Heart of Style Tour February is American Heart Month. Across the country there are events to raise awareness about heart health. This is important for all of us as a society, men and women, but the sad truth is that heart disease is the number one killer in women in our country. In an effort to reach as many women as possible in order to make a difference, WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease - the country’s first, and still only, organization dedicated solely to advancing prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of heart disease and empowering women to take charge of their heart health – has teamed with Burlington for the Heart of Style Tour from February 1st through March 31st. Working together, WomenHeart and Burlington are providing free heart health screenings in the Heart of Style airstream that is traveling the country visiting 15 cities and 34 locations. Parked in front of select Burlington stores, WomenHeart Champions invite customers if they would like a free screening. WomenHeart champions are all women who are a part of a sorority of the heart disease survivors. Recently in Miami, Florida we had the opportunity to document one of these events. In speaking with the WomenHeart Champions of Miami it was clear just how passionate these women are about making a difference. “If I help save the life of one woman then I know I did something worthwhile,” Andee Weiner shared. A heart attack survivor Andee has found a new purpose in life in addition to being a grandmother as an advocate for WomenHeart. Rita Hess and Beatriz Fonseca joined Andee and echoed the same message. It is important for women to be aware of their heart health and to not ignore any signs of a potential issue that they may have. This event will be one of three in Miami this week and from what we witnessed, there is no question that the Heart of Style Tour is a success. Both women and men were welcome and are very interested in knowing where they stand in terms of their heart health stats. One of the women who had a screening, Melissa Young, opened up and told us she knows she needs to quit smoking and she felt that this was a wakeup call for her. Susan D’Agostino is a registered nurse at Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Hospital in Miami, a member of the WomenHeart National Hospital Alliance. She arrived to take part in the event as well. The partnership with her hospital and WomenHeart is vital to spreading heart health awareness not just through this event, but everyday at the hospital educating women and even identifying new WomenHeart Champions to become community adovcates and WomenHeart Support Network Leaders. Special thanks to WomenHeart, Eva Maciejewski, the WomenHeart champions, the women who conducted the screenings, and Burlington for allowing us to be a part of this wonderful event. To learn more about the Heart of Style Tour and to find out when it may be coming to your city, visit: |
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