Throughout the month of February I will be sharing information on the heart, from statistics, exercise and involving your kids in being heart smart. Feb. 1 kicks off the month with Women’s Heart Health Awareness and wearing red.

Go Red for Women

The American Heart Association launched National Wear Red Day in 2003 to bring attention to cardiovascular disease, which claims the lives of nearly 500,000 American women each year. In 2004, the AHA created Go Red for Women to educate women on heart disease and increase funding for heart disease research and treatments for those in need.

Since the first National Wear Red Day 10 years ago, tremendous strides have been made in the fight against heart disease in women, including: 21 percent fewer women dying from heart disease; 23 percent more women aware that it’s their No. 1 health threat; publishing of gender-specific results, established differences in symptoms and responses to medications and women-specific guidelines for prevention and treatment; legislation to help end gender disparities

I’m looking forward to sharing information with you over the next month. Heart disease is close to my heart. My grandpa died in 1973 at the age of 57 of a heart attack. My dad suffered his first heart attack in 1996 at 57 and survived. His sister had heart surgery and his brother had a triple by-pass three years ago.