VCU takes National Wear Red Day to heart

Faculty, staff and students from Virginia Commonwealth University and the VCU Medical Center kicked off American Heart Month by participating in National Wear Red Day to show their support for women’s heart disease awareness.

More than 400 students and employees dressed in red gathered in the courtyard outside of the Hermes A. Kontos Medical Sciences Building on Feb. 3 to form a red heart. Organizers said the human valentine symbolized the commitment of the VCU community to raise awareness about the risk of heart disease, especially among women, and what can be done to lower the risk.

In addition to participating in the heart photo, students from the VCU schools of Medicine and Pharmacy provided educational materials about heart disease to the public in the entrance corridors to the Gateway and Main Hospital buildings of the VCU Medical Center.

More women die of heart disease than from all cancers combined, yet only 20 percent of women identify heart disease as the greatest health problem facing women today. In addition, many fail to make the connection between the risk factors for heart disease and their personal risk of developing it.

National Wear Red Day is part of a public education campaign about heart disease sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health.

For more information on the campaign and heart disease, visit www.hearttruth.gov.