There is a disease that kills about one American woman each minute.

It sometimes has no symptoms, and it does not discriminate when it comes to age. Although this disease is the top killer of women, most women are unaware of the danger that they might be in.

With proper lifestyle changes, however, this disease can be prevented. What is this terrible affliction? Heart disease.

Heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases claim the lives of nearly 500,000 women each year.

To help raise awareness of these conditions and the need for education and prevention, Alabama’s hospitals and the American Heart Association encouraged people to “Go Red” on Feb. 3.

On a nationwide level, the second annual National Wear Red Day is

Feb. 4.

Vaughan Regional Medical Center’s Cardiac Catheterization Lab (CCL) Team and other hospital employees wore red to support the cause.

“It is very important because the number of women who die each year from heart disease increases,” said Jackie Moultrie, Director of the Vaughan Regional Medical Center (CCL).

“Women need to take an active role in their health and their health as related to heart disease.”

The Vaughan CCL, which was established in the summer of 1986, performs a wide variety of cardiac procedures and interventional diagnostic services.

“We offer procedures such as diagnostic heart catheterization, peripheral angiograms and stint placement, and renal angiograms,” said Moultrie.

For more information about heart disease, its causes, and prevention strategies, visit the American Heart Association’s Web site at www.americanheart.org.