Students push awareness of stroke by wearing red

This past Friday was National Wear Red Day, a countrywide campaign to promote stroke awareness. HASA, the Hopkins Association for Stroke Awareness, encouraged students to participate in the event by passing out fliers and giveaways on the Breezeway.

According to Trisha Lala, HASA’s advertising chair, the American Heart Association played a large role in bringing National Wear Red Day to Hopkins.

“We are fortunate to have the support of the American Heart Association for our group. They provide us with an endless amount of resources, strategies, and goodies to give out for our events,” Lala wrote in an email to The News-Letter.

In addition to handing out informational fliers related to heart health, HASA supported the event through social media. Students who wore red were encouraged to post a picture of themselves to HASA’s Facebook page, which would then make them eligible for a contest.

Wear Red Day is an attempt to bring the issue of stroke prevention to light, according to Carolyn Zin, co-president of HASA.

“We focus on prevention. Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in the US, and many people who are at risk for stroke are uninformed about the ways that they can prevent it. . .By participating in Wear Red Day, we not only advocate to fight heart disease but stroke as well,” Zin wrote in an email to The News-Letter.

Lala has a personal connection to the issue of stroke prevention.

“I have been working with stroke patients at the medical campus since my freshman year. Speaking to the patients really showed me that they lack awareness of preventative measures they can take, and avoid that scary trip to the hospital,” she wrote.

Statistics on strokes show that it is a significant issue.

“Around 800,000 people in the U.S. have a new or recurrent stroke each year, according to the AHA, so it certainly is a condition we should be targeting. Moreover, a stroke can result in brain damage that a patient may not able to recover from,” Lala wrote.

Supporting National Wear Red Day is one of a few ways HASA is promoting stroke awareness.

“We have cooking demonstrations on campus. Additionally, we work in the stroke ward at the medical campus, speaking with patients who have recently suffered from a stroke and supply them with information about preventing one another from occurring,” Lala wrote.

HASA also tries to engage the larger Baltimore community.

“We branch out into the Baltimore community and attend health fairs, where we give out our heart-healthy pamphlets, detailing easy lifestyle changes for stroke prevention and conduct blood-pressure screenings on child and adults of our community,” Lala wrote.

HASA promoted Wear Red Day through use of the Daily Announcements and Facebook. They do not know how many people wore red, but according to Lala, they were satisfied with their spot on the Breezeway, where they were able to give out their promotional materials to many students.

“As the first time participating in National Wear Red Day, we had a great basis for future years. Many people participated in the event, and we can’t wait for next year to expand it even more,” Zin wrote.

Zin is satisfied with the impact that Wear Red Day had on campus, and hopes in the future to reach out to the larger Baltimore community as well.

“Many people that did not know about Wear Red Day visited our table to learn more about our mission. We hope to expand our event next year to not only a greater population of the Hopkins community but also to the Baltimore community,” Zin wrote.

Lala feels the Hopkins community was very receptive to HASA’s efforts to promote stroke awareness.

“The Hopkins community is great because they are open to anything! We do think that we were able to make an impression on our fellow students and promote stroke prevention,” she wrote.

Though this is the first year that Hopkins participated in Wear Red Day, and, according to Zin, it will not be the last. Both Zin and Lala agreed that the event was a success.

“Our National Wear Red Day was definitely a success. While promoting living a healthier lifestyle and supporting the effort to fight heart disease, we helped spread awareness s about the mission of our organization,” Zin wrote.