By Page H. Gifford
Correspondent
Deb Silvers will speak Feb. 5 at 10 a.m. at the meeting of the Friends of the Library on behalf of the non-profit WomenHeart about heart disease risk for women. She will discuss what women need to know about their risk and where to get information.
WomenHeart, a national coalition for women with heart disease, was founded in 1999. The non-profit organization was created by three women – Nancy Loving, Jackie Markham, and Judy Mingram – who suffered heart attacks in their forties.
Heart disease and subsequent research were usually focused on men and women were often misdiagnosed and received inadequate treatment. These three women lived in different parts of the country and did not know each other. Still, their experiences and a feeling of being invisible in a healthcare environment that lacked information or services for women with heart disease eventually brought them together.
In 1998, Markham decided she wanted to start an organization to help women living with heart disease. She shared the idea with her friend Myrna Blyth, who had just launched More magazine. Blyth assigned the story of women living with heart disease, to a writer who interviewed Markham, Loving, and Mingram, about their experiences. This resulted in the three women forming a network, reaching out to thousands of women with similar experiences. A year later Womenheart was formed, the first and only patient-centered organization focusing on women’s heart disease.
“Heart disease is the number one risk factor for women,” said Silvers. In the last 25 years, the organization has developed a national network of patient support groups across the U.S. – nearly 100 in 30 states. Over 1,000 female heart disease survivors have become educators and volunteers to advocate for health policies at the federal level. They developed an initiative to help women become aware of their risk, by getting a diagnosis and being treated.
“Know your numbers, including your cholesterol, LDL, HDL, and blood pressure,” Silvers stressed.
