Session Recordings, Speaker Information and Transcripts

Hypertension: World’s Leading Preventable Cause of Death

Paul K. Whelton MB, MD, MSc
Show Chwan Health System
Endowed Chair in Global Public Health
Tulane University Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine

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Resources

• American Heart Association: What is High Blood Pressure?
• American Medical Association: Hypertension
• Center for Disease Control and Prevention: High Blood Pressure
• Million Hearts: Estimated Hypertension Prevalence, Treatment, and Control Among U.S. Adults
• 2025 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Update Fact Sheet, At-a-Glance

How Can We More Effectively Communicate about High Blood Pressure?

Policymakers, the public, and health systems prioritize hypertension below its enormous human, economic, and societal impact. One result is that the U.S. is losing ground on hypertension control. Attendees will gain language (words that work) and skills to meet the public and other stakeholders where they are and drive meaningful change.

John Clymer interviews Frank Luntz, PhD.

John M. Clymer
Executive Director
National Forum for Heart Disease & Stroke Prevention

Frank Luntz, PhD
Renowned Communication Researcher & Pollster

Questions this session will answer:

• How can we strengthen our messaging about raising the priority on hypertension prevention and control?
• How can we close the perception gap between the death and disability caused by the “silent killer” and the priority people put on it?

Rosy McGillan interviews Laura Ries

Rosy McGillan
Chief Marketing and Communications Officer
American Red Cross

Laura Ries
Chairwoman
Ries Positioning Pioneers

Questions this session will answer:

• How can we position hypertension as a high priority for action with patients and consumers?
• How can we position hypertension as a high priority for action with healthcare leaders and healthcare system decision makers in mind?

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Slide Deck – Laura Ries

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Resources

• Words That Work – It’s not what you say, it’s what people hear. By: Frank Luntz
• Books by Laura Ries

Raising the Priority on Hypertension Management and Potential of Self-Measured Blood Pressure (SMBP)

Some health systems have significantly improved hypertension control in their patient populations. SMBP is massively under-utilized even though it increases the proportion of patients with blood pressure at goal, and it is cost-effective.

Attendees will learn about replicable successes and lessons that systems can apply to HTN control throughout the U.S. and how we can enable more people to benefit from SMBP.

Celeste Philip, MD, MPH
Professor of Public Health Practice
Meharry School of Global Health

Crystal Decuir, MSN, RN-BC
Chief Nursing Officer
SWLA Center for Health Services

Question this session will answer:

• What clinical and systems strategies represent easily implementable actions to improve hypertension control?

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Resources

• National Association of Community Health Centers: (Video) Integrating SMBP Into Hypertension Management: A Clinician Success Story
• National Association of Community Health Centers: (Video) Making SMBP Work for Your Patients: Tips for Community Health Centers
• National Association of Community Health Centers: (Journal Article) Self-Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Perspectives from Community Health Center Clinicians
• National Association of Community Health Centers: Accelerating Hypertension Control Guide

Vital Conditions for Health and Wellbeing: How They Relate to Hypertension

Hypertension is influenced by several of the Vital Conditions for Health and Wellbeing. Vital Conditions are community-level properties of places and institutions everyone needs to reach their full potential.

Attendees will learn how hypertension control can be improved by addressing fundamental needs such as health and safety, humane housing, meaningful work and wealth, lifelong learning, reliable transportation, a sense of belonging and civic engagement, and a thriving natural world.

Becky Payne, MPH
President and CEO
The Rippel Foundation

The Honorable Angie Nelson Deuitch, MPA
Mayor of Michigan City, Indiana

Dan Lackland, DrPH
Professor of Epidemiology
Medical University of South Carolina

Questions this panel will answer:

• How could strengthening vital conditions reduce the prevalence of hypertension and support better health outcomes?
• How can we use the Vital Conditions to craft multi-solving initiatives (which generate multiple benefits, including, but not limited to, hypertension)?
• How could we change conditions to improve blood pressure management in the Stroke Belt and other regions with high hypertension prevalence?
• How can we successfully implement strategies to lower salt consumption?

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Slide Deck – Becky Payne

Summary and Key Points

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Resources

• The Vital Conditions for Health & Well-Being (Video)
• Background on Vital Conditions
• Background on Belonging & Civic Muscle
• PLOS One Article: “How can the United States Make a Great Stride Toward Multi-Racial Well-Being?”
• Health Affairs article: “Organizing Around Vital Conditions Moves the Social Determinants of Health Into Wider Action”
• National Association of Community Health Centers Interactive Webpage

Reactions to Hypertension Takedown™ and Key Takeaways

John M. Clymer

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Make America Healthy

John M. Clymer

Interviews

Stephanie Haridopolos, MD
Acting Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor
Office of the Surgeon General

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Closing and Adjournment

Convening Slides- Summary 

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