The Reason Behind National Wear Red Day

In February 2018, Heather Baker went into sudden cardiac arrest at the school where she worked as an administrator. Fortunately, her coworkers had received AHA CPR/AED training only one month prior and knew exactly what to do. Together, they performed CPR and utilized an AED to shock her heart three times and save her life. A healthy 28-year-old at the time, Heather had never dreamt anything like this could happen to her. Since her cardiac arrest, she has made it her mission to educate others on the importance of knowing CPR. She became a certified CPR instructor and has trained close to 2,000 people in hands-only CPR. National Wear Red Day is a massive public awareness day, urging everyone to wear red in order to bring attention to heart disease and stroke. Because the despite the devastating toll of COVID-19, heart disease is the number one cause of death in the U.S. It’s about more than just wearing red and sharing heart-health facts: we want everyone to make a commitment to take charge of their own heart health. Heather Baker shares her story with us in the hopes of inspiring others to learn more about Heart Disease and how to help others in need. National Wear Red Day is on Friday February 5! Share your photos of you wearing red on social media and tag @AHAWisconsin #GoRedMKE.