details about these local events are also hosted on the site, which include activities in Juneau, AK, Tempe, AZ, Fort Meyers and Tallahassee, FL, Hawaii, Iowa, Mt. Pleasant, MI, St. Louis, MO, Albuquerque, NM, Binghamton, NY, Charlotte, NC, Toledo, OH, Philadelphia, PA, and San Antonio, TX. A heart health event guide pdf is available for communities who would like to organize activities locally or work with their local YMCA facility to coordinate an event in their community. 

In addition, PBS worked with other public television programs to curate more than twenty heart-healthy recipes from Real Simple, Ming Tsai of Simply Ming, and kid-friendly recipes from PBS favorites Arthur, Postcards from Buster, and ZOOM. 

The site offers a wide variety of links and resources to PBS’ partners and campaign affiliates, including AARP, America on the Move, Reader’s Digest, WomenHeart, and the YMCA of the USA. One component of these partnerships is an eleven-part audio podcast series featuring best-selling author Dr. Michael F. Roizen (YOU-The Owner’s Manual and YOU on a Diet) and Julie Bain, Health Director of Reader's Digest magazine. The series includes ten easy steps to a healthy heart from Dr. Roizen and, in the eleventh podcast, Dr. Roizen interviews Larry King of CNN's Larry King Live and the Larry King Cardiac Foundation about King’s own heart attack, how it changed his life, and inspired him to form the foundation. To learn how to subscribe to and download the podcasts, visit pbs.org/takeonestep/heart/podcast.html

The Take One Step site also offers up a Q+A with award-winning producer/director Elizabeth Arledge (THE FORGETTING: A PORTRAIT OF ALZHEIMER’S) with some behind-the-scenes on the making of the documentary and the surprises she learned about heart disease. 

Leading up to the premiere of THE HIDDEN EPIDEMIC: HEART DISEASE IN AMERICA on Valentine’s Day, Wednesday, February 14, 2007 at 9pm ET site visitors can watch a sneak preview of the documentary. After February 14th, the full documentary and panel discussion is available for video streaming at http://www.pbs.org/takeonestep

For more information on the documentary, you can download press materials at http://pressroom.wgbh.org/pages/hiep.html

The Take One Step web site will also be updated in March leading up to the April 11th premiere of the next title in the Take One Step health series, FAT: WHAT NO ONE IS TELLING YOU, which is produced by Twin Cities Public Television (TPT). Subsequent programs and web sites to educate the public about cancer and depression are in development.

WGBH Boston is America’s preeminent public broadcasting producer, the source of one-third of PBS’ primetime lineup and companion online content as well as many public radio favorites. WGBH is a pioneer in educational multimedia (including the Web, broadband and interactive television) and in technologies and services that make media accessible for people with disabilities. WGBH has been recognized with hundreds of honors: Emmys, Peabodys, DuPont-Columbia Awards — even two Oscars. In 2002, WGBH was honored with a special institutional Peabody Award for 50 years of excellence. For more information, visit http://www.wgbh.org

PBS is a media enterprise that serves 48 public noncommercial television stations and reaches almost 90 million people each week through on-air and online content. Bringing diverse viewpoints to television and the Internet, PBS provides high-quality documentary and dramatic entertainment, and consistently dominates the most prestigious award competitions. PBS is a leading provider of educational materials for K-12 teachers, and offers a broad array of other educational services. PBS’ premier kids’ TV programming and website, PBS KIDS Online (www.pbskids.org), continue to be parents’and teachers’ most trusted learning environments for children. More information about PBS is available at http://www.pbs.org , one of the leading dot-org websites on the Internet.

Heart Health Partners + Affiliates:

Campaign Affiliate: AARP
AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that helps people 50+ have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to them and society as a whole. We produce AARP The Magazine, published bimonthly; AARP Bulletin, our monthly newspaper; AARP Segunda Juventud, our bimonthly magazine in Spanish and English; NRTA Live & Learn, our quarterly newsletter for 50+ educators; and our website, www.aarp.org. AARP Foundation is our affiliated charity that provides security, protection, and empowerment to older persons in need with support from thousands of volunteers, donors, and sponsors. We have staffed offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For more information, visit http://www.aarp.org

Promotion Partner: Reader’s Digest Magazine
Reader’s Digest is the largest-circulation magazine in the world, each month reaching about 80 million readers living in more than 60 countries. The magazine celebrates ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and delivers a compelling mix of humor, personal service and other human-interest stories. Reader’s Digest is published in 21 languages and 50 editions worldwide. The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc. is a global publisher and direct marketer of products that inform, entertain and inspire people of all ages and cultures around the world. Global headquarters are located at Pleasantville, New York.

Community Partner: YMCA of the USA/ YMCA Activate America™
The nation’s 2,617 YMCAs serve more than 20.2 million people each year. YMCA Activate America™ is a bold and unprecedented national initiative that is rallying YMCAs across the country to help children and adults discover and sustain healthier ways to live. The initiative is especially focused on addressing the needs of those who struggle to adopt and sustain a healthy lifestyle for themselves and/or their family. In addition to supporting this population called “health seekers,” YMCAs are creating healthier communities by promoting community-wide efforts that support healthy living and intensifying collaborations with other community partners to magnify their impact. For more information, visit http://www.ymca.net/activateamerica

Resource Partner: America on the Move
America On the Move (AOM) is a national non-profit organization with a mission to improve health and quality of life by promoting healthful eating and active living among individuals, families, communities, and society. AOM is the originator of the “small changes movement” in weight management and works with partners and sponsors to educate and empower people of all ages to improve their health and quality of life. AOM offers free on- and off-line programs, tools, and resources for individuals, groups, worksites, educators and students, and healthcare professionals and patients. For more information, visit http://www.americaonthemove.org

THE HIDDEN EPIDEMIC: HEART DISEASE IN AMERICA is produced by WGBH Boston for PBS and is written, directed, and produced by Elizabeth Arledge. TAKE ONE STEP FOR A HEALTHY HEART WITH LARRY KING is produced by Larkin McPhee for WGBH Boston. The executive producer is Laurie Donnelly. Funding for both programs is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and public television viewers.

Press Contact
Ellen Dockser, WGBH Boston, 617-300-5338, ellen_dockser-@-wgbh.org
Lisa Cerqueira, WGBH Boston 617-300-5334, lisa_cerqueira-@-wgbh.org

Photography Contact
Bailey Vatalaro, WGBH Boston, 617-300-5328, bailey_vatalaro-@-wgbh.org

Tags:
PBS, heart disease, URLwire
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