Continuing a tradition, on Friday, Feb. 2 Hamilton will once again join many across the nation in wearing red to help promote awareness for women’s heart health.
Hamilton municipal government employees will be wearing red to help bring attention to issues surrounding women’s heart health. Beginning that evening and continuing throughout the weekend, the municipal building and The Grafton House — a historic home in Hamilton — will be illuminated in the color red.
According to the American Heart Association — which started the “go red” initiative in 2004 to help dispel the common misperception that heart disease only affected older men — heart disease and stroke account for one in three deaths among women each year. Statistics indicated that an estimated 44 million across our country are affected by cardiovascular diseases, as well as that approximately one woman every 80 seconds will die from heart disease or stroke.
“The sobering statistics regarding how heart disease affects women illustrates the need to continue raising awareness and educating our loved ones on the importance of women’s heart health; and that is why our community is continuing to do its part of spreading the message by ‘going red’,” Mayor Kelly Yaede said. “The good news is that there are proactive steps women can take to manage their risk factors, and we hope our effort helps to promote that fact.”
The American Heart Association lists several heart disease risk factors that can be managed, such as high blood pressure, smoking, high blood cholesterol, lack of regular activity, obesity or overweight and diabetes.
Additionally the association encourages women to schedule appointments with their medical doctors, as well as to learn their “personal health numbers”, such as blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and body mass index (BMI) and to work with their healthcare providers to determine their risk for developing heart disease.
“I hope all of our residents will join us in wearing red on Friday, Feb. 2 so that we can promote women’s heart health awareness all across our community and can help to save the lives of even more women,” Yaede said.
To learn more about the ‘go red’ initiative, visit goredforwomen.org
