For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
February 28, 2007

Mrs. Bush Participates in a Panel Discussion on Heart Health
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Simi Valley, California

Photos

12:52 P.M. PST

MRS. BUSH: Thank you all very, very much. I'm so excited to have this opportunity to be here, and I want to thank Mrs. Reagan for opening the Reagan Library to the red dresses. You see some of them behind us, and then I hope you'll have a chance to see all of them in the exhibit where they are here.

The red dress is the symbol of the Heart Truth, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's awareness campaign to make -- to let American women know that heart disease is the number one killer of American women and men in the United States. Most women think that heart disease is a man's disease, so if they start to suffer any of the symptoms of heart disease, they don't do anything about it, they think they're just tired or they have indigestion or something else, or they're anxious. And a lot of times, that's what their doctors tell them, as well, so this is not just an education process for women but also for doctors.

And what we are hoping to do with the red dress, the symbol of heart disease, is to make sure American women know that heart disease is preventable, that there are ways they can change their lifestyle, but also if they start to have any symptoms, go straight to the emergency room. Don't wait and hope it will be over. It's lifesaving, you can save your life if you get to the emergency room in time. In fact, that's one of the reasons they think more American women die of heart disease than men, and that's because women don't know to get to the emergency room as fast as possible.

So I want to thank the heart disease survivors who are here with us today and the doctors who are here, and especially Mrs. Reagan for letting us have this. (Applause.)

END 12:54 P.M. PST