Speakers included Gina Barreca, humorist and English professor at the University of Connecticut, who delivered a keynote address framing heart disease prevention as an opportunity for women to uplift each other. The signature event of the Go Red initiative was held at the New Haven Lawn Club on Feb. “Do they have a good diet? Are they in an environment where they’re getting the care they need? Is transportation an issue?” “When you have a multitude of patients that are presenting to any of our hospitals or within our ambulatory sites, we need to listen and take all the elements around,” LoRusso told the News. It is easy to miss a major symptom without a holistic context of a patient’s life.Īs such, LoRusso pointed to the cruciality of putting a face and a story behind each patient - and teaching them to advocate for themselves. Moreover, as noted by Francine LoRusso - a critical care nurse who currently serves as senior vice president and executive director of the Heart & Vascular Center and Transplantation Center across the Yale-New Haven Health system - heart disease is complex because it involves a multitude of factors, including diet, exercise, genetics and environment. “And then the other 364 days … going out to healthcare clinics, churches, … community centers, women’s business associations and speaking in front of them.” “We started to say, okay, at least one day a year, we’re going to inform women in an educational setting and make people aware,” Freed said. As part of this push, the inaugural New Haven Go Red event was held in 2017. This drove Freed and other women’s care physicians toward a new mission: to inform women about their risk, prevention and treatment options for the overlooked disease. Women in hospitals often are not educated about how to manage risk factors of heart disease, such as getting their lipids checked or blood pressure treated. “Along with local supporters like the Heart and Vascular Center at Yale New Haven Health, we can truly make a difference in our fight to save lives.”Īt the start of her career, Freed noted a lack of basic treatment and prevention methods in medical care for women with heart conditions. Giordano, executive director of AHA Connecticut, wrote to the News. “The American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women movement empowers women to take charge of their heart health while raising funds and awareness,” Adria D. Yet cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death for women: the illness is responsible for about one in every three female deaths, according to the American Heart Association. Until recently, most of the foundational research on heart disease - its symptoms, treatments and medications - were based on data from men. “And it makes you take it seriously, which women don’t always do.”Ĭardiovascular disease has not traditionally been thought of as a women’s disease, noted Freed, and the discourse around it differs from other diseases such as breast cancer, which has created a robust awareness campaign nationwide. “Whether it’s a doctor telling me one of these events, or another just human being with human experiences telling you - it makes it real,” Freed said in an interview with the News. At the signature event, “Heart Smart Ways to Celebrate Your Life,” physicians, nurses, patients and community members joined together for an evening of educational speaker and fundraising events, while learning from each other’s experiences related to heart disease. This year marks Go Red for Women’s return to an in-person gathering after two years of virtual programming. Chaired by assistant professor Lisa Freed - director of Yale-New Haven Hospital’s Women’s Heart & Vascular Program - in partnership with the American Heart Association, the campaign has raised $75,000 for the AHA so far. This case was one of many shared at the New Haven Go Red for Women initiative, an annual campaign to support women’s heart health in Connecticut. Later that hour, she was taken to the hospital for a heart attack. After she told her husband, he offered her an antacid tablet and dismissed it. A woman was shopping for groceries when she felt a sudden pain in her chest.
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