Heart Health
Screen 4 Campaign To Change Heart Disease Odds
By
May 1, 2009 - 2:41:56 PM

(HealthNewsDigest.com)-There's an e-card you can send the women in your life this year that will not only show you care but also help save lives-and it's free.

Sister to Sister: The Women's Heart Health Foundation has created Screen 4, a free online campaign that encourages women to get screened for heart disease in teams of four because one in four women dies of heart disease.

The campaign uses a buddy system that calls for women to get together, get screened and get going with a plan to address heart disease risk factors-which can be reduced by as much as 82 percent just by making small lifestyle changes.

Participation is easy. A woman signs up at www.sistertosister. org/screen4 and forwards an e-card to recruit three others to join her. The site helps each woman identify a location near her home where she can get screened. Women can also be screened by their personal health care providers.

Following the screening, each team member returns to the site, punches in her results and is provided with a personalized heart-health program she can easily implement. Screen 4 participants also have free access to the tools, information and supportive community found on the site.

"There is no stronger bond than the bond between women," said Irene Pollin, M.S.W., Ph.D., a nationally recognized women's health advocate and founder of Sister to Sister. "Screen 4 is a way to capitalize on that bond by encouraging women to help one another through this process. The sad fact is heart disease is preventable, yet one in four women dies from it. We want to change that statistic."

Heart disease kills significantly more women than men each year. While awareness has increased in recent years, only a small percentage of women recognize that heart disease is the No. 1 threat to their personal health.

"I want women to understand how vital it is that they take charge of their own heart health," said JoAnne M. Foody, M.D., and associate professor at Harvard Medical School and director of the Cardiovascular Wellness Center at Brigham and Women's/ Faulkner Hospitals in Boston. "Women are less likely than men to be evaluated by their doctors for cardiovascular risk factors and less likely to receive adequate counseling and treatment for those factors. The Screen 4 campaign is a positive way in which women can make a real change for themselves and others and perhaps save a life."

For more information and to register, visit www.sistertosister.org/screen4.

Pictured: Lynne Brick, BSN

One in four women dies of heart disease, yet the disease is mostly preventable. A new campaign hopes to change those odds.

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