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St. Rose "Goes Red" with Women's Heart Health Campaign

Cover Story

Issue: March 2010

By: Stacy Schwan

It’s a chilly day in early February and there’s a big commotion going on at Hayward’s Firehouse #1. Upstairs in the firehouse, various rooms are occupied by women donning brilliant red gowns; in the corridors, more women perch at makeshift stations to have their hair professionally styled and makeup artfully applied. Meanwhile photographers roam the premises with cameras clicking away, hoping to capture that perfect, candid shot.

There is an air of mirthful anticipation as the women emerge by ones and twos through the cavernous garage and out to the driveway, where a red fire engine stands like a crimson coach waiting to whisk them to the ball. Not even a blast of cold air or the bank of dark clouds can dampen the enthusiasm these women feel for the purpose that has brought them here today. Their mission? To pose for a photo shoot that will kick off St. Rose Hospital’s annual Women's Heart Health Campaign.

Splashy Ad Raises Awareness

Like many organizations, St. Rose’s Women's Heart Health Campaign was designed to coincide with the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women initiative, which this year designated February 5 as National Wear Red Day. The goal of the AHA campaign is to raise public awareness that cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 killer of women in America and to urge women to know their risk factors and adopt healthier lifestyles. Now in the seventh year of running its own campaign for women's heart health, St. Rose has expanded on this concept by introducing several innovations into the “Go Red” mix.

St. Rose began its campaign in 2004, around the same time that the hospital became a designated Cardiac Receiving Center for Alameda County. One of four Cardiac Receiving Centers in the county (the others are Summit Medical Center, Washington Hospital and Valley Care Medical Center) St. Rose maintains a full catheterization lab and a cardiac team on call 24/7 to treat any patient that presents with myocardial infarction in a timely manner.

“We instituted this campaign to complement the hospital’s investment in cardiac care and in becoming a cardiac receiving center,” says Pam Russo, Executive Director of the St. Rose Hospital Foundation and Marketing. “We needed to capture people’s attention! What better way to do so than to create a beautiful ad…and people will take notice.”

Each year Russo accomplishes this goal by selecting 12 women to pose for the ad, including notable women from both within and outside the community. Russo draws from diverse groups of representative women to include community leaders, physicians, nurses, hospital board members and heart disease survivors themselves. Counted among this year’s prominent participants in the shoot were singer-songwriter and actress Aria Johnson; CBS-5 health anchor Dr. Kim Mulvihill; Hayward city councilmember Anna May; and Diablo Magazine editor Susan Safipour. Past participants have also included state legislators Ellen Corbett, Liz Figueroa and Mary Hayashi.

The resulting ad is published in local newspapers and in Diablo Magazine as well as a St. Rose newsletter that is distributed to over 70,000 area residents. Macy’s Valley Fair, which supplies all of the red dresses for the shoot, displays the ad in Macy’s stores throughout the region. CBS-5, which has been associated with the campaign since its inception, provides additional publicity.

Rapid Response Makes the Difference

As the women gather their hems and begin climbing up onto the fire engine in preparation for the shoot, another clever angle to St. Rose’s campaign is revealed. Russo has chosen this particular venue on purpose, in order to highlight the role that first responders play in achieving a door-to-balloon time that averages under 70 minutes at St. Rose, compared to the 90 minutes or less recommended by the American College of Cardiology.

“Time is the most important factor in treating a heart attack, and the sooner that you can re-profuse an affected artery by angioplasty, the sooner the heart becomes fully functional,” Russo says. “Part of what makes us so effective is that first responders out in the field are able to perform EKG’s and other diagnostic tests on patients and transmit them electronically into our emergency room. Our cardiac team is then prepared and equipped when the patient arrives.”

Another factor contributing to improved survivability is a recent program instituted by the Hayward Fire Department to treat cardiac arrest with the LUCAS Device, a new piece of technology that automates compressions, thus improving the effectiveness of CPR. “It’s already demonstrating improved outcomes in returning spontaneous heartbeat to those who are in cardiac arrest,” Russo says. “That’s why we chose the fire station to be our backdrop this year, to show our collaborative support.”

If Russo sounds more like a healthcare provider than a fundraiser, there’s a reason for it—she has also been a nurse for more than 30 years. “I’m a nurse first and foremost,” she says, and that this is what causes her to be so passionate about her role in overseeing the funding development and marketing efforts for the hospital.

“What makes it very easy is understanding, from a clinical standpoint, how important campaigns like this translate into improving health. In a million years, never did I think I would be helping ladies sport gorgeous runway gowns to provide an adjunct to our health programs here, but it certainly is a unique and innovative way to get this important message out!”

Talking to Women About Heart Disease

While admittedly the splashiest aspect of the Women’s Heart Health Campaign, the photo shoot is just one of many elements of St. Rose’s year-round effort to educate women in the community about the hidden dangers of heart disease and what they can do to minimize their risks. As another part of this effort, St. Rose also sponsors a free Women’s Heart Health luncheon and lecture every year in March for up to 150 women. This year’s luncheon will be held March 20. (More information and reservations may be obtained at 510-264-4044.)

Dr. Jeffrey Carlson is among the cardiology team members who present at the luncheon each year. He says he always emphasizes to the attendees that coronary disease is a very different disease in women than in men. “Until about 15 years ago it was not acknowledged that there was a difference,” he notes. “That’s when the American Heart Association began teaching the public about the differences, and it became evident that the mortality of heart disease in women was actually greater than in men, and that the symptoms were very different.

“The commonest symptom in women is not chest pain, it’s tiredness, fatigue, and sometimes that’s a really difficult symptom to evaluate,” he adds. “Even though women might get it 10 years later than men, the mortality when they do get a heart problem is much greater for women than it is for men.”

CBS-5 health anchor Dr. Kim Mulvihill—a gynecologist by training—says it is critical for women to be aware of heart health and their risk for heart disease. “Since the Women’s Health Initiative, we thought we had a way to deal with heart disease in women, and for years we said, yes, this is something wonderful about hormones. Then we found out, no, that’s not the case.”

“I think it’s an important message for women to understand that our biggest risk is actually heart disease. There is so much people can do just by living a healthy life, trying their best to eat a healthy diet, exercise when they can—try to fit it in. Unfortunately, too many women say they don’t have time, and they put themselves lowest on the list. We have to make it a priority, and we have to do it for our families, because if we don’t, we’re not going to be there for them down the road.”

Dr. Mulvihill also has a message for fellow physicians when it comes to advising their patients about the risk factors for heart disease:

“Speak up! Have those difficult conversations. As women, we don’t like to hear that our weight has gone up, but you know what? You’ve got to talk about it. You have to ask, ‘what are you doing to keep yourself healthy? How can you do it, and what are you eating?’ I think those are just uncomfortable conversations that we have to get past. If your doctor is not going to ask you about it, then who is? So have that conversation, and don’t be shy about it. Take the time, because studies show it makes a difference.”

Conveying a Deeper Message

After what seems like an eternity of braving the elements, posing first this way then that while cameras snap away, the photo shoot finally draws to a close. The women descend from their precarious perches, relinquishing their “princess-for-a-day” status as their crimson coach becomes a fire engine once again. But the deeper message they have come to portray will remain with them long after the day is over and they have gone back to their lives as professional women, wives and mothers.

“As women, it’s our instinct to take care of everybody all the time,” says singer and actress Aria Johnson, who flew from L.A. to participate in the shoot. “We have to learn that taking care of ourselves is not a selfish thing. It’s just loving yourself, being kind to yourself, feeding yourself proper nutrition, seeing the doctor, and taking care of your mental health. How often do we do that? I have to remind myself every single day.

“These types of campaigns are very important for raising awareness among women, so they go get checked and they take care of their hearts and their health,” she says, then recalling an old adage that seems to ring truer today than ever: “If you don’t have your health, you have nothing.”

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