A woman suffers a heart attack every 60 seconds in the United States. Yet according to a 2009 American Heart Association survey, only half of women indicated they would call 9-1-1 if they thought they were having a heart attack, and few were aware of the most common heart attack symptoms.
The Make the Call. Don’t Miss a Beat campaign is a national public education campaign that aims to educate, engage, and empower women and their families to learn the seven most common symptoms of a heart attack and encourage them to call 9-1-1 as soon as those symptoms arise. The campaign, developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health, encourages woman to make the call to 9-1-1 immediately if they experience one or more of the following heart attack symptoms:
- Chest pain, discomfort, pressure, or squeezing
- Shortness of breath
- Nausea
- Light-headedness or sudden dizziness
- Unusual upper body pain or discomfort in one or both arms, back, shoulder, neck, jaw, or upper part of the stomach
- Unusual fatigue
- Breaking out in a cold sweat
For more information on the campaign, visit womenshealth.gov/heartattack.
