THE HEART2HEART FOUNDATION INC

Our goal is simple and yet a very real challenge. We want to see fewer mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, friends and co-workers dying of a largely preventable disease. Somewhere in the US, a woman dies almost every minute of every day of heart disease yet most women still don't know THIS is her greatest health threat or how to recognize the signs. Our goal, simply put, is to SAVE LIVES!

Our strategies for reaching women with our message of prevention are unique. While we do utilize multi-media and social media campaigns to raise awareness about heart disease, much of our time is spent talking to women one-on-one. Whether we're distributing free heart health educational materials at a community event, talking with women at corporate health fairs, speaking for women's groups or meeting women at heart health screening events, our method is by extending the personal touch to reach women where they live and to listen to their concerns.

At present, we are a volunteer-led organization. We rely on our volunteers, community and healthcare partners to help us coordinate our awareness, educational and screening programs. We are also very adept at creating strategic partnerships with our events to help symbiotic organizations provide additional resources to the adults and children we serve in the community.

One of the most common questions we get about The Heart2Heart Foundation is how we are different from other organizations focused on heart disease. The answer is actually quite simple. Our primary focus is on early detection and we keep the funds we raise in the communities we serve.

​After realizing there was no organization dedicated to addressing heart disease prevention in her community, heart attack survivor Sheila Caldwell felt that her mission was to help more women and men learn their risk for the disease and how to win the fight against our #1 killer. Sheila along with a group of women including co-founder Deb King created the concept of what would become The Heart2Heart Foundation. With an extensive background with international, national and local nonprofits Sheila and her husband, Bill, made the decision to incorporate the organization with South Carolina in November of 2012.

​Our focus comes down to three basic elements:

​1) AWARENESS - With only about half of the women in the US aware that heart disease is our greatest health threat, the foundation of our work in the community is to educate adults and youth about the disease but - more importantly - how positive lifestyle changes can prevent it! When you consider that about 80% of the risk factors that lead to heart disease can be prevented or managed, we have HOPE! We have the power to change this!

​2) ACTION - It's astonishing to think that most of us find out that we have heart disease only after we have a heart or, worse, our family learns of it when we die. Studies have shown that through prevention, early detection and timely interventions, about half of the 600,000+ adults we lose each year to heart disease could have been saved. We want to move women and men from awareness to action by helping them learn their individual risk and the steps to take next to prevent heart attack, stroke, and premature death.

​3) ADVOCACY - Women are a powerful force for change and we want to harness that power to save lives. It begins with each of us: understanding our own risk, learning and adopting lifestyle choices to improve our heart health and then sharing that with our family, friends and community. Even today, women's heart health is still under-researched, under-diagnosed and under-treated. We need women who will lend their voices to sharing this message!

Since our launch in 2013, through the help of our incredible group of volunteers and program partners , we have shared our message of prevention and hope with more than 35,000 adults and youth. In addition almost 7,600 women and men have learned their personal risk for heart disease!