The Heart Truth Road Show Travels to Three Cities
Tour Features Free Screenings and Counseling, Health Information,
and
Designer Red Dresses on Display
The Heart Truth Road Show, a heart health exhibit, will
travel to local communities this spring to provide free health screenings,
announced the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS). In collaboration with the American College
of Cardiology (ACC) and the HHS Office on Women’s Health (OWH),
the tour will stop in Pittsburgh, Memphis, and Washington, DC.
Only 13 percent of women consider heart disease to be their own
greatest health risk. Yet, an astonishing 80 percent of midlife
women have one or more risk factors for heart disease such as high
blood pressure or high blood cholesterol.
“We know that there is a disconnect among women as it relates
to heart disease and their own personal risk,” said NHLBI
Director Elizabeth G. Nabel, M.D. “Therefore, it is critical
for NHLBI and our partners to be in communities that are at high
risk of heart disease to help women better understand their own
personal risk and empower them to take action for heart health.”
The Heart Truth Road Show travels first to Pittsburgh’s
Century III Mall in West Mifflin, PA on April 21-23, and then stops
at Southland Mall in Memphis, TN on April 28-30. The tour concludes
in Washington, DC at Union Station on May 12-14, which is Mother’s
Day weekend and the kick-off of National Women’s Health Week.
Visit www.hearttruth.gov
for additional information, including screening schedules.
Heart health screenings are an important step in assessing risk
for heart disease. The Heart Truth Road Show will
provide free screenings for diabetes, high blood cholesterol, high
blood pressure, and body mass index. Also at each stop, ACC members,
cardiovascular health care professionals, will be on hand to provide
counseling. “Many women don’t realize that their risk
for heart disease significantly increases based on the number of
risk factors they have,” noted Dr. Nabel. “In fact,
having just one risk factor can increase a woman’s chance
of developing heart disease twofold. Having two risk factors increases
the chance fourfold, and having three or more risk factors increases
a woman’s chance of developing heart disease more than tenfold,”
Nabel added.
The heart health exhibit will also highlight NHLBI’s Red
Dress, the national symbol for women and heart disease awareness
first introduced by The Heart Truth’s ambassador
Mrs. Laura Bush. Accompanying the free screening and educational
materials will be a display of six designer red dresses from The
Heart Truth’s Red Dress Collection Fashion Shows,
which are held each February in New York at Olympus Fashion Week.
Designs to be exhibited at each mall include those worn by the following
celebrities: Calvin Klein worn by model Christie Brinkley; Carmen
Marc Valvo worn by singer Lee Ann Womack; Tracy Reese worn by the
Mamas and the Papas singer Michelle Phillips; Betsey Johnson worn
by singer Nelly Furtado; Luca Luca worn by tennis star Venus Williams;
and Esteban Cortazar worn by “American Idol” judge Paula
Abdul.
NHLBI continues to lead the nation in a landmark heart health awareness
movement that is being embraced by millions, and the Red Dress has
become a widely recognized health symbol across the country. The
Institute created the Red Dress to deliver an urgent wake-up call
to American women, and it has become the much-needed rallying symbol
to unite partners—the fashion world, the women’s health
community, major corporations, and voluntary and community groups—toward
a common goal of greater awareness and better heart health for all
women.
The Heart Truth is a national awareness campaign for women
about heart disease. Its partners include: The Office on Women's
Health, Department of Health and Human Services; the American Heart
Association; WomenHeart: the National Coalition for Women with Heart
Disease, and other organizations committed to the health and well-being
of women. Visit www.hearttruth.gov
for more information.
The American College of Cardiology, a 33,000- member nonprofit
professional medical society and teaching institution, is dedicated
to fostering optimal cardiovascular care and disease prevention
through professional education, promotion of research, leadership
in the development of standards and guidelines, and the formulation
of health care policy.
Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Heart,
Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) plans, conducts, and supports
research related to the causes, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment
of heart, blood vessel, lung, and blood diseases; and sleep disorders.
The Institute also administers national health education campaigns
on women and heart disease, healthy weight for children, and other
topics. NHLBI press releases and other materials are available online
at: www.nhlbi.nih.gov.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's
Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers
and is a component of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services.
It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic,
clinical, and translational medical research, and it investigates
the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases.
For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.
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