Canadian Women
This Canadian won multiple medals at the summer and winter Olympic games.
Clara Hughes is the only Olympian to have won multiple medals at both the summer and winter games.
-Road Cycling, Time Trials, 1996
-Speed Skating, 2002, 2006, 2010
She supports initiatives that encourage education, healthy lifestyle, leadership, mental health and sports.
In 2010, she became an Officer of the Order of Canada.
This disease is on the rise and is the leading cause of death for women worldwide.
Heart disease used to be considered a "man's disease," but no longer. Women can be at greater risk for heart disease than men.
A tear in the large blood vessels of the heart, which is more prevalent in women than men.
Spontaneous coronary artery dissection, SCAD, is a tear in an artery wall in your heart that allows blood to build up in the space between the layers of your artery wall. This leads to a reduction or blockage of blood flow to your heart.
Going for a walk, parking further away and meditating are examples.
Be active, keep moving, reduce stress.
Heart disease is largely preventable!
Menopause earlier than this age leads to a higher risk of heart disease.
45 years old. As estrogen levels decrease during menopause the risk for heart disease increases.
This is the first Canadian woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature.
Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013, becoming the 13th woman globally to receive the honour.
Much of what we know about the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease is based on research on this population.
Men have been primarily the subjects in research studies but women’s hearts and the way they experience heart disease are different in many ways. These differences are important because they can affect how heart disease presents in women, and how it's diagnosed and treated.
The name for tightening of the large blood vessels of the heart, limiting blood flow, is more common in women than in men.
Coronary Vasospasm is the sudden narrowing of an artery. It happens when the muscles within the vessel's wall quickly contract and stay that way.
This is a big component of a heart healthy diet.
Eat a variety of healthy foods!
Eat less sodium and sugar.
Eat more good fats and fibre.
Rheumatoid arthritis and lupus are examples of these disorders that increase the risk of heart disease in women.
Systemic inflammatory and autoimmune disorders; Living with Rheumatoid arthritis and lupus leads to a greater risk of heart disease in women.
When she was named Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer in 2017, she became the first woman to hold the job.
Dr. Theresa Tam has championed the reduction of health disparities so that everyone in Canada has a chance to lead healthy lives, physically and mentally.
Dr. Tam is a pediatric infectious disease specialist with expertise in immunization, emergency preparedness and global health security.
These are symptoms of heart attack most often reported by women.
This is the name of small vessel disease which is more common in women than in men.
Coronary microvascular disease (sometimes called small artery disease or small vessel disease) is heart disease that affects the walls and inner lining of tiny coronary artery blood vessels that branch off from the larger coronary arteries.
These increase not only heart disease but also your chance of having lung disease as well.
Commercial tobacco and vaping
Women have 3x higher risk of heart attack due to cigarette smoking compared to men.
Visit this WRC website if you have questions.
Visit WearRedCanada.ca to support and to learn more about women’s heart health, symptoms, causes, risks and what you can do.
To take care of others, you need to first take care of yourself. Start the conversation with the women in your life!
Susan Olivia Davis Poole was one of the first indigenous women in Canada to patent and profit from her invention which was inspired by the traditional practice of using a bouncing cradleboard to soothe babies. This is the name of the invention.
The Jolly Jumper, formally the baby jumper, was patented by Ms. Poole in 1957. In the 1950s her invention was mass produced by the family business, Poole Manufacturing Co.
This percentage of women do not have their heart attack symptoms recognized.
Heart attack symptoms are not recognized in over 50% of women.
This is a type of cardiomyopathy, that is more likely to occur in women than in men, where there is a weakened heart due to a stressful event.
Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is a weakening of the left ventricle, the heart's main pumping chamber. The condition is usually the result of severe emotional or physical stress.
How many drinks is considered "heavy drinking" for women?
No alcohol consumption is considered safe.
"Heavy drinking" is:
More than 3 drinks in a day
More than 7 drinks each week for Women
Alcohol increases your chances of:
- liver disease
- several types of cancer
- cardiovascular problems such as high blood pressure and atrial fibrillation.
Living with this risk factor increases women's chance of dying from heart disease compared to men.
Diabetes mellitus; women living with diabetes are 3x more likely to die from heart disease compared to men.
This lady was the first Black Woman elected to Canada’s Parliament.
Jean Augustine’s roles included Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, Minister for Multiculturalism and the Status of Women, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Deputy Speaker.
She is a member of the Order of Canada, Commander of the Order of the British Empire and supports scholarships at Colleges in Ontario.
This hormone is believed to be cardioprotective against heart disease in women.
Estrogen protects most younger women from heart complications but once estrogen levels drop during menopause, the risk of heart disease rises.
This is a type of cardiomyopathy characterized by a weakened heart during or after pregnancy.
Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM), also known as postpartum cardiomyopathy, is an uncommon form of heart failure that happens towards the end of pregnancy or in the months following delivery, when no other cause of heart failure can be found.
Ask to have these lab tests completed when meeting with your health care provider.
Have regular check ups: test for cholesterol, blood sugars and also blood pressure.
While men and women share many of the same traditional risk factors, some risk factors are specific to women. These are 3 women specific risk factors.
- Pregnancy complications (ex. premature birth, diabetes or hypertension during pregnancy, preeclampsia)
- Earlier than average menopause
- Polycystic ovary syndrome (cysts in ovaries and hormonal imbalance)