Let’s begin with a Valentine story/case-study designed especially for our blog visitors at Florida Lung, Asthma and Sleep Specialists. Our characters meet on a bright February Day in a large Orlando bank where they are hard at work with the day’s business.
Valentine Red is for Hearts and Lungs!
His long time executive secretary, “Maria Elkins,” brought the morning’s bright pink messages into the bank president’s office. Robust but silver-haired, Luke Windstrom noted there were 37 of the little notes, accumulated in just one hour during his last meeting. Busy Morning.
He casually looked up to see Liz was wearing a bright red business suit. As she rushed back out to her busy reception desk, he could not help but think casually that the red suit was quite a new look for Mrs. Elkins, who usually only wore brown.
A little while later he noted that one of his most exclusive clients also wore bright red leggings and a red tunic, as she sat by his desk chattering away about her IRA.
When he paused for lunch he saw his four lady tellers sporting various red outfits. Two male tellers grinned up at him. One had a red tie. The other one wore a crisp red dress shirt. He puzzled a moment, wondering if he had missed an email. Something was happening.
Why Is Everyone Wearing Red Today?
He knew it was not yet Valentine’s, although it was February. Then he saw the poster adorning his vice-president’s desk, and that was when he realized all the red outfits were promoting National Wear Red Day® in honor of heart health.
The organization “promotes the Red Dress® symbol and provides an opportunity for everyone to unite in The Heart Truth’s® life-saving awareness-to-action movement by putting on a favorite red dress, red shirt, or red tie. The Red Dress Pin is now available from WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, a partner of The Heart Truth.”
He was suddenly stricken with sharp pangs of grief. It had been 14 years since he lost his beloved wife, Iris, to a sudden, brutal a heart attack. Her absence still hurt him. Any mention of hearts and heart disease would startle his memories from his carefully placed mental and emotional compartments.
Valentine Hearts and Lungs Deserve Loving Care!
Rhonda, an astonishingly beautiful black woman in her mid-forties, the bank’s vice president, shook his hand with a business like grip. She startled him out of his reverie, and ushered him into her office chair for their meeting.
She had worked for him for 16 years, and she could read his expressions. She had known him and Iris personally and professionally. “Alright, he said to her. It’s time. Tell me about this heart campaign thing.”
Rhonda gave him some heart disease facts, and perhaps you’d like to know them too.
1. 80 percent of women ages 40 to 60 have one or more risk factors for heart disease.
2. Just living with one risk factor doubles a woman’s chance of getting heart disease.
3. The NHLBI (National Heart Lung Blood Institute) has informed us that a woman of any age must protect her heart health. In spite of this warning, “among U.S. women ages 18 and older, 17 percent are current smokers. Among women ages 20 and older, 64 percent are overweight (BMI of 25 or greater), 27 percent have hypertension, and 45 percent have high cholesterol.”
4. Her large eyes reflected a more personal pain, as she stated, “African American and Hispanic women, in particular, have higher rates of some risk factors for heart disease, and are disproportionately affected by the disease compared to white women.
5. More than 80 percent of midlife African American women are overweight or obese, 53 percent have hypertension, and 11 percent have been diagnosed with diabetes.
She added, “That’s why Maria is always on a diet.”
You see, “Eighty percent of Hispanic women ages 20 and older are overweight or obese and 15 percent have been diagnosed with diabetes.
To learn more, read about heart disease risk factors or watch The Heart Truth Heart Attack Risk Factors video, which address the two types of risk factors associated with heart attacks.
How Do I Find Out if I Am at Risk for Heart Disease?
Florida Lung, asthma and Sleep Specialists know, heart disease cannot be “cured.” Fortunately, it’s a problem you can do something about. Careful lifestyle choices help our patients with both their hearts and their lungs.
We wear red to encourage women to take steps to reduce their risk for heart disease or control it, if they have been diagnosed.
Rhonda was feeling her enthusiasm for heart health. Like the heart health advocate she had become, she handed Luke a brochure from her desk. We leave them in that tableau to focus on the list of risks for heart disease:
Talk to Your Doctor about these risks of heart disease:
Give Yourself a Valentine! Women, check your heart health.
Having High blood pressure, or High blood cholesterol,
Suffering with Diabetes and prediabetes,
Smoking,
Being overweight or obese, or being physically inactive,
Having a family history of early heart disease,
Having a medical history of preeclampsia during pregnancy,
Living with an Unhealthy diet
Age (55 or older for women)
Hearts are Not the Whole Story
It’s that time of year when we see hearts for Valentines and when we hear of many heart related charity events, which are supported by various organization like the one mentioned above.
Women need to watch heart and lung health for long and happy lives.
Here at FLASS, we hope that even as you increase your awareness of heart disease, you will also become more aware of the role of your lungs in maintaining your health.
With a healthy regime of physical activity, you can do good things for both your heart and lungs—ironically, the same good things!
As we have said, “when we have wished you a Happy Valentine in previous years, we asked that you wear red in honor of Valentine’s Day or in honor of heart disease awareness month. However, we want you to know that in your heart, you are wearing red for awareness of your healthy lungs, too!”
Luke wishes there had been public awareness of heart risks for women at the time of his wife’s death. He now wears a little red lapel pin every February, not Iris, but for all the ladies in his life.
