Boston Board Member does PSA during the SuperBowl

CBS aired a :30 second PSA with Mark Sanchez on women’s heart health during the Super Bowl. The PSA uses a heart beat as the theme and features a strong male figure to raise awareness among a predominantly male audience that heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women. CBScares.tv has a link to an essay by leading national expert on women’s heart disease, Malissa Wood M.D. of Harvard/Massachusetts General Hospital, as well as a link to AmericanHeart.org and/or GoRedForWomen.org.

Dr. Wood has been an active member of the Boston board for many years and an advocate for Circle of Red. You can also see Dr. Malissa Wood at the 2010 Boston Goes Red For Women Luncheon and Educational Forums on February 26 where she’ll be educating guests about heart disease and its risk factors.

Thanks to the Boston Goes Red team for recommending Dr. Malissa Wood for this amazing opportunity!

No Comments (Be the first to comment)

Go Red For Women news

Go Red For Women has an impressive list of events and media outreach planned for National Wear Red Day and American Heart Month. This year we’re asking women to Speak Up! for themselves, their families and communities. Our goal is to inspire women to make lasting and impactful lifestyle choices now more than ever to help AHA reach our new 2020 Strategic Impact Goal: To Improve the Cardiovascular Health of All Americans by 20% while reducing Death from Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke by 20%. We also know that to accomplish this goal we need to reach Hispanic women through the Go Red Por Tu Corazón initiative.

Anchors Go Red!
We’re thrilled with our growing list of morning and talk show hosts who will be “Going Red” in support of National Wear Red Day! To name a few, we have the entire cast of the TODAY Show and Fox & Friends, Bonnie Hunt, Keith Olbermann, Wolf Blitzer, George Lopez, on-air talent from Access Hollywood, Showbiz Tonight, E! News and many more national media personalities – not to mention the hundreds of local anchors, weathermen and talk show hosts supporting AHA and Go Red across the country! Also going red are hosts at Telemundo’s “Al Rojo Vivo,” CNN en Español’s “Salud Show” and Univision’s “Despierta America,” the top Spanish-language morning show.

Jennie Garth and Melissa Marty
Jennie is joining us in NYC for a two-day media tour where she will appear on TODAY Show and Fox & Friends live on Friday, the Wendy Williams Show, and interviews with CNN Radio, SELF Magazine, US Weekly, AOL StyleList and numerous entertainment and health Web sites. She will also be speaking at our Go Red Grand Salon, sharing her “heart story” at the New York City Casting Call and filming a segment with Hoda Kotb for our third television special with NBC, produced by Peacock Productions. Check out Jennie’s story here.

Melissa Marty, Univision personality and 2008 Nuestra Belleza winner, will appear on CNN en Español on National Wear Red Day on behalf of Go Red Por Tu Corazón. Se will encourage Latinas to make healthier choices for themselves and their families during her appearance at the Go Red Grand Salon at the Casting Call at Macy’s Herald Square on Friday.

Go Red Grand Salon: AHA’s 2020 Goal and Go Red
The American Heart Association is hosting our first Go Red Grand Salon in NYC on Thursday evening where key opinion leaders from various industries will discuss how major societal institutions can work to advance the AHA mission throughout the next decade. Joan Lunden will moderate the evening, which will begin with AHA President Dr. Clyde Yancy and AHA CEO Nancy Brown discussing the AHA’s 2020 Strategic Impact Goal. Dr. Lori Mosca of Columbia University Medical Center will reveal findings from the AHA’s Women and Heart Disease Tracking Study that uncovers key obstacles in achieving the AHA’s 2020 goal, and a panel discussion will focus on how major societal institutions can work to advance the AHA mission. Panelists include representatives from the CDC, U.S. News & World Report, HBO, Cause Marketing Forum and the perspective of a “Go Red Woman.” Top stakeholders in the movement and hard news media will attend the event.

Nationwide Go Red For Women Casting Call
Again this year, we invite women to share their stories and Speak Up! about how heart disease has affected them at one of the 40+ casting call events taking place across the country. How do they speak up against heart disease? What choices are they making to positively impact the health of their families and communities? The hundreds of stories we hear this year will help inspire other women by example, and we will select a new group of women to represent the movement in our materials, Web site, events and media.

Satellite Media Tour
Celebrity Chef Gale Gand and Dr. Jennifer Mieres, Director of Nuclear Cardiology at NYU, will participate in more than 30 interviews this morning, Feb. 4. They will focus on how to “Go Red” in the kitchen with healthy choices, while preparing two recipes specially developed by Gale Gand. A primary message comes from our 2020 goals around nutrition – that women can make a significant impact on their weight and heart health by lowering their sodium intake, cutting out sugar-sweetened beverages and eating more fruits and vegetables. Viewers will also be reminded to wear red on Friday in support of the movement. (CLICK HERE to view most up-to-date schedule.)

Super Bowl Goes Red
Last year’s media tour at the Super Bowl was so successful, we’ve teamed up with the NFL Moms again this year. More than 40 moms and many of their sons will join us in Miami this week to discuss the issue of heart disease in women…and surely their Super Bowl predictions! Pauline Sharper, mother of Darren Sharper of the New Orleans Saints, and Denise Wayne, mother of Reggie Wayne of the Indianapolis Colts, will support AHA and Go Red as they “face off” on the CBS Early Show on Thursday, Feb. 4. See below for a partial list of participating NFL Moms and their sons below.

Major Sponsor Media Activities
Each year our committed corporate sponsors and supporters help elevate the movement through media outreach of their own. We’re excited about the many planned activities, and have listed a few highlights below:

• Macy’s is running ads that feature Go Red For Women’s logo and our Red Dress pin during primetime, and has designed the first-ever “Little Red Dress” benefiting Go Red For Women, to be sold in select Macy’s stores and at macys.com.
• Merck is sponsoring fitness expert and media personality Andrea Metcalf at the NYC Casting Call to teach women how to get fit.
• Campbell’s has enlisted Celebrity Designer Tim Gunn to lead another red dress design competition. They’ve also lined up a surprise on Project Runway – so tune in this Thursday, Feb. 4 at 10:00 p.m. EST!
• Jiffy Lube and Party City showed their support at the CBS Early Show by turning the plaza RED and talking about their support of the cause.

NFL Moms and Sons – Partial List
Zelda Westbrook & Brian Westbrook (Philadelphia Eagles RB)
Char McNabb & Donovan McNabb (Philadelphia Eagles QB)
Michele Green & Bryant McKinnie (Minnesota Vikings OT)
Pauline Crowder & Channing Crowder (Miami Dolphins LB)
Gloria McDuffie & O.J. McDuffie (Miami Dolphins WR - retired)
Denise Wayne & Reggie Wayne (Indianapolis Colts WR)
Joy Freeney & Dwight Freeney (Indianapolis Colts DE)
Gladys Bettis & Jerome Bettis (Pittsburgh Steelers RB - retired)
Felicia Young & Vince Young (Tennessee Titans QB)
Mary Gurode & Andre Gurode (Dallas Cowboys C)
Jacky Randle El & Antwan Randle El (Washington Redskins WR)
Lito Sheppard & mother, Chris Sheppard (NY Jets DB)
Anthony Adams & mother, Connie Davis (Chicago Bears DT)
Eleanor Starks & Max Starks (Pittsburgh Steelers OT)

Thanks. Hope everyone will be Wearing Red tomorrow, and supporting Heart Month all month long.

No Comments (Be the first to comment)

So……What’s Up and Where are We at Regarding Health Care Reform?

In light of the special Senate election in Massachusetts, we thought you may be wondering what the recent developments mean for the American Heart Association’s goal of passing meaningful, comprehensive health care reform?  And more importantly, how is the AHA responding?

No doubt about it — the election results in Massachusetts have caused a setback for the momentum for national health reform legislation.  But despite what you might be hearing in the media and elsewhere, health care reform is not dead and neither is the American Heart Association’s commitment to our patients who are counting on meaningful reform.  The AHA’s work on health care reform has always been driven by our patient-centered, evidence-based principles, not by the outcome of any given election.  We are continuing to encourage Congress to enact meaningful, comprehensive reform because the problems that heart disease and stroke patients face in the current system will continue, and worsen, without such reform.

In responding to the President’s State of the Union and comments on health care reform, Nancy Brown said in a statement:  “President Obama’s appeal to members of Congress to not walk away from health care reform and the millions of Americans who are counting on it provides hope to the many heart disease and stroke patients who are struggling to get the care they need or are one step away from medical bankruptcy. We, too, call on Congress to act together to quickly pass meaningful, comprehensive health reform this year. Failure cannot be an option.” 

The AHA continues to work individually and in coalition with other patient and consumer groups to encourage Congress to complete its work on comprehensive reform.  Just recently, the AHA’s volunteer leadership sent a letter to Members of Congress urging them to “stay on course and complete the work on comprehensive health care reform this year.” Our You’re the Cure advocates are also continuing in their important work telling their lawmakers, “don’t quit on patients now.”

You can stay updated on the latest news on health care reform and the AHA’s work in this area – including watching a brief new video of patient advocates sharing their personal experience with the nation’s health care system – by visiting our You’re the Cure blog, http://yourethecure.blogspot.com/.

No Comments (Be the first to comment)