Heart disease is the leading cause of death for American women.

Patricia Gerber is a Cardiac Rehabilitation patient at HealthPark Medical Center. She says, “Women’s heart health is a vitally important topic. Heart disease especially in women is rampant.” Marion Harris-Barter is a Registered Nurse with the Cardiac Rehabilitation program. She says, “In fact more women die of heart disease than all cancers combined so it’s really important for them to know what their risks are.”

So staff at Lee Memorial Health System’s Heart and Vascular Institute created a unique way to draw attention to those risk factors. Marion says, “We came up with this idea of having bookmarks and distributing them to local florists.” Those local florists were happy to get involved in the effort. During the week of Mother’s Day the staff at Ruth Messmer Florist distributed more than 1,000 little heart disease reminders. The book marks list all of the risk factors and other information about heart disease.

Heather Messmer with Ruth Messmer Florist was happy to get on board with the program. “We put it on with the card and when they take the card off then they get to read this little and then they can carry it in their wallet or in their purse and they can share it with their friends. I think it’s a good community service program.”

One important fact on the bookmarks reminds women to stay informed about their cholesterol and blood pressure numbers. In order to prevent heart disease women should have those things screened regularly. More than 20 area florists were involved in the program this year. They hope to reach more than 7,000 women with the healthy message.