AHA Awarded Resolution Declaring Friday as National Wear Red Day

“I have a family tradition and it’s not one you look forward to like cookies at Christmas,” began National Go Red Spokeswoman Gail Mates, “it’s heart disease.” Heart Disease is not just a man’s disease. Heart disease kills 1 in 3 women every year. That is more than all cancers combined.

There is no better way to start off Heart Month than with a ceremonial resolution from the DC Council declaring the first Friday of February as National Wear Red Day in the District of Columbia. The DC Council chamber was a blur of red on February 3, as You’re the Cure advocates in red dresses, hats, coats, shoes, ties, and pins displayed their support of Heart Month and the efforts to raise heart disease awareness. AHA thanks the DC Council and especially Councilmember Yvette Alexander, for recognizing Go Red for Women with a ceremonial resolution.

You’re the Cure advocate Gail Mates accepted the resolution by sharing her personal struggle with heart disease. “I was digging my grave with a knife and fork,” she continued.

Although depressed and out of control, Gail decided she would not die from heart disease. “Small, simple changes add up to really big results,” she testified. Gail began walking around her house 5 minutes a day. Today she is proudly preparing to run her first 10K.

If she can change her life, so can we! Change starts with awareness. Mothers, sisters, and friends are dying at the rate of one per minute because they don’t know what you know: heart disease kills. “Speak up and speak out about heart disease,” Gail encouraged. “We all have to band together, wear red, and be powerful, and save the women in our lives.”

Make it your mission to stop the number 1 killer. Show your support by going red! Get started by signing up at GoRedForWomen.org/WearRedDay to check out helpful resources, tools, and tips to help you celebrate in your own unique way.

We want to see your Wear Red photos, so upload them at Facebook.com/GreaterWashingtonAHA using hashtag #GoRedDC or email them to [email protected].

<Special thanks to You're the Cure intern Kassie Crook for crafting this blog post>