Wear Red Day Feb. 2 raises awareness about women’s heart health

The American Heart Association has fun fund raising ideas to help increase awareness and help research into women's cardiovascular disease.

LELAND, NC (WWAY) — If you find yourself seeing red on Groundhog Day, don’t blame Punxsutawney Phil.

It’s actually national “Go Red Day”, or “Wear Red Day”, if you prefer, and it’s a day dedicated to raising awareness about women’s heart health.

American Red Cross representative Ashley Miller stopped by Good Morning Carolina to talk with co-host Donna Gregory about this lighthearted way to bring attention to a very serious issue.

“Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death for women in our nation today,” explained Miller.

“Over 45 percent of women over [age] 20 have some form of cardiovascular disease.”

“We really want to create the awareness that everyone needs to know their numbers, their blood pressure, their cholesterol, their blood sugar,” she continued.

Miller says it’s also important to know your body mass index, one indicator of how much fat your body contains.

She recommends women have a yearly physical and keep up with their numbers.

She has other simple tips for reducing risk of cardiovascular disease.

“Eat healthy, don’t smoke, get enough sleep and just exercise,” she suggested.

On February 2, the American Heart Association hopes as many people as possible will remember to wear red clothing or accessories to draw attention to heart health.

“What we want you to do is get up in the morning, we want you to rock your red, take some pictures for social media, ‘hashtag wear red day’, share it with friends, and then visit our web site,” Miller said.

The website includes tips for getting healthy, nutritious recipes and ideas for helping spread awareness about stroke and heart disease.

Miller has a simple way for remembering the signs of stroke at it starts with the acronym ‘FAST’.

• F= Facial expression changes
• A= Arms (if someone appears ‘droopy’, ask them to raise their arms)
• S= Speech (notice whether someone is slurring words)
• T= Time to call 911

Wear Red Day is also an opportunity to fund raise for the American Heart Association, and there are several ideas for raising money on the association’s web site.

“They can also consider getting a team together for this coming October for the Cape Fear Heart Walk and walk in honor of yourself or a loved one,” she added.

Miller says the Heart Walk will be October 26 on the UNCW Campus.

The Heart Association is turning 100, so there are other events planned to celebrate the centennial.

One initiative this year is to get people more involved in being a lifesaver to someone suffering a heart incident or stroke.

“We want you to go on our website and watch some really fun and exciting and inspirational videos, and if you see someone in distress [who] collapses, we want you to call 911 and push hard and fast in the middle of the chest,” Miller advised.

“100 beats per minute to ‘Row Row Row Your Boat’ or ‘Staying Alive’,” she suggested. “But the main thing is to call 911 and to give assistance to someone if you see them collapse.”

Miller says she’s excited to see everyone in their red outfits tomorrow, helping spread the word about keeping women heart healthy in the Cape Fear.