The Heart Truth / Red Dress Project

Ambassador For The Heart Truth
Mrs. Bush Inspires Women To Protect Their Heart Health

2008 Marks The Fifth Anniversary Of Mrs. Bush’s Service As The Heart Truth Ambassador

• As The Heart Truth Ambassador, Mrs. Bush travels throughout the United States to talk with women and raise their awareness of the risks of heart disease. As a wife and mother, Mrs. Bush recognizes the urgency for women to make a commitment to a lifestyle that promotes lifelong health, not only for every woman's own benefit but also for the benefit of family and loved ones.

• Heart disease is often preventable. By leading a heart-healthy lifestyle – eating wisely, getting physical activity, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, seeing a physician for routine preventive screenings, and controlling high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes – women can reduce their risk for heart disease by as much as 82 percent.

• The Heart Truth is a national awareness campaign for women about heart disease sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The Heart Truth And Its Red Dress Project Are Raising Awareness About Women And Heart Disease

• Designed to warn women of their number one health killer, The Heart Truth created and Mrs. Bush introduced the Red Dress as the national symbol for women and heart disease awareness to deliver an urgent wakeup call to American women. The Red Dress reminds women of the need to protect their heart health and inspires them to take action.

• Each year, The Heart Truth presents a celebrity fashion show in New York. More than 50 of America's most influential designers and more than 100 models and celebrities have joined the effort to raise awareness for heart disease.

With Mrs. Bush’s Leadership, The Heart Truth Has Helped Save Tens Of Thousands Of Women’s Lives

• More women are aware that heart disease is their #1 killer. Today, 62% of women recognize that heart disease is the most common cause of death for women, up from only 34% in 2000.

• Fewer women are dying of heart disease. Heightened awareness is leading to action. The last six years in particular have seen a steady decline in the number of heart disease deaths in women. The yearly decrease in deaths from heart disease since 2000 amounts to 36,703 lives saved.

• Women are living longer and healthier lives, and dying of heart disease at much later ages than in past years. The Heart Truth campaign is empowering American women to fight back against heart disease, which is often preventable. In 2003, one in three deaths among women was due to heart disease, but data for 2005 - the most recent year for which data is available - show the number dropped to one in four deaths.

For more information, please visit www.hearttruth.gov