According to goredforwomen.org, one in three deaths among women are caused by heart disease and stroke each year. That’s one woman dead every 80 seconds due to heart conditions.

These women are our mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, aunts, and grandmothers.  They’re our friends, coworkers and teachers, and the most unfortunate part about losing any of them to heart disease is that more than 80 percent of these deaths are preventable. With a little more awareness and education, we can change the health outlook of every single lady around us.

Jane Fox, RN, who serves as the Director of Heart Services for Intermountain Healthcare’s South Region, feels strongly about heart health. “Women’s heart health is such an important issue to address. If we don’t take strides to educate women about the resources available to them, then the numbers of women affected by heart disease is only going to go up,” she explained.

The first National Wear Red Day® was held in 2003, and it’s grown each year into a formidable force against heart disease. The people behind goredforwomen.org strive to inform women of the resources available to them. Having everyone wear red on the same day helps motivate females across the country to get regular check-ups on their heart health. Early detection of problems can often be the beginning of the cure.

How You Can Raise Awareness

Another way to raise awareness is to take to social media with the hashtags #GoRed and #GoRedWearRed on February 5. It’s an easy way to inform your friends and family members of the simple steps they can take to improve their heart health.

It’s easy to think heart disease won’t happen to you or anyone you know, but statistics show it does and will happen at some point. Something as simple as sharing an article encouraging your Facebook friends to get a heart checkup or to wear red on February 5 could literally be the first step in saving a life.

So on Friday, February 5, make sure your wardrobe includes red and help flood social media with Go Red hashtags. The goal is to get people talking about heart health because dialogue saves lives. And that dialogue starts with a single person so let’s start talking.