RENO Magazine

Photo Illustration by: Tim Kist

Go Red

Written by Linda Fine

Women don red to bring awareness to eating right for a healthy heart.

Heart disease kills more women than all cancers combined. This is a powerful and compelling statement to be sure, but believable when you consider the facts.

Cardiovascular diseases, including heart attack and stroke, claim the lives of more than half a million women annually — about one death per minute. Of the CVD deaths in the United States, women represent more than half of the total, while the mortality rate for men remains below the midway mark. Yet remarkably, heart disease still is perceived as a male condition.

Recognizing that people are not fully cognizant of the devastating role this cowardly killer plays, the American Heart Association launched its Go Red for Women campaign as an adjunct to its educational role.

“This is a call to action for women to take charge of their own health,” says Karen Rudd, corporate events director for the Northern Nevada office. “Results of a national survey told us that 70 percent of women consider breast cancer their No. 1 health threat, when in fact, heart disease is first by far.”

Good nutrition
Now in its third year, Go Red for Women’s 2006 crusade is an all-out onslaught on the ravages of a poor diet, placing emphasis squarely on healthy eating and good nutrition. Obesity is a national crisis, Rudd says, citing statistics indicating that more than one-third of adults are obese, while the childhood figure tips the obesity scales at 16 percent. “Our kids are members of the first generation that’s on course to die earlier than their parents will die,” Rudd says emphatically.

Northern Nevada residents cite various reasons for supporting Go Red for Women. Among them is Ella Black, who with her daughter, Verita Black-Prothro and granddaughter, Michelle Prothro, knows firsthand the effects of heart disease. Black’s mother died of a stroke and she subsequently lost her husband to the same disease in 2000.

Black says the Go Red program is enlightening. “Most people I come in contact with don’t eat a healthy diet; they like fast food,” she says. “Including Michelle,” she comments wryly. However, according to her mom, because she’s an athlete, Michelle limits her intake of fast foods. Prothro confesses that her exercise regimen could improve, “but my diet is awesome,” she laughs. “I eat only salmon, chicken, lots of soy, lots of vegetables and fruit, and I only eat organic vegetables and fruit.” It’s not difficult to get organically grown food in Reno, she says. “And because of my history, I’m nutty about my diet,” she adds.

Know your numbers
When her father suddenly succumbed in his 50s to CVD, Tiffany Frisch sought answers from the Heart Association and, ultimately, immersed herself in its activities. “We need to know our numbers and our bodies,” she said, referring to individual triglyceride and cholesterol levels. “We need to know what’s right and what’s wrong for us.”

She says an annual checkup is high on her to-do list. Carol Mousel says her awareness of CVD came after her mother experienced seven coronaries in as many months followed by two angioplasties and then open-heart surgery.

“She lived very successfully for 11 years after her open-heart surgery,” Mousel says, adding that her mother died last year at the age of 101.

For many years, Mousel and her daughter, Lise Mousel Martini, have made exercise and good nutrition part of healthy living. Carol lifts weights and jogs more than three miles, almost daily — a routine she established for herself a quarter century ago. Like Frisch, Wendy Damonte and her mother, Diane Wyness, faced heart disease head on when Damonte’s father suddenly discovered he urgently required a quadruple bypass. The surgery was successful, but the lesson learned resonates daily with Damonte and has been the force behind her rugged workout regimen and healthy food intake.

“You can’t control genetics, but my reading reveals that you can control nutrition and exercise,” she says. “I’m so excited and privileged that my mom, my daughter, and I can be part of this campaign.

“I want to make sure that I’m really old when my heart gives out,” she says with a laugh. “So I’m doing what I can now.”

Linda Fine is a freelance writer and real estate agent living in Reno.

For more information on heart disease, visit www.americanheart.org or call American Heart Association’s Reno office at 322-7064.