‘Wear Red Day’ raises awareness about women’s heart health

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) - February is American Heart Month - a time to raise awareness about cardiovascular health.

Friday is Go Red for Women Day.

The campaign is the American Heart Association’s signature women’s initiative to end heart disease and stroke.

Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women.

It claims more women’s lives than all forms of cancer combined.

We spoke with heart survivor, Emily Robertson of Woodland.

At 34, doctors discovered she had Loeys-Dietz Syndrome - a connective tissue disorder that predisposes you for dissections and aneurysms.

Doctors put her on a device that helped her heart pump blood, and in January 2021, she received a heart transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital.

She says it’s important for women to know the warning signs since they’re often different for women than men.

“When it came down to it and my face went numb, like obviously you cannot ignore that, but after I had my heart transplant is really when I realized how sick I was, and I didn’t know it. Whatever you think is off, it’s better to get checked than say I’m getting old because it could save your life,” she said.

“I was 47 when I had open heart surgery. I was a CRP instructor,” said Denise Sullivan of Northern Light Health. “I’m a medical professional, and so, if I’m going to deny it, I promise you that you will too because we think we’re too busy. Get there. Have it checked out, and don’t be afraid because there is so much that can be done to help you, and then you can work on changing those risk factors a little bit at a time.”

In most cases, heart disease is preventable when people adopt a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise, controlling blood sugar and cholesterol, and not smoking.

It’s also important to know how to perform CPR if someone is going into cardiac arrest.

Visit Heart.org./CPR for more information.

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