Nearly 240 people decked out from head to toe in red gathered December 7 at Monroe Golf Club for Rochester’s annual Go Red for Women Luncheon to raise awareness and help fund the fight against heart disease and stroke, which claim the lives of more women than all forms of cancer combined. The event raised nearly $130,000.
“The Go Red for Women Luncheon is not just about wearing red. This is about all of us standing together and doing something to fight our No. 1 killer, which claims the lives of one in every three women. Losing even one woman to this largely preventable and treatable disease is too many,” said Karen Keady, vice president and chief nursing executive at UR Medicine and chairwoman of Rochester Go Red for Women.
With a theme of Be the Beat, this year’s luncheon featured tools and information to help the Rochester community improve training and bystander CPR rates for women, who are still less likely to receive bystander CPR than men. The American Heart Association notes nearly three out of every four cardiac arrests happen in homes and is calling for at least one person in every household to learn Hands-Only CPR. The two simple steps of Hands-Only CPR are to call 911 and to push hard and fast in the center of the chest until help arrives.
Women are less likely to receive bystander CPR partly because people fear accusations of inappropriate touching, sexual assault or injuring the person. By equipping people with Hands-Only CPR training, they learn how simple the technique is and gain confidence that will help them act quickly in an emergency.
Sudden cardiac arrest survivor Lynda Marino shared her story. Her heart stopped while driving eight years ago. She shared that because strangers took action to save her life, she’s still able to share her story.
Since 2004, the American Heart Association, devoted to a world of healthier lives for all, has engaged more than two million women to learn their risk of heart disease and stroke, and take powerful steps to take charge of their health through its Go Red for Women movement. While advocacy and educational campaigns focused on heart disease have made great strides in improving knowledge and attitudes among women, health disparities still exist among and between women.
Go Red for Women is nationally sponsored by CVS Health and the Rochester Go Red for Women Luncheon is locally sponsored by UR Medicine, Country 100.5 and News 10 NBC. For more information, visit http://RochesterGoRed.heart.org.
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