As February comes to an end, so does American Heart Month, a time dedicated to recognizing cardiovascular health. 

What You Need To Know

  • As February is coming to a close, so too is American Heart Month, a time dedicated to recognizing cardiovascular health
  • Spectrum News spoke with Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., who has a personal connection to cardiovascular health; He lost his wife to heart valve disease and has helped to pass a law to prevent similar deaths

  •  The CAROL Act provides financial support for researching heart valve disease, as well as intensified efforts for screening, detection and diagnosis. It also aims to expand the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest registry

Cardiovascular health is very personal topic for Republican Rep. Andy Barr of Kentucky. Barr lost his wife to heart valve disease and has helped to pass a  law with the goal of preventing similar deaths.

“We will make a difference with this bill,” Barr said in an interview with Spectrum News. 

The Cardiovascular Advances in Research and Opportunities Legacy Act, or CAROL Act, is named after Barr’s wife, who died less than three years ago. Congress passed the bill and President Joe Biden signed it into law just before this past Christmas.

“It is a great legacy for a life well lived, a life cut way too short,” Barr said. “Her legacy is going to continue to have an impact because 25,000 Americans die every year of heart valve disease, including mitral valve prolapse, which is what my late wife Carol had.” 

Mitral valve prolapse is a heart valve condition where “the two valve flaps of the mitral valve don’t close smoothly or evenly, but bulge upward into the left atrium,” according to the American Heart Association. It’s typically a harmless condition, but Carol passed away from sudden cardiac death in 2020 at the age of 39.

“It just goes to show we need better research in the field of cardiology to differentiate between the vast majority of people who have a benign condition and people like my late wife who had a life-threatening condition,” Barr said. “Early detection prevention, getting those routine regular heart checks once you've got a diagnosis, getting an echocardiogram can save lives.” 

The American Heart Association, who worked with Barr’s team to draft the CAROL Act, called it “critical legislation.”

“There is a lot that we need to still discover about heart valve disease,” said Nancy Brown, the chief executive officer of the American Heart Association. 

The law provides financial support for researching heart valve disease, as well as intensified efforts for screening, detection and diagnosis. It also aims to expand the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest registry.

"This CAROL Act really helps us expand this national cardiac arrest registry so that we can get even more information,” Brown said.

Brown added the funding for the registry will help “measure the effectiveness of sudden cardiac arrest response systems” and that information can help improve interventions to save lives. 

To pay homage to Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day, which occurred on Feb. 22 during American Heart Month, Barr visited a hospital in Lexington to have his own heart checked.