Each year, a coalition of non-profits, government agencies, corporate sponsors and a bevy of celebrities and fashion designers pitch in to raise funds and public awareness about women's heart disease. The message: women need to tend to their own hearts by recognizing the risk factors and symptoms of heart disease and taking measures to lower their risk.
The campaign reaches its height in February (National Heart Month) and is highlighted by the National Wear Red day, which occurs on the first friday in February (this year, February 6th). The Red Dress has been the symbol of this movement since 2002, when the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (part of the National Institutes of Health) launched The Heart Truth campaign to warn women that heart disease is the number one threat to women's health. A year later the American Heart Association began Go Red for Women, an initiative to raise the alarm about women's heart disease and to promote the kinds of lifesyle changes that would greatly reduce a woman's chance of developing the disease.
You don't need to own a stitch of red to promote this life-saving cause. Here are four ways:
Vote early and often: With This year Campbell's Soup has joined the movement and with one click,you can raise funds for the fight against heart disease. The company commissioned fashion designer Nicole Miller to come up with three red dresses (her sketches are pictured here) in honor of the cause. By logging onto their AdDRESS Your Heart site, you can cast your vote for your favorite. For each vote, Campell's will donate $1 to the Go Red For Women movement. The winning design will be worn by Jane Krakowski to celebrate American Heart Month in February.
