Cardiac Care Healthy Heart Hero

File:Cardiaccarehealthyheartheroallagesaward.png
"Cardiac Care" Healthy Heart Hero is an All Ages Award from the Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama Council.

This patch program was designed by Jamie Langley, Miss Alabama 2007, to encourage Girl Scouts to learn about their circulatory system and how to keep a healthy heart. Jamie represented the state of Alabama for the title of Miss America 2008, and she is very serious about teaching Alabama (and the whole country) about cardiac care.

Requirements:
Daises: 6 activities
Brownies: 7 activities
Juniors: 10 activities
Cadettes: 12 activities
Seniors/Ambassadors: 14 activities

# Activities

1. 1. 1. Identify different types of fun activities that can be done to promote cardio health.

2. Learn the difference between good and bad cholesterol. How do they affect the heart?
3. Find or draw an outline of a heart. Label the parts of the heart and the direction the blood ﬂows.
4. Learn how to read nutrition labels on food. Identify sodium, fat, and sugar contents of different food items and compare them.
5. Plan a healthy heart meal.
6. Find out the blood types of yourself and your family or troop. Find out why there are different blood types and why it is important to know what they are before having a transfusion.
7. Have your blood pressure taken and learn what the two numbers mean. Find out what a healthy blood pressure is for at least three different age groups.
8. Use a stethoscope and listen to your own heart and those of others.
9. Learn how to take your pulse correctly in two places (wrist and neck). Take your pulse ﬁrst thing in the morning for a few days to get your basic “at rest” pulse.
Then take your pulse after walking or other light activity, and then after running or a heavy activity.

10. Get information from a local or national heart association (American Heart Association, Red Cross. Etc.) and make a presentation about what they do.
11. Visit a hospital or doctor’s ofﬁ ce and ﬁ nd out what they do for people with heart problems.
12. Take a First Aid/CPR class (contact Council, local hospital, or Red Cross).
13. Make a healthy heart exercise plan for you and your troop and chart your progress for a month.
14. Share a chart or display of foods that are healthy for your heart with others.
15. Prepare a healthy heart meal for your family or friends.
16. Talk to your local blood banks about blood drives. Visit or assist at one if possible. Find out how to go about giving blood, make a chart of the steps, and what happens to the blood that is donated.
17. Have troop keep a daily list of the food they eat for a week. Note those that are heart healthy.
18. Invite a nutritionist to your troop meeting and devise a plan on how to eat heart healthy.
19. Create a troop chart illustrating that not everyone’s heart beats at the same rate. Record the pulse rate of each troop member and make a bar graph to show the results. Determine the troop average.
20. Prepare information and activities to share with a group of younger children on keeping a healthy heart.
21. Organize a health fair to promote cardio care in your community.
22. Design program and present to service unit on how aerobic exercise can increase healthy heart. Have troops chart for one month and return results.
23. Organize a heart healthy food drive for your local food bank or soup kitchen.

# External Links

Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama Patch Programs
"Cardiac Care" Healthy Heart Hero