National Woman’s Heart Day

National Woman’s Heart Day,® a Day of Education and Caring Hearts

Here’s an opportunity for all of us to help women by encouraging our mothers, sisters, daughters, friends and coworkers to attend the 2007 Woman’s Heart Day. This free event is sponsored by Sister to Sister: Everyone Has a Heart Foundation. Participants at this annual event will have the opportunity to be screened for heart disease, get helpful tips on how to live a heart-healthy lifestyle and be alerted to personal risks to their health. Many women may owe their lives due to early detection of heart disease at past events.

Mrs. Irene Pollin, president and founder of Sister to Sister: Everyone Has a Heart Foundation, initiated Woman’s Heart Day to help “increase awareness about women's heart disease and to encourage heart-healthy lifestyles among women.”

Since the U.S. Congress recently declared the third Friday of February to be National Women’s Heart Day, the annual event has grown, from one city in 2000 to 16 cities in 2007.

Washington Adventist Hospital and Shady Grove Adventist Hospitals are the “Official Hospital Sponsors” for the Sister to Sister: Everyone Has a Heart Foundation for the District of Columbia.

Washington Adventist Hospital was part of the very first National Women’s Heart Day and has been a participant ever since.

Get to Know the Facts about the Number One Killer in Women

Trivia question: Since 1984, what disease has been the number one killer in women? Here’s a hint: It has killed more
women than men.

If you guessed breast cancer, you’d be wrong. Yet women naturally focus on breast cancer in a belief that it kills more women than any other disease.

The real number one killer of women is heart disease.

Alarmingly, one woman dies from a heart attack or stroke every 60 seconds in the United States. But thanks to the efforts of many over the last six years, more and more women are becoming aware of this life-threatening disease.

Here are some statistics you may not be aware of:

• One in three women die of heart disease, while about one in thirty die from all cancers combined.
• Disproportionately, this disease kills about 1 1/2 times more African American women than those of other racial groups.
• After menopause, women’s risk for heart disease drastically increases.
• One in four women over 65 has heart disease.

The Cardiac Outreach Program at Washington Adventist Hospital offers ongoing classes and screenings to assist
women in realizing their risk factors. The program offers education, screenings, counseling and referrals so women can make healthy lifestyle changes and decrease their personal risk.

Diagnosing heart disease in women is challenging because the tests that are used to detect heart disease are more reliable for men than for women. Even the symptoms of heart disease can sometimes be different for women than men. For instance, besides chest pain or pressure, women may experience shortness of breath or unusual and overwhelming fatigue and anxiety. They may also feel pain in the areas of the jaw, neck, back or stomach.

If you or a loved one is experiencing any of these symptoms, get help right away by calling 911 or immediately contact your primary care physician.