A recent survey by the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that 45 percent of the women who participated did not realize heart disease was the leading cause of death among women.
University of Florida Health Shands Hospital is now taking on the challenge of providing more education and outreach to women with heart disease by joining the WomenHeart National Hospital Alliance.
WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease recently awarded UF Health a two-year membership and promotes the alliance as an opportunity for hospitals to focus on and improve patient outcomes.
Through the Alliance, UF Health is positioning itself as a leader in women’s heart health. The partnership works to ensure women have access to information, education and patient support services about heart disease. It also provides educational materials and programs for hospitals by some of the nation’s leading medical experts in women’s heart health.
Benefits include the opportunity for two women with heart disease to be selected by UF Health to attend the annual WomenHeart Science & Leadership Symposium at the Mayo Clinic in the fall. This is a four-day workshop during which they will be certified to return to UF Health as support network coordinators and community educators.
UFHealth’s representatives also will be able to attend a member meeting in Washington, D.C. to interact with national leaders in the heart health field and to collaborate with NHA colleagues across the nation on best practices, ideas and the challenges related to education and outreach to women with or at risk of heart disease. Additionally, clinicians will be able to participate in educational webinars by experts in emerging research on heart disease in women.
“Participation in the WomenHeart National Hospital Alliance is an important step in providing education to our local community about the importance of heart health in women,” said Ki Park, M.D., an assistant professor in the division of cardiovascular medicine in UF’s College of Medicine. “It will also help our hospital in providing resources for women with heart disease as well as improve awareness of specific risk factors for heart disease in women.”