The North Shore-LIJ Health System, in conjunction with the American Heart Association, recently celebrated National Wear Red Day, part of the Go Red for Women movement, at LIJ Medical Center. The annual event empowers women to make positive lifestyle changes and help reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke by sharing real patient experiences.

Three heart disease survivors shared their stories in front of hundreds of health system employees who watched the event at LIJ’s Gurwin Teaching Center or through a teleconference hookup to North Shore-LIJ hospitals. Emmy Award-winning News 12 Anchor Carol Silva keynoted the event.

Pictured left to right are heart survivors: Nicole Reda, Diane Holmes and Carol Kozak.

“Now in its sixth year, Wear Red Day is a national observance created by the American Heart Association,” said Stacey Rosen, MD, associate chair of cardiology at LIJ and a board member of the American Heart Association. “Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of American women. It kills more than all cancers combined so events like this are extremely important to help get the word out.”

The audience was riveted by the stories of Nicole Reda, a 23 year-old resident of Albertson, who had a hole in her heart repaired at the age of 17; Diane Holmes, a 48-year-old from Deer Park, who suffered from abnormal heart rhythms; and 54-year Carol Kozak of East Williston, who suffered from atypical symptoms of a heart attack and only sought care because of information she saw on a television program.

“I woke at dawn with an uncomfortable feeling in my back, nothing that would set off any alarms,” Ms. Kozak told the crowd. “I remembered a TV program that warned women they would not have the typical symptoms of a ‘Hollywood’ heart attack, so my husband drove me to the hospital. I remember being wheeled on a gurney into an elevator. I was having a heart attack. Later, my husband told me the doctor administered chest compressions to keep me alive. A little while after that, someone came out to tell him they were working very hard to save me. If I hadn’t gone to the hospital I wouldn’t be talking to you today.”

The Go Red for Women movement and the red dress have become a symbol for women and heart disease awareness. The movement’s goal is to create an understanding among the general public and especially women – of what heart disease looks and feels like so that warning signs (which may be different in men and women) do not go ignored and a life might be saved.

North Shore-LIJ President and CEO Michael Dowling said, “Not too long ago, the stereotypical portrait of an overweight, middle age man clutching at his chest was the image of heart disease in our society. Fortunately, through events such as the one we are attending today, we’ve all come to understand that heart disease does not have just one but many faces.”

Media Contacts: Brian Mulligan, North Shore-LIJ
(516) 465-2618
Jessica DiMeo, American Heart Association
(516) 450-9111