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MADISON - Over the past 6 years, nearly 2,300 UW Health employees and their families have worn red and walked each October in support of the American Heart Association as part of the Southcentral Wisconsin Heart Walk.

 

Through corporate sponsorship and individual donations, UW Health's contributions have totaled well over $160,000 and helped fund outreach and education programs, as well as cardiovascular research.

 

UW Health is also the exclusive Madison-area sponsor of Go Red For Women, and at this year's Heart Walk held on October 13, 2007, we put a special focus on heart health for women and girls and highlighted our collaboration with local Girl Scout Troops.

 

In the UW Health Go Red tent, Girl Scouts could make a Love Your Heart bracelet, and women could sign up for the Go Red For Women e-Newsletter and learn more about the Love Your Heart Quilt Project. All these activities helped raise awareness about women's unique risks and symptoms of heart disease. To learn more about your own risk, take the Go Red Heart CheckUp.

 

UW Health created a one-of-a-kind Go Red Girls Girl Scouts Patch Program that has received national attention, and more than 100 Girl Scouts joined the UW Health team at this year's Heart Walk to earn points toward their patch.

 

Several Girl Scouts enthusiastically walked the 1.5- and 3-mile routes, wearing stop signs bearing "Stop the #1 killer of women" and "Stop Heart Disease" messages.

 

"Having the Girl Scouts involved with their families sent an important message to all who attended the Heart Walk - that you're never too young, or too old, to start thinking about your heart," said Carl Getto, MD, Interim President and CEO of UW Hospital and Clinics.

 

"Mothers and daughters influence each other, as well as the entire family, by sharing information and through the activities they do together," Getto added. "It's our hope that the Girl Scout patch program will inspire generations within the same family to take steps toward improving their heart health."

 

For more information about Go Red For Women and Go Red Girl Scouts activities, visit www.uwhealth.org/GoRed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Girl Scouts from Troop 183, from left to right: JaGena Gleason, Ariane Boissanas, Ashley Belgarde, Cassie Theis, Hannah Schiller and Tessa Schiller