2010 Louise Lown Heart Hero Award: Making visible what otherwise would go unnoticed

Every day, around the world, people are working to make a difference in cardiovascular health. The most effective work is often performed not by big organizations or government agencies, but by local individuals working in their own communities. The Louise Lown Heart Hero Award was created to recognize individuals and programs for their innovative, preventive approaches to promoting cardiovascular health in low-resource settings.

The award is given to successful grassroots initiatives or programs that creatively respond to the local cardiovascular health needs of the community. These programs focus on building awareness within the community and promoting heart health rather than the use of medical technology.

As a result of receiving the Louise Lown Heart Hero Award, past winners have enjoyed global visibility, new partnerships, and funding opportunities. For example, the 2008 winner of the award, Dr. Toakase Fakakovikaetau, was featured in Lancet for her work screening primary school children for rheumatic heart disease and providing early, effective treatment.

Community-based initiatives meeting the criteria identified below are encouraged to apply for the 2010 Louise Lown Heart Hero Award.

Application deadline: 30 April 2010

Award amount: US$2000

Information about the award including who can apply, criteria, and the application are provided below. The information is also available in Word and PDF versions at www.procor.org or by emailing Benn Grover, ProCor Editor, at bgrover@partners.org.

HISTORY
Dr. Bernard Lown, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, inventor of the defibrillator, and founder of ProCor, created the award in 2007 to honor his wife's lifelong commitment to the rights and wellbeing of others through her work as a social worker, activist, and writer. The award is administered by ProCor.

Past recipients of the award include the Be-Alive With Your Heart Program (2009), a grassroots effort to promote heart health from childhood to old age in Uganda. Rheumatic Heart Disease Prevention Program in Tonga (2008), which screens primary school children for rheumatic heart disease and provides early, effective treatment; and the Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa Children's Programme (2007), which teaches heart healthy practices, such as growing vegetables for their daily meals, to over a million children in rural and urban impoverished settings throughout South Africa. Read more about past recipients at www.procor.org.

WHO CAN APPLY
Applications are encouraged from community-based programs (non-profit, governmental, or private sector) that have successfully worked to promote heart health in developing countries or other low-resource settings (i.e., disadvantaged communities in developed countries) through innovative, preventive approaches. The Heart Hero Award is not a grant. Applicants should focus on their past accomplishments that deserve recognition, rather than future initiatives that need funding. Programs that are accepted for consideration but that do not receive the award will gain increased visibility through ProCor among a diverse global community committed to sharing knowledge in order to prevent cardiovascular disease.

Examples of eligible initiatives include community programs promoting physical activity, nutrition, or tobacco control; population-based interventions reducing diabetes, hypertension, and obesity; patient-focused clinical programs increasing access to screening, identification, and control of risk factors; advocacy and policy activities; and resource development and dissemination.

Award criteria
Applicants should focus on one specific initiative rather than an organization's entire scope of work. The initiative must:

- Build awareness or support action that promotes heart health.
- Be community-based and innovatively respond to local health needs.
- Demonstrate success.
- Be cost-effective and potentially sustainable.
- Have the potential to be adapted or replicated in other settings.
- Have been in operation for a minimum of one year.

Application process and timeline
- Applications are accepted year-round.
- Deadline for the 2010 award is 30 April 2010.
- Applications are reviewed on a continuous basis by an award committee.
- Applicants are notified whether their program has been accepted for consideration.
- Information about programs that are selected for award consideration may be published in ProCor's email news and discussion forum and website (www.procor.org).

- Funds are provided directly to the organization or individual with primary responsibility for the initiative.

For more information
Contact Benn Grover, ProCor Editor
Email: bgrover@partners.org
Telephone: 1 617 732 1318 ext. 3319

APPLICATION

The following required information may be submitted via fax, postal mail, email attachment, or in the text of a plain text email. Abstracts will not be considered.

- Program title
- Program location (e.g., country, state/province/region, city/town/village)
- Contact person
- Organization
- Mailing address
- Telephone
- Fax
- Email
- Website

Please describe the initiative in approximately 500-1000 words. Applications exceeding the word count requirement will be returned for revision or rejected. The following must be included:

- Program purpose
- Program history
- Local needs that are addressed
- Local partners, resources, sources of support
- Strategies or activities that build awareness of cardiovascular disease and/or support action to promote heart health

- Evidence of success and accomplishments (e.g., statistical data, anecdotal stories, etc.)

References
Please provide contact information for three (3) people we can contact to learn more about your program.

Please read and sign the following
- The information submitted in this application for the Louise Lown Heart Hero Award is accurate to the best of my knowledge.

- If this application is accepted for award consideration, I understand that the references provided above may be contacted for more information.

- The information submitted may be published in ProCor's electronic mailing list and website (www.procor.org), and/or in materials produced by the Lown Cardiovascular Research Foundation, and may be edited prior to publication. I understand that the purpose of sharing this information is to promote cardiovascular health.

- I waive and release all claims for any compensation for such use of this information, or for damages, and I hold the Lown Cardiovascular Research Foundation and its funders harmless against any and all claims for damages rising out of the use of this information.

Signature: __________________________ Date: _________

Send the information requested to Benn Grover, ProCor Editor.
Email:bgrover@partners.org
Telephone:  1 617 732 1318  x3319
Fax: 1 617 277 0347
Mail: Louise Lown Heart Hero Award
Lown Cardiovascular Research Foundation
21 Longwood Avenue
Brookline MA 02446 USA