Campaign will educate women about risk of heart disease.

February 3, 2012 (Galesburg, IL) – The American Heart Association announces that Galesburg Cottage Hospital will serve as a local partner for the West - Central Illinois Go Red For Women Campaign. The partnership will educate local women about heart disease.

Go Red For Women is the American Heart Association's national movement that raises women's awareness of their risk for heart disease and helps them learn – and take action to reduce – their personal risk for heart disease. The Go Red For Women movement stresses the message that heart disease is women's leading cause of death ... a fact that most women do not take to heart. Go Red For Women harnesses women's energy, passion and power to band together and collectively wipe out heart disease.

"Heart disease is the number one killer of women in the West-Central Illinois area and in all of Illinois," said Eileen Inness, Healthy Woman director at Galesburg Cottage Hospital. "This focus on women and heart disease allows Galesburg Cottage Hospital to further our ongoing efforts to encourage women to love their heart all year long – for life."

The Cottage Goes Red partnership will include a special event on February 16th to raise women's awareness of their risk for heart disease. To kick off the movement, Galesburg Cottage Hospital employees gathered in a heart shape for an aerial photograph on the official National Go Red Day, Friday February 3rd.  Then on the 16th the hospital’s Healthy Woman membership will partake in Cardiac Chic - An Official American Heart Association Go Red Event beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Kensington Garden Room at 57 south Kellogg Street in Galesburg providing complimentary health screenings and information as well as a number of vendor booths with shopping opportunities.  Then the membership will gather in the adjacent Orpheum Theatre for an exclusive showing of the film short “Just a little Heart Attack” directed by and featuring Emmy nominated actress Elizabeth Banks. Following the film, Dr. Alar Sambandam, a board certified cardiologist at Cottage Hospital, will outline the signs and symptoms of heart attack in women.  Following the awarding of door prizes a gourmet dessert buffet will be unveiled for all participants.  Kensington Garden Room doors open at 5:30 p.m. with screenings and vendor booths. The movie will be shown at the adjacent Orpheum Theatre at 6:30 p.m., Dr. Sambandam will speak at 6:45 and the dessert buffet will be unveiled at 7:30 p.m.

In the film, Banks plays an overworked and stressed-out mother on a busy morning when she starts to have symptoms of a heart attack. Banks describes the film as being about "a super mom who takes care of everyone except herself and learns the lesson that she better look after herself, as well."  The entertaining, yet poignant film provides a powerful wake-up call to women across America to uncover their risk for heart disease and empower them to put their health first.

For more information about Go Red For Women visit www.GoRedForWomen.org. To learn more about the West Central Illinois Cottage Goes Red movement or to register for the event call 309-345-4567. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. Half of the ticket proceeds will be donated to the American Heart Association to battle heart disease. Tickets are available at The Landmark Café and Creperie and Cooks & Company both of which are located on historic South Seminary Street or at Galesburg Cottage Hospital or online at CottageHospital.com/HealthyWoman.