Wear Red Day screening event
Roger Bordon, Othello Columbia Basin Health Association Clinic Manager, and Wendy Rodriguez, certified medical assistant at the same clinic.
MATTAWA - February, the month of Valentines, candy hearts and roses, is also recognized nationally as Healthy Heart Month, which includes National Red Wear Day on Feb. 6.
National Wear Red Day is celebrated the first Friday of February every year to remind women that heart disease remains the number-one killer of women, killing more women than all forms of cancer combined.
"Many women are unaware that there might be something wrong with their hearts until a major health crisis occurs," Columbia Basin Health Association nurse manager Kathy Whitney said. "It is for this reason that we hold annual heart health screening events at all our clinics."
CBHA medical clinics in Othello, Connell and Mattawa have scheduled a healthy heart screening event for women on Friday, Feb. 6, from 10 a.m.-4p.m. It is free of charge, and no appointment is necessary.
Trained personnel will help patients complete a heart health assessment sheet. Blood pressures will be taken. Whitney stressed that all information will be confidential.
"Patients will be referred to a medical professional if a problem is identified from the assessment sheet," she said. Each participant will be given a red dress pin. Their names will also be entered into a drawing for a cookbook.
The Heart Truth Campaign for women was created by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services and the American Heart Association in 2002 to deliver an urgent wakeup call to American women about the danger of heart disease. People are encouraged to wear red to increase awareness about women's heart health issues.
There are a number of risk factors or habits that make a person more likely to develop heart disease.
"Women can control some of these factors, and others are beyond their control," Whitney said.
Factors that can be controlled include smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and triglyceride levels, diabetes, pre diabetes and physical inactivity.
Factors not within a women's control are family history, age 55 or older and a history of preeclampsia (a condition in pregnancy characterized by high blood pressure, sometimes with fluid retention and abnormal quantities of protein in the urine).
"I would like to urge women to stop by a clinic in their area and take advantage of this free screening," said.