VIVIAN BERRYHILL: Ladies, you've heard some very somber and serious facts this morning relative to heart disease from the experts who preceded me. I want you to give a hand to Dr. Wenger, Yawn, and Ofili. As I look around the room, I see an ocean of beautiful women, educated women, talented women who by virtue of the fact that you are here today indicates that you are concerned about your health and the health of others. But what about the women—can anybody testify with me—who have those stationary bikes in your living room that you—okay. Or, that dust-collecting treadmill in the bedroom that you know you haven't used in two years. I'm not talking to anybody in here, but anybody, no, it's just me. Ladies, there are millions of sisters, millions of women in the world who really want to quit smoking. They really want to eat healthy. They really, really want to exercise. If they just had that support network, for we all know the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

I'm Vivian Berryhill, the President of the National Coalition of Pastors' Spouses, and I am so delighted to be here today. Let's talk some faith facts. I don't know where you live, but where I live in Mississippi, there's literally a church on every corner. As a matter of fact, there are approximately 28,617 African-American churches in the United States. And ladies, let's keep it real; it's no secret that on any given Sunday in almost any Black church in this country, women fill up the majority of the pews. History bears witness that the African-American church remains the primary vehicle in the Black community to rally people, launch movements, and influence the masses. The Civil Rights Movement, the Freedom From Slavery Movement, the Voting Rights Movement all emanated within the Black church. Let's talk a few health facts. I'm not the health expert. You've heard from them already. But I just want to just bring to your attention one particular interest here on the slide. It says that women head 40 percent of the 8.7 million African-American households in the United States.

So what I've shared with you about the African-American church numbers, the women numbers, and what the experts have told you quite sufficiently about the cardiovascular disease, here's my conclusion. African-American churches are prime sites for preventive cardiovascular programs targeting women of color. Up until now, pastor spouses have been an untapped resource in this nation. It used to be a time that unless you played an instrument or had a beautiful, melodious voice and sang good, there was no place for the pastor's spouse to fit in except for on bench number two with a gorgeous hat on looking really beautiful. But in the National Coalition of Pastors' Spouses, a network of approximately 2497 women—and now, we have men—you will find educators, attorneys, doctors, business owners, homemakers, and yes, these dynamic spouses wield considerable influence on the church members and on our clergy husbands, too. So these spouses are more than capable of overseeing the innovative civil responsibilities movement, embedding it in the Black church. The key to a healthy America, ladies and gentlemen, lies in empowering African-American women as health champions to get the job done.

The National Coalition of Pastors' Spouses Hope for Her Heart Program back in the year 2001 in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Ofili was right there when it happened, we birthed this whole concept of embedding the cardiovascular training programs in the African-American church. What we've recognized over the last three years, that the each one, teach one approach—it works, successfully imparting information into the minds of pastors' spouses. They in turn will educate their auxiliary leaders about cardiovascular issues, cardiovascular testing, cardiovascular screenings. Then, the auxiliary leaders, they're going to meet with the quad members and the mothers' board and the deacons' board. They impart that information to the parishioners. And guess what? They go home and they tell their families how we can together stop the proliferation of cardiovascular disease. Now, it's not just the pastors' spouses. We realize that we can't do this without collaborating partners.

So we have neighborhood and community agencies such as Alcoholics Anonymous and YWCA. We have partners such as Dr. Row, who's a committed partner. You'll hear from her later on this afternoon, who will help churches help pastors' wives to get information into the hands of the parishioners. Those Sunday morning bulletins, ladies, they are some powerful vehicles to get people to get information. Another collaborating partner that we couldn't do without out: cardiologists, medical clinics, health and hospital care facilities. We've got to have those kinds of partners because once we empower these women in our churches, they've got to be able to go someplace. So we call on the medical community to join in this effort to help to give us the venues for people to go and get follow-up care, get their meds, get their information so that they can make careful and correct decisions. Another key partner is the media; the media, who would devote television time and print success stories in their newspapers about people who are living better instead of highlighting some of the negative things that we sometimes hear in the media.

Another key partner, the pastors' spouses have partnered with a national coupon company because we recognize that it is expensive to eat healthy. Junk food is cheap. Healthy food costs money. So coupon companies are partnering with us to encourage people to shop for healthy foods with coupons. Another partner: grocery stores. Grocery store chains will offer incentives and will highlight weekly specials on foods that keep us heart-healthy. And last but not least, government and private corporations. Government agencies such as the Women's Division in HHS, that's why we're here today. It's key that we partner all of us together if we're going to move from talking to doing to resolving this issue. So in closing, you all are smart ladies, and we have some smart gentlemen in here, also. You do the math. Pastors' spouses embedding cardiovascular programs in African-American churches in conjunction with local partners produce healthy people. Thank you for having me. Let's get busy.