Women’s Heart Disease: Go RED in February

Womens-Heart-DiseaseIt is February and everyone knows what that means. VALENTINE'S DAY! Flowers, dinners, cards, and little heart candies given to us by our loved ones. However, equally important in the month of February is "GO RED." You can show your Valentine how much you care by keeping your heart healthy.

Women have so much more to do today than they did years ago. The typical women can be a career women, mother, spouse, house keeper, chef, the list goes on. This type of life leads us to poor diets, lack of exercise and loads of stress. It is no wonder that more women die of heart disease than all cancers combined. In fact, more women than men die of heart attacks. Women are wonderful at taking care of others, but take little time to take care of themselves. As much as 80% of cardiac events in women could be prevented with making the right choices involving the heart by diet, exercise, smoking, screening, and knowing the warning signs of a heart attack.

We as women need to remember to take time for ourselves. The best thing a women can do for her family is to be heart healthy. Now is the time to take time for your heart.

Please call 911, if you are experiencing chest pain, light-headedness, shortness of breath, unusual fatigue or dizziness.

Happy GO RED and VALENTINES DAY!!!

Karen and Renne

Submitted by Karen Callahan, RN, and Renne Pfister, RN, Chest Pain Center Coordinators at Franciscan St. Margaret Health.

The Chest Pain Centers at both St. Margaret Health's Hammond and Dyer campuses were the first accredited centers in Northwest Indiana and only two of 27 in the state. Accreditation by the Society of Chest Pain Centers means that you can be confident that our Emergency and Cardiac departments have the right specialists, processes and equipment in place to provide the highest level of care for patients experiencing chest pain. Learn more