The Office on Women’s Health (OWH), a federal government source for women’s health information, has announced a Request for Applications (RFA) for its Heart Attack Symptoms & Calling 9-1-1 Campaign for Women. Funding is available for activities and events in support of the campaign.

One $10,000 award will be made per HHS region. Awardees must be willing to promote the Heart Attack Symptoms and Calling 9-1-1 Campaign for Women after the launch of the campaign. Applications are due Dec. 6 by 5 p.m. Mountain Time. Submit applications in Microsoft Word or PDF format to [email protected] or mail to JSI, ATTN: Megan Hiltner, 1725 Blake Street, Suite 400, Denver, CO 80202.

The purpose of this campaign is to encourage women over age 50 across the country to recognize the signs and symptoms of heart attack and to call 9-1-1 promptly. Community-based partnerships and collaboration are strongly encouraged. This RFA is coordinated by John Snow Inc. (JSI) on behalf of the HHS Office on Women’s Health to encourage women to take action to improve their survival and decrease disability by recognizing signs and symptoms of heart attack and calling 9-1-1 promptly.

The Problem

Even though awareness of heart attack and heart disease has increased over time, women still do not see their personal risk. Sixty percent of white women recognized heart disease as the leading cause of death among women; however, less than half of African American (45%), Hispanic (43%) and Asian (34%) women identified heart disease as the leading cause of death, according to a 2009 American Heart Association’s (AHA) survey.

About half of women in the 2009 AHA survey reported that they would call 9-1-1 if they thought they were having a heart attack and recognition of atypical signs of heart attack was low.

Only half of women in the 2009 AHA survey recognized the typical signs and symptoms of a heart attack which include:

• Pain that spreads to the shoulders, neck, or arms
• Chest pain
• Shortness of breath
• Tightness in the chest
• Nausea
• Fatigue

Failure to Call 9-1-1

Only 53% of women in the 2009 AHA survey said that they would call 9-1-1 if experiencing the symptoms of a heart attack. Forty-six percent of women would do something other than call 9-1-1 (such as take an aspirin, go to the hospital, or call the doctor) if they were experiencing the symptoms of a heart attack. Seventy-nine percent said they would call 9-1-1 if someone else were having a heart attack.

The Mission of the Heart Attack Symptoms and Calling 9-1-1Campaign for Women

To launch a public education campaign for women age 50 + and their families and friends (bystanders) that:

• Educates women on the symptoms of a heart attack
• Engages women to change their behaviors and improve their health
• Empowers women to call 9-1-1 to save their own life, and empowers bystanders to act to save the lives of their sisters, mothers, and best friends

The campaign will include the following outreach components:

Awareness and outreach to women over 50

• Heart disease is the number one killer of women.
• A women’s risk of heart disease begins to increase between ages 50 to 60.
• On average, one woman dies of a heart attack every minute in the United States.
• One in three 50+ year-old women will have a heart attack or chest pain in her life.
• Only 53 percent of women report that they would call 9-1-1 if they thought they were having a heart attack.
• Awareness of typical and atypical symptoms of heart disease is low among women ages 50+.

Awareness and outreach to health professionals

• Women 50+ are more likely to die within a year of a heart attack than men.
• Women have a higher proportion of out-of-hospital deaths than men.
• Women have been shown to have a significant time delay in receiving diagnostic and interventional procedures, which may contribute to a worse 30-day mortality rate compared with men.

More information is available at http://www.womenshealth.gov/about-us/funding-opportunities.