The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada is a Canadian charity dedicated to advocacy, education, and the funding of

research Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

surrounding

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, h ...

and

stroke A stroke is a disease, medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemorr ...

Nomenclature

In November 2016, the organization re-branded as ''Heart & Stroke'' and introduced a new logo; the new branding is meant to signify a more "personal" approach to its marketing, with a wider targeting of younger demographics and immigrants.

Activities

Heart and Stroke works with medical doctors and healthcare institutions to reduce mortality from cardiovascular events. Key institutional stakeholders include provincial ministries of health, hospital associations, and healthcare institutes. They have collaborated with the Canadian Stoke Society and the Health Canada Laboratory Centre for Disease Control to create the Stroke System Coalition. Heart and Stroke fund and take part in research and fund publications of research that addresses the way in which women and other demographic groups are particularly affected by cardiovascular incidents.

Publications

In early February 2018, the organization released ''Ms Understood'', a report about how women's early warning signs of a heart attack are frequently missed.

Fundraising

Heart and Stroke operates a number of fundraising events, including the ''Bike Bike'' event in which 29 riders power one big red bike for twenty minutes. ''Jump Rope for Heart''

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

based fundraising initiative involving physical activities based around skipping Jump Rope for Heart celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2017, with close to 4,000 schools participating across

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. Heart and Stroke's ''Ride for Heart'' is an annual summer running and cycling event based in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, taking place on part of the

Gardiner Expressway The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, commonly known as the Gardiner Expressway or simply the Gardiner, is a partially at grade and elevated municipal expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running close to the shore of Lake Ontario, it extends ...

and

Don Valley Parkway The Don Valley Parkway (DVP) is a municipal expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which connects the Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto with Highway 401. North of Highway 401, it continues as Highway 404. The parkway ...

, both of which are closed for the event. In 2017, Ride for Heart celebrated its 30th anniversary with 15,000 riders and 5,000 runners and walkers. Its title sponsor is

Manulife Financial Manulife Financial Corporation (also known as Financière Manuvie in Quebec) is a Canadian multinational insurance company and financial services provider headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The company operates in Canada and Asia as "Manulife" an ...

. In 2018, Toronto city councilor

Stephen Holyday Stephen Holyday is a Canadian politician who has served on Toronto City Council since 2014. He is currently the deputy speaker and represents Ward 2 Etobicoke Centre. He was first elected in the old Ward 3 Etobicoke Centre during the 2014 municipa ...

requested that the event be moved to inner city streets rather than

, to ease traffic congestion. Proceeds from Heart & Stroke's annual lottery goes toward supporting grants for research at teaching hospitals and universities across the province of Ontario.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Heart And Stroke Foundation Of Canada Health charities in Canada Medical and health organizations based in Ontario Heart disease organizations Stroke organizations Organizations based in Ottawa Organizations established in 1952 1952 establishments in Canada