By Karen Stokes
National Wear Red Day is Friday, Feb. 7. The American Heart Association is asking you to support the Go Red for Women® movement by wearing Red and encouraging others to participate in raising awareness about women’s heart health.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the No. 1 killer of women. Nearly 45% of women over age 20 are living with some form of cardiovascular disease. CVD is also the leading cause of maternal death in the U.S., or more simply put, heart disease is the No. 1 killer of new moms.
Erin Levzow, American Heart Association board member (Photo/American Heart Association)
Erin Levzow, an American Heart Association board member, knows firsthand the importance of the Wear Red campaign and why heart health needs awareness.
“It’s to bring awareness to what we are doing and most people see Wear Red Day as, I don’t have to do anything just wear Red, well no by wearing Red you are saying hey, I care about this cause and I care about the money funding this cause and I care about the people I know and associated with that have a heart condition,” Levzow said. “It’s really about driving the awareness that this is the number one killer in the world and yet we don’t talk about it enough. We talk about cancer, we talk about all these other things, but heart disease is number one.”
Levzow has personal experience with heart disease. Her son was born with Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), he was put in the NICU because they thought there was something in his lungs and it actually turned out it was SVT and he had to be on an adult beta blocker for a good portion of his life. Her middle child had a heart Arrhythmia and her oldest had a hole in her heart.
“We don’t have great hearts,” Levzow said. “I’ve always been big into the heart and what we can do. For me, it’s not only about my children, but it’s about driving the education forward.”
Not only can individuals get involved in National Wear Red Day but also corporations and organizations can sponsor and get involved directly with their local chapter of the American Heart Association.
Locally, buildings throughout Milwaukee that are confirmed to “Go Red” on Feb. 7 are:
•600 EAST
•800 E. Michigan Ave.
•Discovery World
•Hyatt Regency
•Milwaukee Lakefront Brewing
•MGIC
•Milwaukee County Historical Society
•Mitchell Park Domes
•Pabst Theater
•The Pfister Hotel
•Pritzlaff Building
•US Bank Center
“The American Heart Association has not only been able to fund but figure it out. It used to be if you had a heart issue you were going to die. Now we can actually solve it. We can help, whether it’s a stint or something else and that’s really impactful,” Levzow said. “There’s still a lot of funding that needs to happen.”
“Everyone is affected by this, there is no one not affected by heart disease in one form or another. People tell stories of how their grandparents died of heart disease. What if they didn’t have to? What if they had five or ten more years? That is what the American Heart Association does,” Levzow said.
For more information visit heart.org