American Heart Association - Essay Example

American Heart Association The American Heart Association is a non-profit public sector national voluntary health agency which operates within the US healthcare system. The mission of the organization is to build healthier lives which are free of cardiovascular diseases and heart strokes. The association works towards spreading awareness regarding heart disease and how it can be managed by those individuals who suffer from one or more kinds of heart ailments (AHA, 2007). Historically speaking, the AHA was formed as the Association for the Prevention and Relief of Heart Disease in 1915 in the city of New York and the first members of the association were volunteer doctors and social workers. Other cities soon started their own associations and they all were later united under the banner of the American Heart Association in 1924. The association has been helping its primary stakeholders, i.e. those who are suffering from heart disease since then and the primary purpose of the organization remains the proper distribution of information (AHA, 2007). After 1949, the association grew rapidly in size with input coming from public speakers, media personalities and other influential individuals who were suffering from heart disease and wanted to help the organization. By 1986, the association was giving regular input to policy makers for helping and improving the national healthcare system and how to improve the American nation’s ability to access top quality healthcare services. The association also shifted its focus towards diversity which allowed it to understand how heart disease affects minorities and women. The AHA also started taking positions on ethical and medical issues and started publishing scientific journals supported by research funding and grants which were gifted to the association (AHA, 2007). This history also shows that there are three important stakeholders for the AHA. First of all, it is the general public and particularly those amongst the general public who are suffering from one kind of heart condition or another. Second, the association provides information and assistance to doctors and nurses regarding the proper care and requirements of heart patients. Finally, AHA associates, endorsed companies as well as professional clients form the last group of stake holders for the organization (Wikipedia, 2007). The first group of stake holders is the people of America and the AHA can be quite a useful source of information and heart disease related data for them. For example, increasing awareness about the link between certain lifestyle choices such as smoking and heart disease is one area where the public becomes a stakeholder. Individuals have a right to know how their choices will affect their lives and the American Heart Association is doing all it can to make sure that the right information gets to the right people. The primary targets for this information appear to be people who have not been put in touch with any sort of heart disease or illness. Clearly, in these cases, the American Heart Association is looking to prevent new cases of heart disease and combat the problem before it becomes a menace. The audience in this case is the younger generation that has a risk of developing heart conditions as they get older. At the same time, the organization also appeals to children in order to get their message across as early as possible. Of course those within the general public who are suffering from one form of heart disease or another have a much higher stake in the organization. For these individuals, the AHA provides information regarding treatment options and drug related information as well (AHA, 2007). Individuals may have questions about how they can conduct their activities of daily living and their jobs after they have had a stroke or after they have recovered sufficiently from a heart condition and the AHA provides a wealth of information on these topics. Similarly, the second group of stake holders is formed of those doctors and nurses who need information regarding the latest developments in the treatment of heart disease. They are professionals looking for scientific evidence about the usability of one type of drug or another and the AHA seeks to distribute information to them about the success rates and effects of old and new medications. For this purpose, the American Heart Association has a science operations branch which looks after the research done by the organization as well as the publication and distribution of the materials produced (AHA, 2007). The AHA also seeks to train doctors and nurses with its program of professional education which presents regularly updated guidelines for the simplest procedures such as CPR as well as more complicated situations such as open heart surgery. All these updates are based on the latest research in the field which is shared by other doctors who volunteer for the organization and then share their own experiences with others (AHA, 2007). This creates a cycle of information and analysis in which medical practices are continually updated and new knowledge can be used to build upon the previous set of knowledge which belongs to the medical community. The last stake holders are those organizations which have been endorsed by the American Heart Association as well as the sellers of the products that have been endorsed by the AHA. For example, a company may decide to donate a part of its earnings from a certain product the AHA if the AHA endorses that product. In that case, the reputations of both companies become intrinsically linked and certain charitable consumers may prefer the products of the endorsed company more than another. However, anything which damages the image of the AHA or the endorsed company could have severe negative affects for both organizations therefore the stake holders have to be careful while linked their products or services to each other. In conclusion, it seems that the AHA is providing some very important services for Americans in general and the primary stake holders in particular. As a non government voluntary organization, the importance of the AHA remains quite high since it is composed not of bureaucrats or policy advisors but doctors and nurses who seem to really care about the health of the nation. If they continue as they have in the past, I see no reason why the AHA could not continue to gain in importance both in America as well as internationally. Works Cited AHA. 2007, ‘American Heart Association’, AmericanHeart.org, [Online] Available at: http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=1200000 Wikipedia. 2007, ‘American Heart Association’, Wikipedia.org, [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Heart_Association Read More