Media

Press Release October 6, 2010

WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease Receives

Peripheral Arterial Disease Coalition’s Stay in Circulation Community Service Award

The Peripheral Arterial Disease (P.A.D.) Coalition presented its National Stay in Circulation Community Service Award to WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease at the Coalition’s Seventh Annual Meeting. The Stay in Circulation Community Service Award recognizes a national organization whose activities have focused on increasing awareness about P.A.D. to high-risk populations, patients or the health care community. WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease received the Stay in Circulation Community Service Award for its efforts to educate high-risk women about P.A.D.

P.A.D. occurs when arteries in the legs become narrowed or clogged with fatty deposits, reducing blood flow to the legs. This can result in leg muscle pain when walking, disability, amputation, and poor quality of life. Blocked arteries found in people with P.A.D. can be a red flag that other arteries, including those in the heart and brain, may also be affected – increasing the risk of a heart attack or stroke.

Approximately 4.5 million American women have P.A.D. and a P.A.D. Coalition survey found that few women have ever heard of the disease. To help increase awareness of P.A.D. among high-risk women, WomenHeart developed a multifaceted partnership to reach women at the community level.

WomenHeart’s national network of WomenHeart Champions, community volunteer educators, were trained to reach women directly with PAD information through speaking engagements and outreach activities such as health fairs. New educational tools targeted to women were developed and disseminated at community programs, through their signature Red Bag of Courage® program and via national and local media efforts. WomenHeart also extended the program to reach high-risk patients through nationwide cardiac rehabilitation programs.

"On behalf of the P.A.D. Coalition, we are delighted to present the 2010 Stay in Circulation Community Service Award to WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease," stated Marge Lovell, RN, Chair, P.A.D. Coalition and clinical trials nurse at the London Health Sciences and Centre in London, Ontario. “We applaud WomenHeart’s efforts to educate and empower women to be aware of P.A.D. and to extend these messages to their friends and loved ones.”

For more information about P.A.D., visit www.P.A.D.coalition.org.

About the P.A.D. Coalition

The Peripheral Arterial Disease (P.A.D.) Coalition is an alliance of more than 80 North American health organizations, professional societies, government agencies and corporations united to improve the health and care of patients with P.A.D. Established in 2004, the P.A.D. Coalition is a division of the Vascular Disease Foundation (www.vdf.org), a national, not-for-profit section 501(c)(3) organization. The P.A.D. Coalition is supported by the following national sponsors: the Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Partnership; Cordis Endovascular, a division of Cordis Corporation; Abbott Vascular; AstraZeneca; Bard Peripheral Vascular; BioMedix; Cook, Inc; ev3 Endovascular, Inc.; W.L. Gore & Associates; Hokanson; PADTest; and Summit Doppler.

WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease

WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease is the nation’s only patient centered organization serving the 42 million American women living with or at risk for heart disease – the leading cause of death for women. WomenHeart is solely devoted to advancing women’s heart health through advocacy, community education, and the nation’s only patient-led support network for women living with heart disease. WomenHeart is both a coalition and a community of thousands of members nationwide, including women heart patients and their families, healthcare professionals, and health advocates, all committed to helping women live longer, healthier lives. To receive a free on-line heart health action kitvisit www.womenheart.org/kit.