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Healing hearts is an important part of the mission at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation. For over 40 years, our team has led the way for cardiovascular research and education to improve care and outcomes for patients around the world, and Heart Month is a time to remind ourselves what it means, and what it takes to keep hearts beating strong.

If you or a loved one has suffered from heart disease, you know the pain it causes.

• 11.6 million Americans are estimated to have heart valve disease, and 3 in 4 individuals report knowing little to nothing about the disease.
   
• In the U.S., someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds and a cardiac arrest every 90 seconds
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• This translates to around 800,000 heart attacks every year (of these around 600,000 are first heart attacks), and 356,000 cardiac arrests every year.
   
• More than 7 in 10 women do not know that they have heart disease until they have a heart attack.
   
• Interested in learning more heart health facts? Take our heart valve disease quiz!

We hope you’ll celebrate this month with us by:

1. Participating in our Healing Hearts is Our Mission campaign and sharing with us what’s most important to you during this month. Go to mplsheart.org/healing to participate and spread the word on social using #HealingHearts
2. Wearing red on National Wear Red Day on Friday, February 2: Raise awareness by sharing a photo on social media with #WearRedDay.
3. Joining us for our Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day event on February 17. MHIF will host Inspiring Optimism in Heart Valve Disease, a free education event discussing the latest in heart valve disease research and treatments. Register and learn more. If you’re unable to join us, catch the recording after!
4. Learn more about heart disease in women, who are under-studied, under-diagnosed, and under-treated compared to men. Click here for resources on what women need to know about taking care of their own hearts.
5. Attending an upcoming Aortic Disease Patient Education Symposium on February 23 with one of our community partners, Rock from the Heart. MHIF researchers, Drs. Mario Goessl, Sarah Palmer, JoEllyn Moore and Jesse Manunga, are speakers at the symposium and key contributors to cardiovascular research at MHIF. To learn more about the symposium, or Rock from the Heart's benefit concert featuring Sebastian Bach at the Palace Theater on February 24, visit rockfromtheheart.org.

But heart health awareness doesn’t stop there.

While we hope our community members become more familiar with heart disease this month, it’s important to remember and take these lessons to heart. Stay connected to your resources: your family, your healthcare providers and our team at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation. If you’re interested in some additional heartwarming inspiration, see the patient stories we celebrate – they are at the heart of the MHIF mission!