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 solely dedicated to serving the 48 million American women living with and at risk of heart disease through advocacy, community education, and patient support. As the leading voice for the 48 million American women living with and at risk of heart disease, WomenHeart advocates for equal access to quality care and provides information and resources to help women take charge of their heart health.

Women living with and at risk of heart disease are often faced with problems of misdiagnosis, fear and isolation, inadequate treatment, and little information and support. WomenHeart also strives to increase awareness within the medical community and engage clinicians in gender specific cardiovascular care. This includes improvements in understanding the genetic and family history, signs and symptoms, and the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease in women.

WomenHeart recognizes the need to provide gender specific information about heart disease, support the needs of women living with heart disease through support networks, and advocate for the benefit of women living with and at risk of heart disease. To this end WomenHeart has implemented:
• Community Education activities that educate women with and at risk of heart disease to take charge of their health.
• Patient Support programs that touch the lives of thousands of women to reduce feelings of isolation and fear.
• Policy and Advocacy efforts that leverage our expertise and engage women with heart disease as advocates to advance federal policies impacting the health and well-being of women living with and at risk of heart disease.
• The National Hospital Alliance to increase gender-specific care of women with heart disease, provide resources to educate communities and provide support resources for women living with heart disease.

At the center of the organization are more than 850 women heart patients, WomenHeart Champions, trained at WomenHeart’s Science & Leadership Symposium at Mayo Clinic. WomenHeart Champions serve as WomenHeart support group leaders, community educators, media spokeswomen, and general support volunteers. Through leadership and advocacy training, resources, and an online community, WomenHeart empowers women living with and at risk of heart disease to manage their own heart health and to spread that message to others.

In addition to WomenHeart Champions, WomenHeart has a volunteer corps of cardiologists and scientists, the Scientific Advisory Council (SAC), which provides medical and scientific leadership and guidance to help advance the mission of WomenHeart. The SAC also facilitates dissemination of knowledge and information about the gender difference of heart disease to medical audiences and advocates for women’s heart health at both the patient and policy levels.

Since 1999, WomenHeart has supported women living with and at risk of heart disease. Moreover, we have:
• Trained over 850 WomenHeart Champions to be educators, advocates, and supports to women living with and at risk of heart disease
• Annually distributed an average of 75,500 Red Bags of Courage® and Para la Mujer (Spanish) bags with information for women living with and at risk of heart disease
• Established over 100 in-person and virtual support groups, in 33 states
• Since 2015, engaged over 40 hospitals in the National Hospital Alliance
• Advanced policies to expand access to cardiac rehab services, increase the number of women in clinical trials, and protect access to health coverage for all Americans

As WomenHeart proudly moves into its 20th year of serving women living with and at risk of heart disease, we are excited to continue to be the first and only patient-centered organization for women, leading the charge to bring about change and education about women’s #1 killer.