News Release

Monday, May 7, 2007

The Heart Truth Road Show Travels to Washington, DC Free Heart Disease Risk Factor Screenings Available

What: The Heart Truth Road Show, a traveling women’s heart health exhibit designed to bring heart health education and screenings to women across the country, stops in Washington, DC May 14-16. Celebrating National Women's Health Week, the exhibit offers information about heart disease and its risk factors.

Free heart disease risk factor screenings will be available, including tests for:

  • Diabetes
  • High Blood Cholesterol
  • High Blood Pressure
  • Body Mass Index

On display will be six designer red dresses from The Heart Truth’s Red Dress Collection Fashion Shows, held each February in New York at Fashion Week. A few of the designs, as worn by celebrities at the fashion shows, include: Diane von Furstenberg, worn by talk show host Kelly Ripa; Carmen Marc Valvo worn by singer Lee Ann Womack; and Narciso Rodriguez, worn by actress Lauren Hutton.

The Heart Truth is a national campaign for women about heart disease, sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). NHLBI created and launched the Red Dress as the national symbol for women and heart disease awareness. Coupled with the slogan “Heart Disease Doesn’t Care What You Wear — It’s the #1 Killer of Women,” the Red Dress delivers a serious and urgent wake-up call to American women.

Why: The Heart Truth is that one in four women die of heart disease. An astonishing 80 percent of midlife women (ages 40 to 60) have one or more risk factors for heart disease. Women can control certain risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, being overweight or obese, and being physically inactive.. The seminar will be held on the Dana-Farber campus.

Who: NHLBI, with funding from the HHS Office on Women’s Health, created The Heart Truth Road Show to raise awareness about women and heart disease.

When: Monday, May 14, 2007 — Wednesday, May 16, 2007
11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: Union Station (located in the West Hall)
50 Massachusetts Avenue, NE; Washington, DC

Media only inquiries can be directed to: media@hearttruth.org or Jessica Ansley at 202-729-4126/mobile: 202-725-8140.

For more information, visit www.hearttruth.gov; http://www.womenshealth.gov/whw/.

To access camera-ready artwork, as well as photography and other creative materials for The Heart Truth campaign, visit http://hearttruth.ogilvypr.com.

Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) plans, conducts, and supports research related to the causes, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of heart, blood vessel, lung, and blood diseases; and sleep disorders. The Institute also administers national health education campaigns on women and heart disease, healthy weight for children, and other topics. NHLBI press releases and other materials are available online at: www.nhlbi.nih.gov.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health®

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