Elmhurst Hospital’s Go Red for Women Day event
helps bring awareness to women’s heart health
Photos by Gabriele Holtermann
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | FEB. 19-FEB. 25, 2021 15
BY GABRIELE HOLTERMANN
Elmhurst Hospital, the
epicenter of the COVID-19
pandemic, held a strictly socially
distanced Go Red for
Women Day event as part of
American Heart Month on
Friday, Feb. 5.
Employees were encouraged
to wear red, the signature
color of Heart Month representing
heart health, and
in return received a red face
mask from the Women’s Concerns
Committee-Joint Labor
Management. World Central
Kitchen, which also supplies
hot meals to frontline workers
at 15 public hospitals in
New York City, serving 30,000
meals a day, provided a few
thousand heart-healthy Santa
Fe salads low in sodium
and cholesterol with a choice
of chicken or tofu to staff in
the hospital lobby.
The American Heart Association
launched Go Red
for Women Day in 2004 to
spread awareness of heart
disease. According to a newly
released 2021 Heart Disease
and Stroke Statistics by the
association, cardiovascular
disease remains the number
one killer of women. Heart
disease and stroke cause one
in three deaths of women
each year, according to the
American Heart Association
– killing more women than
all forms of cancer combined.
Every 80 seconds, a woman
dies from the disease.
Cardiologist Dr. Deborah
Reynolds explained
that women often present
non-classical heart-attack
symptoms that can include
extreme fatigue, shortness of
breath, indigestion, and pain
or pressure in the lower chest
or upper abdomen. Her department
works very closely
with emergency and internal
medicine to evaluate those
symptoms in female patients
and run a battery of tests to
determine if the symptoms
are related to heart disease.
“We take these symptoms
very seriously because
people, regardless, want to
understand why did they
change. And we try to objectify
that with testing,” Reynolds
said.
She reiterated that women
should see their doctor even
though they might feel nervous
because of the COVID-19
pandemic.
“In addition to emergency
hospital evaluation, we have
a robust cardiology clinic
that sees thousands of people.
And we can provide expedited
testing, both laboratory
and imaging,” Reynolds said.
She also noted that they
have observed heart disease
symptoms in COVID-19 patients
that range from traditional
heart attacks to heart
rhythm issues and trouble
walking.
“We are still learning
what are the long term effects
of COVID,” Reynolds said.
“New York City Health and
Hospitals Corporation has
developed a central area of
research that pools the data
from the facilities so we can
publish research faster this
way.”
Because so many patients
delayed treatment during
the height of the coronavirus
pandemic in the spring and
summer of 2020 — either because
they were afraid or the
hospital system was overburdened
— her department has
seen an increase in patients.
“Since COVID has been
stabilizing, we are seeing
many people come in having
their symptoms evaluated,”
she said. “We see a need for
cardiology support for not
just heart attacks, but heart
weakness and irregular
heartbeats.”
She encouraged patients
to keep up with their yearly
check-ups and to seek medical
treatment if they display
symptoms.
“I think particularly
in women we put up with
things maybe a little bit longer,”
she said. “It’s scary to
come to the hospital now.
But we want people to understand
that we take their
safety very seriously, and
for that reason, we perform
the evaluation over a very
short period of time.”
/QNS.COM
