Heart disease is the single biggest killer of Australian women.
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A local initiative is aiming to tackle this statistic head on through raising awareness of this invisible killer through the visual arts.
Heart disease awareness cards designed by local women will be placed at various locations around the Bega Valley and Shoalhaven in the hope it will educate the public of preventative measures.
In 2015, Southern Women’s Group in collaboration with Southern Area Local Health District, Southern District Family and Community Services, Childcare Resources and Advisory Aboriginal Corporation, Uniting Care and Katungul Aboriginal Medical Service were successful in a grant application aimed at raising the awareness of women’s heart disease on the Far South Coast.
“Although 90 per cent of women have at least one factor for heart disease and over half have at least two, women are still less likely to be investigated and treated than men,” Women’s Resource Centre coordinator Gabrielle Powell said.
“Women themselves often don’t recognize heart disease as being an issue for them and many of the symptoms women experience are different from men meaning women are often misdiagnosed,” she said.
