1.

Heart Health Issues in Women

Heart health issues are extremely prevalent in women. According to the American Heart

Association, for every three women who die annually, one of those deaths are due to cardiovascular

disease. Men and women die of heart disease at the same rate in the United States, and even though it

is so common, only 54% of women indicated that they were aware that it was their number one cause

of death. (CDC 2017) Of the women who suddenly die of heart disease, 64% of them had no previous

symptoms. (CDC 2017). More locally speaking, Wisconsin bears a massive cost due to complications

and hospital visits due to heart disease. According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services,

heart disease related medical treatment results in $4.1 billion worth of increased medical costs annually.

2. Reasons for Developing a Strategic Communication Campaign

As you already know, the Marshfield Clinic Health System is a regional leader in heart care and

given the extremely high prevalence of cardiovascular disease combined with a small, but growing level

of awareness, there is a huge need for reaching out to women all around the state. MCHS should launch

a PR campaign to emphasize what we can offer the community; we need to give women a reason to

choose our health system over our various competitors. Wisconsin has a unique relationship with heart

disease due to a couple of contributing factors. First, residents of the state have dietary habits that differ

from the rest of the country to a large degree. We rank in the upper half of all states in terms of obesity

rate, so our diets clearly have direct and indirect links to cardiovascular health. Second, because the state

has colder temperatures and less naturally occurring outside activity than that of a state with more warm

days, the population is more likely to be sedentary.

 A campaign directly aimed at heart health will have a systemic impact. As we raise awareness

about heart disease, we will encourage an overall healthier lifestyle in our patient population. For so

long we have been focusing on a general picture of heart health, but generally, heart health has been

thought of traditionally as a disease that men get. We rarely envision a woman when one hears about

heart attacks or cardiac disease. As I discussed, we need to focus specifically on women to raise

awareness in a vulnerable population.

There are three key publics that we will reach through our targeted PR campaign. Since we are

focusing on women, we already have a massive piece of targeting established. We can drill down on

the audience and target different age groups, speak to each time in a woman’s life, and why heart health

is so vitally important. Our first age group will be 18-40 and will have a heavier focus on staying active

and making good choices while maintaining a busy on-the-go lifestyle. This age group will fit naturally

with tips for making small changes and regularly doing run of the mill checks like blood pressure and

blood glucose levels. Ages 40-60 will focus on aging women who are more at-risk for heart-related

complications that will have an effect on their quality of life as a whole. Screening tips at this stage will

become more involved and will explain the benefits of talking with their provider about family history

and what tests will be right for them. Ages 60-80 will focus on life post-heart disease, and what this

aged population can do to reduce their risk of re-occurrence. At this stage, our focus will shift to how

our patient’s health can affect their families and will have a more emotional tilt.
 RESOURCES

Centers for Disease Control. (2017, August 08). Heart Disease Fact Sheet. Retrieved August 8,

30, from https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fs_heart_disease.htm

American Heart Association. (2016). Wisconsin State Fact Sheet. Retrieved August 30, 2018,

fromhttp://www.heart.org/idc/groups/heart-

public/@wcm/@adv/documents/downloadable/ucm_492934.pdf

Wisconsin Department of Health Services. (2016, November 02). Heart Disease: Facts and

Figures. Retrieved August 30, 2018, from https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/heart-disease/facts.htm