Last week the American Heart Association honored Rep. Rick Glazier with the North Carolina Heart of a Champion Award, the highest honor bestowed by the American Heart Association on a legislator in North Carolina. Representative Glazier has been a consistent champion of all of the Heart Association’s legislative priorities in his time in the legislature. In 2009, he was one of the co-sponsors on HB2, which made all bars and restaurants smoke-free. When asked why he was supportive of the smoke-free law in 2009, Glazier responded, “We'd seen the health data that existed throughout the state. North Carolina has one of the highest smoke-related illness rates in the country, with about $280 million in direct costs from second-hand smoke and somewhere close to $2 billion in direct health costs from smoking in general. And the incredible effect it was having on the healthcare system and the economy were big indicators.”
During the last legislative session, he quietly worked behind the scenes in a bi-partisan manner to amend a bill related to e-cigarettes to insure they would be treated and regulated in a similar manner to other tobacco products. Rep. Glazier has also been a champion of other AHA priorities related to pulse oximetry testing and stroke centers in North Carolina. When Peg O’Connell gave Rep. Glazier the award last week, she stated, “You have been a supporter of literally every AHA priority over the years.” Rep. Glazier was excited to receive his award and later told Betsy, "I am honored to receive the North Carolina AHA Heart of a Champion Award. The work of the American Heart Association in North Carolina has now saved thousands of lives and continues to leave a lasting legacy of better health for us all."
We can’t think of a better person to honor than Rep. Glazier for his tireless advocacy to make North Carolina a healthier place.
Many thanks to Lee Storrow, You’re the Cure advocate, for writing this post!
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