HHS RELEASE--WOMEN'S HEART DAY (fwd)

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone;

I got this article today and I wanted to pass it on to everyone. Many women who

have chest pains and given the standard testing that they give to " men " it shows

that everything is all right. But in fact the problems many of the women have a

problem most men don't have our blood vessels tend to shrink or get smaller.

THIS IS ALSO ANOTHER REASON SO MANY OF US RSDER'S ARE HAVING HEART ATTACKS &

HEART FAILURE! I know it is so hard for us to get through to many of the

doctors heads that we RSDSer's aren't normal. Because one of the main problems

we have with RSDS is that our blood vessels tend shrink and some times then get

engorged & there can be damage done. But women aren't the only ones that this

happens to it has happened to some men also especially those with RSDS.

There is an article in Womens Say magazine the 11/1/02 issue that talks about

the problems of women with heart problems and the many mis-diagnoises that there

are by not only ER Dr.s but family and other doctors of other specialties too.

The title of the article is " Cutting-Edge News About Heart Disease " A NATIONAL

STUDY IS SHINING ON WOMEN'S NUMBER ONE HEALTH THREAT. " Page 60 to 63. You can go

to www.womensday.com to read it too. If you can't read the message that I've

forwarded below you can go to www.nhlbi.nih.gov and read the report on " healthy

Heart Hand-book for Women " .

There is another article that I have read that was published by an arthritis

magazine that talks about heart problems that have gone un-diagnoised by doctors

of people with diseases that cause inflammation in their bodies and how they are

dieing of heart problems not caught. I am currently searching for that magazine

in the house (only god knows when or where I'll find it, LOL). But as soon as I

do I will send the article on to all of you.

One of the main reasons I am sending this on to all of you is that if you are

having any type of chest pains PLEASE DON'T LET THE DOCTORS BLOW YOU OFF! PAIN

IS A SYMPTOM THAT SOMETHING IS WRONG AND MANY TIMES WE & OUR DOCTORS TEND TO

BLAME ANY AND ALL PAIN ON OUR RSDS.

Love,

Rene'e

---------------------- Forwarded Message: ---------------------

To: HHSPRESS@...

Subject: HHS RELEASE--WOMEN'S HEART DAY

Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 11:17:02 -0500

Date: February 21, 2003

For Release: Immediately

Contact: NHLBI Communications Office

(301) 496- 4236

Headline: HHS ANNOUNCES WOMEN'S HEART DAY AND HIGHLIGHTS

THE RED DRESS PROJECT TO EDUCATE WOMEN ABOUT HEART DISEASE

HHS Secretary Tommy G. today proclaimed the third Friday in

February, February 21, as Women's Heart Day. Secretary also

highlighted " The Red Dress Project, " the centerpiece of a national campaign

-- The Heart Truth -- from the National Institutes of Health's National,

Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), designed to raise awareness that

heart disease is the number one killer of American women.

" Only about one-third of American women know that heart disease is the

leading cause of death among women. In fact, one in three women dies of

heart disease, " Secretary said. " The good news is that heart

disease is preventable. There are simple steps to women's heart health: Be

sure to exercise, eat fruits and vegetables, and don't smoke. Women also

should talk to a health professional, find out about risk factors, and take

action to control them. "

The Red Dress Project of The Heart Truth campaign includes a collection of

19 red dresses from America's most prestigious designers and a specially

designed Red Dress pin from the Cummings Studio. The red dresses

were on view last week during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York where

First Lady Bush announced the red dress as the national symbol of

women and heart disease awareness with the message that " heart disease

doesn't care what you wear. "

" Women need to recognize that heart disease is a women's health issue, " said

NHLBI Director Claude Lenfant, M.D. " The NHLBI designed The Heart Truth

campaign to be an urgent wake-up call to get women to take heart disease

seriously and motivate them to take action to protect their heart health. "

Heart disease risk factors include those that are beyond women's control -

family history of early heart disease and age, and those that can be

controlled. The risk factors that can be controlled are smoking, high blood

pressure, high blood cholesterol, overweight/obesity, physical inactivity

and diabetes. While having even one risk factor is dangerous, having

multiple risk factors is especially serious, because risk factors can worsen

each other's effects.

" We're delighted that Secretary has proclaimed today -- and the

third Friday of every February -- as Women's Heart Day. Raising awareness

that there is a problem is the first step in getting women to make the

changes in their lives that can help lead them to a healthy heart, " said

Irene Pollin, president and founder of the Sister to Sister Foundation.

The Red Dress Project will be on public display Monday, Feb. 24 through

Sunday, March 2 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Hubert H.

Humphrey Building, located at 200 Independence Ave., S.W. Visitors will be

required to present photo identification to enter the building.

In addition to working with the fashion industry on the Red Dress Project

and joining with the Sister to Sister Foundation in supporting Women's Heart

Day, other groups are working to help spread the messages of The Heart Truth

campaign, including the American Heart Association, the Office on Women's

Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, WomenHeart: the

National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, and other organizations

committed to advancing women's heart health.

The Heart Truth campaign also includes women-targeted consumer television,

radio and print public service advertisements (PSAs), which use hard-hitting

visuals and testimonials to deliver a wake-up call and help women focus on

both their " outer " and " inner " selves. The PSAs are supplemented with

consumer materials including a brochure on heart disease (available through

1-800-575-WELL); The Healthy Heart Handbook for Women, a comprehensive guide

for women on detecting and controlling heart disease risk factors; a

speaker's kit to assist community leaders and interested consumers in

spreading the word about heart disease to women at the local level; and Web

pages on NHLBI's Web Site: www.nhlbi.nih.gov/. The Red Dress pin will be

available to the public on the campaign's Web page in early April.

Additional information on The Heart Truth campaign and related topics, can

be found at the following Web sites: www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/hearttruth;

www.americanheart.org/simplesolutions; http://www.4woman.gov/ and

www.womenheart.org.

###

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