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Men Show Support for Go Red for Women

RYE – A group of 30 men, including local business owners, radio hosts and public officials, showed their support for the American Heart Association’s Red Tie Society this week by attending  a dinner at the Westchester County Club.

The event Thursday night was part of an effort to increase awareness of Westchester and Fairfield’s Go Red for Women’s effort to increase awareness of and promote targeted research for cardiovascular disease (CVD), heart attack and stroke prevention.

“For every three women who die, one will be the victim of cardiovascular disease,” said Carolyn Torella, the Regional Communications Director for the American Heart Association.

 The key signs of an attack can often differ from those that men will suffer, and are frequently ignored or passed off of as stress and anxiety.

To become a member, each of the men donated at least $1,000. The money, according to Potoula Gjidija, Regional Director of Go Red for Women, will go toward specific CVD research projects and public education initiatives, which in the past have included school assemblies and the promotion of the Heart Association’s  Family & Friends CPR Anytime’ kits.

Anne Ring, who worked to bring the society into the two counties, saluted the attendees and their willingness to serve as advocates.

“We’re the supermoms. We’re the ones slowly killing ourselves while we take care of everyone else…And that’s where you wonderful men come in…,” said Ring, who is an associate publisher with Main Street  Connect.

Actress Elizabeth Banks, who plays Avery Jessup on NBC’s 30 Rock, directed and starred in a video to address the need for greater heart health awareness, particularly among women.

 “Whenever I see that movie, first I laugh because it’s such an over the top representation of the typical supermom,” Ring said. “But then I always end up feeling angry, it’s then that I realize, the person I’m mad at, the person I’m yelling at, is me.”

As the former Chair of the AHA’s Westchester County Board of Directors and attendee Edward Stopplemann will attest, prevention, care, and treatment are the core of the Go Red and the Red Tie Society’s initiatives.

“My kid still has the CPR kit and she’s proud to have a father who’s here tonight,” he said.

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