The Cardiology Initiative

Happy Monday everyone!

We wanted to bring you a quick update about our current project in Ghana.

We now have 6 schools in Ghana using our after school program on human anatomy and nutrition. 📚

We also now have a clinical dietitian in Ghana that is creating meal plans for the children to go home and cook with their parents, so that they learn how to eat healthy together. 🥗 🍲 🥘

We love helping children build healthy eating habits at a young age!

In other news, we are also in the process of signing on with a fiscal agent, so we will have the opportunity to begin applying for federal grants. Until then, our programs are completely dependent on donations. To donate please visit our website at: https://www.thecardiologyinitiative.org/

Thank you all for your support, we couldn't do it without you!

We are pleased to announce that our after school program began in Accra, Ghana last week. There are a total of 64 students signed up for the next 8 lessons! Due to the students and teachers loving the curriculum so much, we have been notified that more teachers and students would like to sign up!

With your help we can implement this curriculum in multiple schools throughout the world!

Help us teach students about the importance of diet and how it contributes to their overall heart health!! Please donate today and help us reach our goal to fight diet related cardiovascular diseases!

https://gofund.me/e3edb3b8

Only one more week to help us reach our goal!

Right now TCI is creating nutritional infographics for the indigenous communities of Mexico! Underserved communities are hit the hardest when it comes to diet-related cardiovascular diseases, due to lack of resources and education.

We will be giving our infographics to the nonprofit Guimedic, to distribute on their outreach brigades to patients suffering from diet related cardiovascular diseases. We create these nutritional infographics based on the community's level of literacy, access to resources and culture.
While we are excited that Guimedic will offer nutritional counseling in these remote and indigenous communities, we want to do more!

With your help, we can reach our goal and begin to implement real life change within communities! TCI would like to spend some of the money we raised on analyzing remote communities access to heart healthy food throughout Mexico and begin the process of policy change! We believe it is a basic human right to have access to healthy fruits, vegetables, and water.

Give back to the community and donate today!

https://gofund.me/e3edb3b8

Help Bridge The Gap In Nutrition & Heart Disease, organized by Cynthia Moreno Cynthia with her Abuelo & Abuela The Cardiology Initiative was … Cynthia Moreno needs your support for Help Bridge The Gap In Nutrition & Heart Disease

Meet some of TCI's team!!

(left to right: Luis Ramirez, Jorge Martinez, Estefania Olivas, Cynthia Moreno, Gloria Lugo, Michael Weingarten, and Jonathan Moncada)

Luis and Estefania are our after-school program directors. After earning their MPH and working in health education and community health, they now offer their expertise to The Cardiology Initiative! This dynamic team is also bilingual, which allows them to create our curriculum in both English and Spanish, helping us reach more diverse populations throughout the US and Mexico.

Jorge, Gloria, and Michael are our nutrition outreach coordinators. This team is responsible for creating our nutritional infographics, tailored for each community’s social cultural needs. Jorge focuses on creating infographics for the indigenous communities throughout Mexico, ensuring that it only includes recommendations based on their accessible resources. Jorge is also a former nurse, born and raised in Puerto Rico, and now a first-year medical student.

Gloria’s nutritional infographics are created for the larger cities of Mexico and works directly with cardiologists to teach patients on how they can improve their cardiovascular health with diet and lifestyle changes. She is from Rio Grand Valley, Texas and is also a second-year medical student.

Michael is in the process of creating our very first United States nutritional Infographics! He has been working with nutritionists in the Nevada area so we can implement our program into US hospitals and possibly even within Native American communities. Although Michael is originally from Las Vegas, Nevada, he used to work as a paramedic in Costa Rica and is now a second-year medical student!

Lastly, Jonathan is our social media coordinator! Even though he has experience in research, teaching, and a master’s in biomedical science, he enjoys being an advocate for nutritional health through social media!

To help our team kickstart and maintain our programs, donate to our GoFundMe today!

https://gofund.me/e3edb3b8

After only 2 days we have reached 25% of our goal! TCI is beyond grateful for all the donations, shares and support.

To show our appreciation we will be mailing free TCI T-shirts to everyone that donates over $50 if our goal is met!
(within the US & Mexico)

If we meet our goal here is how the money will be dispersed:

- We will be able to implement our after school program into over 30 elementary schools within underserved communities that do not have the funds for extracurricular activities or supplies. The prevalence of diet related cardiovascular diseases within underserved communities is disproportionately high, which is why we believe that it is necessary to teach children at a young age about healthy eating habits.

- We will work closely with nutritionists and cardiologists to help ensure that patients suffering from diet related cardiovascular disease will have the option to receive a 15-30 minute nutritional counseling session at their cardiologists office. Each session will be personalized for the patients based on their specific cardiovascular disease and social cultural needs.

- We will begin the process of becoming a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Benefits of becoming a 501(c)(3) are tax deductible contributions, exemption from federal income tax, tax exempt financing, and more!

-A customized website to inform all our supporters of the work we are doing and how they can get involved.

Help us fight diet related cardiovascular disease and donate today!

https://gofund.me/e3edb3b8

We are now LIVE!!! Everyone please like, share and donate.

We hope everyone see's the importance in our mission and that with your support we can begin reducing the rate of diet-related cardiovascular diseases!

https://gofund.me/e3edb3b8

Help Bridge The Gap In Nutrition & Heart Disease, organized by Cynthia Moreno The Cardiology Initiative was founded by a second-year medical stu… Cynthia Moreno needs your support for Help Bridge The Gap In Nutrition & Heart Disease

According to the World Health Organization, more than 75% of cardiovascular diseases can be attributed to the following diet-related, and high-risk conditions: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, low fruit and vegetable intake, and a sedentary lifestyle. With cardiovascular disease being the leading cause of death worldwide, we think it’s time to start focusing on the bigger picture: diet.

One of TCI's approaches to combating this global health crisis is to bridge the gap between cardiology and nutrition. In Guadalajara, Mexico we began a pilot project that allows volunteer medical students to work with cardiologists and counsel patient's on the importance of diet. TCI has created multiple, easy-to-read infographics that teaches patients about simple changes they can make in their diet and lifestyle. Each infographic is specifically tailored for each community's unique cultural needs. Volunteer medical students then counsel patients after their scheduled cardiology appointment while using our infographics as a guide.

We believe that if you have diet-related cardiovascular disease you shouldn't have to make a separate appointment with a nutritionist. One of our goals is to connect every cardiologist with their own nutritionist, so patients can receive a personalized diet for their specific cardiovascular disease.

Our next pilot project will be implemented in Reno, Nevada! Stay tuned!

Did you know that The Cardiology Initiative has created a curriculum that teaches students about anatomy and nutrition? We believe that to prevent diet-related cardiovascular disease, we must encourage and educate students about the importance of diet at a young and responsive age. Therefore, we began working with Level Up Enrichment, one of the largest after school programs in Southern California, to teach students in grades k-5. Our curriculum is currently being taught in three schools throughout San Diego! Our next goal is to implement our curriculum into underserved communities within Accra, Ghana and Guadalajara, Mexico.

If you're interested in implementing our anatomy and nutrition based lesson plans at your local after school program, contact us today! (Lesson plans are available in English and Spanish)