CHAMPIONS:
Prevention saves lives and limbs
The Comprehensive Heart and Multidisciplinary Limb Preservation Outreach (CHAMPIONS) is a community-based vascular disease prevention initiative that offers free screening and education, helps connect people to follow-up care, and strengthens the evidence, training, and partnerships needed to improve vascular health.
What We Do
CHAMPIONS brings free cardiovascular risk screening, education, and practical guidance directly into communities.
CHAMPIONS helps people identify potential health risks earlier, better understand what their results may mean, take informed next steps to protect their cardiovascular health, and connect with care when needed. Our collective aim is to reduce health equities and ensure that the benefits of prevention health - addressing disease before it starts - are available to all people, irrespective of background or income.
What makes CHAMPIONS different is that we bring together screening for common cardiovascular risk factors with assessment for peripheral artery disease (PAD), helping participants get a broader picture of their heart and blood vessel health.
CHAMPIONS does not replace medical care or provide a diagnosis. The program helps participants recognize possible risks and understand when follow-up with a healthcare professional may be important.
What Happens at a CHAMPIONS Screening?
Participants receive free screening for common cardiovascular risk factors, along with testing for peripheral artery disease.
Screenings include:
• Blood pressure, height, and weight
• Blood sugar/Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c)
• Cholesterol
• Peripheral artery disease (PAD) assessment
• Education on risk factors, prevention, and healthy living
Participants receive their results, information about what those results may mean, and guidance on appropriate next steps.
Why CHAMPIONS is Different
Many health screenings focus on familiar cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar. CHAMPIONS goes further by also assessing peripheral artery disease (PAD), a form of cardiovascular disease that affects blood flow to the limbs and can be associated with increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
By bringing these assessments together in one community-based program, CHAMPIONS provides a more complete look at cardiovascular risk.
CHAMPIONS:
● Reaches people earlier and in familiar community settings
● Takes a whole-person approach by combining assessments for common cardiovascular risk factors and PAD
● Uses clinically rigorous screening tools
● Helps participants understand their results
● Connects participants to appropriate follow-up care in realistic, accessible ways
By looking at the whole person, including blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, and peripheral artery disease risk, we can help identify concerns earlier, explain what the results may mean, and provide guidance as to realistic next steps for follow-up care.
CHAMPIONS is a community-centered approach designed to reach people who may face barriers to traditional care and create opportunities for prevention before cardiovascular disease leads to serious, life-altering consequences.
Traditional healthcare often identifies vascular risk only after someone enters the medical system or after disease has already begun to progress. CHAMPIONS moves prevention upstream. We partner with trusted community organizations to bring free vascular and cardiovascular screening, education, and guidance directly to people in familiar settings.
Bringing Prevention Into the Community
Many people at risk for vascular disease face barriers to preventive care, including cost, transportation, language, limited access to specialists, and geographic distance from healthcare services.
CHAMPIONS works with community partners—including places of worship, cultural organizations, community events, and other trusted local groups—to make screening and education more accessible.
These partnerships are central to the CHAMPIONS model. They help us reach people in environments where they already feel comfortable and connected, while creating a stronger bridge between community-based prevention and appropriate healthcare follow-up.
Looking at the Whole Person
Vascular risk rarely comes from a single condition. High blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking, and peripheral artery disease can overlap and compound one another.
That is why CHAMPIONS takes a broader approach to screening. Looking across multiple risk factors can provide participants with a more meaningful picture of their health and help identify when additional evaluation or care may be appropriate.
Peripheral artery disease is an especially important part of this work. PAD is common and progressive, yet it can remain undetected until symptoms become serious. Including PAD alongside other cardiovascular risk factors helps bring greater attention to a disease that is too often overlooked.
Prevention Before Disease Progresses
The goal of CHAMPIONS is simple: help people recognize risk earlier, understand what it means, and take action while prevention is still possible.
By combining accessible screening, practical health education, trusted community partnerships, and guidance toward follow-up care, CHAMPIONS is helping shift vascular health from a reactive model toward one centered on prevention.
Contact Us
Interested in partnering or volunteering with CHAMPIONS? Contact us
championshealth@vascularcures.org
@vascularCHAMPIONS
CHAMPIONS@vascularcures.org
Thank you to our Supporters
Binkley Charities
