By Kevin Lavery, KWMU
St. Louis – The St. Louis Health Department is receiving a $1.4 million grant to fight cardiovascular disease in the city's African-American community.
The grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health will be used to conduct cardiovascular screenings and encourage African-Americans in eight specific zip codes in St. Louis to change the behaviors that put them at increased risk for heart disease.
Health department director Dr. Hugh Stallworth says heart disease is the city's number one killer.
"This grant will allow us to design models to address this killer, to combat this killer, models that can be replicated by others around the country," Stallworth said.
Health experts say the heart disease mortality rate for African-Americans in the city of St. Louis is 21 percent greater than that of whites.