The American Heart Association as a National Voluntary Public Health Agency

Abstract

The role of the voluntary health agencies in this country is well understood. Tuberculosis, blindness, venereal disease, cancer, and other major public health problems have been attacked by them with notable success, some for as long as 50 years. There is a well established pattern of cooperation with official health agencies and with organized medicine. In its newly added role as a voluntary public health agency, it is important for the American Heart Association to understand these principles and patterns that are discussed here briefly with special emphasis on partnership with nonmedical community leaders, the relationship with the official agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, and on socialized medicine. Good public health work by voluntary organizations is a manifest of the concern of the medical profession with the health of the public and our first bulwark against compulsory government controlled medicine.

Getting grants

“…The American Heart Association, which started as a scientific and medical professional society, became a voluntary health agency in 1946 28 in part so it could support research, in part to do charitable work for those afflicted with heart disease, in part to affect public policy, and in part to formalize its role as an overseer, supporter and critic of the heart disease work of public agencies concerned with the public’s health.…”

Dietary Policy, Controversy, and Proof: Doing Something versus Waiting for the Definitive Evidence

“…In 1946 the Association, until then a private, professional body, voted in favor of becoming a national voluntary health agency, which allowed it to expand its public education and fund-raising activities (15). It established a National Heart Week, and used newspapers, radio, magazines, Hollywood stars and community organizations to publicize heart disease and the need for more money for research.…”

Science, Policy, and Controversy in the Cholesterol Arena

“…In 1946, its members voted in favor of changing the organization into a national voluntary health agency, paralleling the American Cancer Society, which was also undergoing rapid expansion at the time. As a voluntary agency, the AHA could admit lay members to assist in public education and fund‐raising activities (Shepard 1950). The AHA soon became a vigorous promoter of new intersections among social worlds—among heart specialists, journalists, business representatives, and members of the lay public.…”