It may have looked like an early Valentine’s Day celebration, but the Mount Saint Mary College community “went red” on Friday, February 7, for a different cause: to help stop heart disease.
National Wear Red Day, founded in 2003 by the American Heart Association (Go Red For Women) and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, raises funds for research and programs to curtail heart disease. According to the American Heart Association, nearly half a million American women per year die from heart disease, making it the number one killer of women in America.
According to Go Red For Women, the risk of heart disease decreases with a healthy diet and regular exercise.
Robin Rosenberg, career counselor at the Mount’s Career Center, facilitated the Wear Red event on the Mount campus. She is also organizing a Mount team for the American Heart Association’s Heart Walk in May. The Mount team just started accepting donations at MSMC.edu/HeartWalk
The funds will be used to support educational programs about the risk for heart disease and stroke, as well as for research into increasing cardiovascular health.
The Wear Red tradition at the Mount was started several years ago by Kathleen O’Keefe, director of the Mount’s Career Center.