Mayo Clinic, First Lady Mary Pawlenty Join to Celebrate National Wear Red Day

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

WHAT: Mayo Clinic will celebrate National Wear Red Day, when people nationwide wear red to support women's heart disease awareness. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women.

WHEN: At noon on Friday, Feb. 3, Mayo Clinic staff members will gather wearing red clothing and red dress pins. In 2003, the Heart Truth — a national awareness campaign about heart disease — launched the red dress as the national symbol for women and heart disease in women.

WHERE: The event will take place in the atrium of the Gonda Building, 100 Third Ave. SW.

WHO: Minnesota's first lady, Mary Anderson Pawlenty, will make comments at noon about women and heart disease. She also will highlight her effort, "The First Lady's Heart Health Initiative," which she launched in 2005. Also making comments will be Sharon Mulvagh, M.D., a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic's Women's Heart Clinic, and Ardell Brede, mayor of Rochester. A photo taken of all gathered Mayo Clinic staff members and guests wearing red will be taken after the comments.

*All speakers will be available for interviews beginning at 11:30 a.m. or following the group photo.*

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Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy of "the needs of the patient come first." More than 3,700 physicians, scientists and researchers and 50,100 allied health staff work at Mayo Clinic, which has sites in Rochester, Minn; Jacksonville, Fla; and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. and community based providers in more than 70 locations in Southern Minn., Western Wis. and Northeast Iowa. These locations treat more than half a million people each year. To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. For information about research and education, visit www.mayo.edu. MayoClinic.com is available as a resource for your health stories.