Women across central Iowa are joining together in the fight for their lives, and DMU President Angela Walker Franklin, Ph.D., is leading them this year.
The Go Red for Women movement, a project of the American Heart Association, in 2013 is celebrating 10 years of success in fighting heart disease and stroke. President Franklin is chairing this year’s movement in Des Moines.
“Over the past decade, Go Red for Women has encouraged Iowa women to wear red, share stories of survival and understand the truth of heart disease in women,” she says. “This focused movement has saved 627,000 women’s lives so far, but our work isn’t done. This year, I’m looking for women to stand with me and demand change. Heart disease has killed more women than men since the 1980s, and we need more research and resources aimed at saving women’s lives.”
According to the American Heart Association, heart disease is the number-one killer of women, causing one in three deaths each year, and is more deadly than all forms of cancer. Heart disease affects the blood vessels and cardiovascular system, causing conditions like atherosclerosis, arrhythmia and heart valve problems that can result in heart attack or stroke.
As chair of the 2013 Go Red for Women movement, President Franklin and DMU are working to raise awareness of heart disease and will host the annual Go Red for Women luncheon on Oct. 18, 2013, on campus. The annual event draws more than 500 attendees and aims to raise $125,000 to further the American Heart Association’s goal of reducing deaths from heart disease and stroke by 20 percent by 2020 while improving the lives of all Americans. The association seeks to achieve these goals through a combination of prevention and research.
