Women's Advisory Council works to reduce #1 killer of women
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Beverly McCollum (from left), chairman of the Women’s Advisory Council of the St. Bernards Development Foundation, talks with Jonesboro nurse practitioner Amy Ferguson and St. Bernards Community Educator Beth Faught before a Wednesday meeting of the women’s organization. Ferguson and Faught presented a program on heart disease and women and talked about some of the ways St. Bernards works to increase awareness of women’s health issues in Jonesboro and Northeast Arkansas.
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Members of the Women’s Advisory Council of the St. Bernards Development Foundation were reminded at a recent meeting that heart disease knows no gender boundaries.
“Heart disease is the number one killer of women,” stressed Amy Ferguson, Jonesboro nurse practitioner, who made a presentation on women and heart disease.
“It kills six times as many women as breast and lung cancer combined,” adds St. Bernards community education nurse Beth Faught, who talked with Council members about some of the ways St. Bernards educates women in Northeast Arkansas about diseases that impact women and children.
Both agreed, many women still simply do not recognize that they are at risk for heart disease – especially after menopause. Faught says that part of the problem is that perhaps as few as one woman in 10 perceives heart disease and stroke are their greatest health treats. Six in 10 think cancer is a greater health problem.
But statistics indicate that one in three women will have some form of heart disease.
Ferguson explained that cardiovascular disease (CVD) includes heart disease, stroke and diseases of the vessels. And it accounts for roughly one in three deaths in this country. Especially at risk are Hispanic and African American women.
Ferguson pointed to some risk factors cannot be changed – like age (women who are 55 or older). Heredity, race, previous heart attack or stroke. “But there are some you can control,” she stressed. And those include unaddressed high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, smoking, obesity, inactivity and unaddressed diabetes. Others are response to stress and alcohol intake.
“You need to know your numbers – cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose, etc.,” she said. But just knowing them is not where you stop. It’s where you start. “You must take action to change them.”
That can start with talking with your physician to get help evaluating risk factors. The presenters also gave some tips for making changes for a healthier heart. They include the following:
- If you smoke, stop.
- Lower your blood pressure.
- Lower your cholesterol.
- Eat a heart healthy diet.
- Get moving.
- Achieve a healthy weight.
- Lower your risk for diabetes.
Faught told Council members that the St. Bernards education department has received two grants recently that are being used to expand community education outreach to women. The first is a $25,000 grant awarded through the Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services that will be used to increase awareness of heart disease and stroke prevention as it affects women.
The second is a $9,000 from the March of Dimes that will be used for a program to decrease infant mortality in Craighead County – specifically reducing the rate of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) by teaching infant cardiopulmonary resuscitation to high risk expectant mothers and to mothers within the first year of their infants’ lives as well as providing SIDS prevention strategies to the same women.
The Women’s Advisory Council is made up of about 120 area women who help identify ways St. Bernards can best address health issues important to women. The group meets quarterly and sponsors events of wide interest that promote health awareness. One of the next WAC-sponsored events will be an April 12 Quilt and Textiles show called Threadz of Life. The event – which will have a health emphasis on osteoporosis – is expected to attract quilters and others interested in weavings and yarn projects from at least a three-state area. Additional information on Threadz of Life can be secured from the Foundation office at 870-336-5009.
