ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) — If you see lots of people wearing red on Friday, Feb. 3, your eyes are not fooling you. It’s National Wear Red Day! It’s a day when folks across the country Go Red in support of women’s heart health.
February is also American Heart Month. The American Heart Association (AHA) wants to raise awareness for heart disease, which is the number killer of women, even more than all six forms of cancer combined.
Devon Brzezynski joined WFXR’s Amanda Kenney and Charmayne Brown to share her heart survivor story. Devon was in the first class of American Heart Association’s National “Real Women” heart survivors with a congenital heart defect.
American Heart Association’s theme this year is “Be the Beat.” It wants you to reclaim your healthy rhythm and keep the beat going. Whether you turn up the tempo, add a new step, or set a new goal AHA says small actions build up to big changes over time.
“Be the Beat” is also putting a focus on CPR. According to AHA, about 70% or nearly 3 in 4 cardiac arrests that happen outside of the hospital happen in homes. If you need to perform CPR, AHA says it will likely be for someone you love. The orgnization also says wome are less likely to receive CPR from a bystander than a man, and men have 23% higher odds of surviving a sudden cardiac arrest than women partly because people are afraid to touch them.
