National Women's Heart Day
In February our minds turn to hearts as we focus on Valentine's Day. Too often
we think of a broken heart as an emotional euphemism, yet heart disease is the
number one killer of women as well as men. Yet most women are still woefully
unaware of this. To encourage heart health and heart healthy behaviors in women,
Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson has
declared today the 4th annual National Woman's Heart Day.
This year's celebration brings huge heart-health
expo fairs to major cities including New York, Washington, D.C, Boston, Chicago,
Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. These high-energy fairs offer any woman the chance
to get a FREE heart-health screening and to learn how to keep her heart
healthy. This year's goal is to screen at least 10,000 women screened and to
teach another 10,000 women about heart healthy topics such as eating properly,
exercising sufficiently, quitting smoking, and managing diabetes and stress.
Why get screened? One in three women that we screen is at risk for heart disease.
There are many ways that each of us can make small changes in our behavior to
improve our heart health. For more information about National Woman's Heart
Day activities, go to www.womansheart.org.
Created: 2/20/2004 - Donnica Moore, M.D.
