About the Initiative
The NHLBI Women's Heart Health Education Initiative (WHHEI)
was launched in 2001 to increase awareness of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in
women and educate women and health professionals on detecting and treating CVD
risk factors. The goal is to lead the way to a time when women live healthier
lives, free from the pain and disability caused by heart disease.
The NHLBI is committed to supporting a wide range of
biomedical research and conducting public, patient, and professional education
to help improve the CVD health of all women. However, research is only part of
the equation in achieving better heart health for women. There is a critical
need to reach women and health professionals with messages about detecting and
preventing CVD and its risk factors. Health professionals need to address
prevention and treating heart disease risk factors in women forcefully and
thoroughly, using latest guidelines and other science-based information.
 In launching the WHHEI, the NHLBI
convened a 2-day strategy development workshop in March 2001, attended by over
70 experts in women's health, to plan a national health action plan for women's
heart health. The major recommendation was clear and consistent: NHLBI should
"develop a national public awareness and outreach campaign to convey the
message that heart disease is the number one killer of American women and that
it can be successfully prevented and treated."
Based on the strong, clear recommendation of the workshop
participants, the WHHEI's initial effort will center on the development of a
comprehensive public, patient, and professional awareness campaign. The
campaign will aim to increase awareness about heart disease as the #1 killer of
women, motivate women to take heart health seriously and engage in personal
action to reduce risks and improve clinical preventive care and treatment of
heart disease among women.
The WHHEI women's heart health awareness campaign will be
built on the NHLBI's experience in conducting national health education
programs for nearly 30 years. This new effort will incorporate key principles
that guide all of NHLBI's education programs: development, dissemination, and
utilization of science-based information; formation of partnerships with
professional and voluntary organizations, Government agencies, and other
relevant groups; and emphasis on reaching communities and populations with the
greatest burden of disease.
Putting a Face on Heart Disease
 Within hours of
leaving her physician's office with a prescription for heartburn medication,
despite exhibiting symptoms suggesting a cardiac problem, 40-year-old Judy was
calling 9-1-1. The paramedics insisted that Judy's symptoms were the result of
cocaine abuse. After a significant delay, and being made to walk to the
ambulance from her home, Judy finally arrived at the hospital where she
suffered a cardiac arrest.
 At age 34,
Paula went to the emergency department three times presenting with symptoms of
a heart attack. Twice she was sent home. On the third trip, and only after she
refused to leave the hospital, Paula was diagnosed as having a heart attack.
Later she learned that evidence of her heart attack was apparent on the ECG
done on her first visit to the ED, although staff had not noted it. Paula had
to have coronary artery bypass surgery. She suffered total body shutdown and
was hospitalized for 2 1/2 months. A former respiratory therapist, Paula is now
permanently disabled from complications of the surgery.
No woman should ever have to worry about having an
experience like Judy's or Paula's. Unfortunately, misperceptions about heart
disease in women and denial that cardiac symptoms in young women can be a heart
attack continue to make situations like theirs all too common. Physicians must
pay more attention to CVD risk factors and signs and symptoms of disease in
their female patients. The WHHEI will seek to "put a face on heart health,"
motivating both women and health professionals to take heart health seriously
and engage in action to reduce their risk of heart disease. |
