Heart disease is the number-one killer of women, causing one in three deaths each year. That’s more than all forms of cancer combined. But most women don’t realize cardiovascular disease is their greatest health threat. That’s why the American Heart Association named the first Friday of February National Wear Red Day, and offered lessons on hands-only CPR at places like Scoville Hall in Amagansett on Feb. 3.
“Two simple steps for hands-only CPR: number one, call 911; number two, push hard and fast in the center of the chest,” Samantha Macleod from the heart association said at the event. “You’re acting as an external heart. You’re pumping blood and oxygen to all of the vital organs. That’s why you don’t want to stop for more than 10 seconds until emergency services arrive.”
It’s also important to be aware of how cardiovascular disease presents differently in women than in men. Ms. Macleod said oftentimes, women have heart attacks without even realizing it. “A lot of times when women are having a heart attack, they’re having stomach issues or back issues or jaw pain. It’s not that typical clutching of your chest or that tightness in your chest, so women dismiss it.”
Another factor to note is menopause. The start of menopause is a great time for women to see their general practitioner to check their blood pressure, cholesterol levels, blood sugar, and body mass index. All of those numbers can rise when estrogen levels drop.
“Know your numbers,” Ms. Macleod said. “A lot of women have no issues their entire life and when it comes to menopause — now all of a sudden their blood pressure is rising and cholesterol is rising, and it all has to do with the fluctuation in hormones. When women lose all of this estrogen in their body, cholesterol naturally goes up because the cholesterol is looking for the estrogen to mirror one to one.”
Brooke Bohnsack of Amagansett, a member of the American Heart Association’s executive leadership team and the founder of Pitch Your Peers Hamptons, organized the event at Scoville Hall in connection with Share the Harvest Farm. “This is very important to me because I have a father who struggles with heart issues, a grandfather who passed from a stroke, and more recently, my nephew, at just 1 week old, had open heart surgery. So I just wanted to impress upon people the importance of just jumping in, because knowing CPR can triple your ability to save somebody’s life,” she said.
In addition to the CPR lessons, women in attendance made Valentine’s Day cards for senior citizens living at the St. Michael’s housing complex, just down the street, “to help brighten their day,” Ms. Bohnsack said. “My biggest wish is for everyone to feel loved and to know someone is thinking of them, especially our elderly community.”
