Go Red for Women marks 20th anniversary

“Go Red for Women is a national movement to bring attention, advocacy and education to women’s heart health and raise money for women’s heart research. We are so excited to be celebrating two milestones this year: Our 20th anniversary and 100 years of the American Heart Association,” said Cory Rees, Director of Development for the local chapter of the American Heart Association.

Education and research pertaining to women’s heart health remain critical, according to Rees, particularly since women’s symptoms of heart distress are different than men’s and may go unnoticed until it is too late.

“Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women, resulting in the death of one in three women nationwide. Losing even one woman to heart disease is too much,” Rees said.

She also emphasized that nearly 45% of women 20 years of age and older live with some form of cardiovascular disease and that one in five women will have a stroke.

The statistics hit home for Lisa Stutz, the chair of Go Red for Women Southern Arizona.

Stutz, who has worked in health care for more than two decades and is executive director for Arizona Long Term Care Arizona Complete Health, has personally experienced heart disease.

“I have had high blood pressure for the majority of my life and had some barriers to getting the appropriate treatment. Because I was otherwise a younger, healthier woman, my blood pressure wasn’t treated as soon as it should have been,” said Stutz, whose high blood pressure began in her early 20s.

Doctors recommended deep breathing and stress reduction, and Stutz’s condition progressed into left ventricular hypertrophy, also known as an enlarged heart. It was discovered when she had an EKG for an unrelated surgery.

“I was so frustrated that something could have been done sooner so it wouldn’t have progressed, but now I have an amazing cardiologist who is treating me and I have shown some improvements. I work in health care and understand the health care system more than most, so if this can happen to me, imagine the people who don’t know anything about the system. That has been the base of my message: If you feel something is wrong, you need to advocate for yourself,” Stutz said.

She is hopeful that her efforts will raise awareness and funding — to the tune of $65,000. It’s a bold goal for the colorful event, which will feature a vendor fair, photo booth, tribute cactus, lunch, an auction, and a program featuring passion speaker Dominicia Padilla and Dr. Lisa Castellano, a local cardiologist.

“We encourage women to wear red, but if they don’t like red, just wear something with an accent of red in keeping with our theme. We are just here to support women’s heart health and research and to educate our community on the importance of women’s heart health,” Rees said.

Tickets for the event are $150 per person. Visit http://tucne.ws/1qw5 for more information.