LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Heart and vascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, but it disproportionately impacts Black people more than others.
Black women are more likely to suffer from heart disease and less likely to get the care they need to prevent and treat it. A group of ladies in red are dedicating time and service to bringing attention to the disparity. It's an issue the Lexington Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc is taking very personally.
In June 2021, Yavon Griffin's busy life changed forever. After battling high blood pressure for years, she had a massive stroke.
"My life changed dramatically," Griffin recalled.
She lost feeling on her entire left side. Her once busy life as a mom, attorney, and president of her local sorority chapter, was put on pause and replaced with a new fight from inside her hospital room.
"I was in there for a month where I learned to walk again. I had speech therapy, I did occupational therapy, trying to learn to get the use back in," said Griffin.
Griffin is among the 50 percent of Black women over age 20 in the U.S. that have some type of heart disease. Even after adjusting for socioeconomic status, access to health care, and other medical conditions, researchers found that compared to white women, pregnant Black women were 23% more likely to have a heart attack and 57% more likely to have a stroke.
Cardiologist Mary Beth Fisher sees the reality of those numbers play out every day as director of the women's heart health program at UK Hospital. She says it's why health leaders are focused on education, helping people make lifestyle and diet changes so that they don't add risk factors, and eventually changing the statistics.
"I think education is power and when women know better, they do better, and so, really sitting down and understanding those risks, understanding those goals, and then making adaptations," said Fisher.
Like many other Black women, Griffin had a strong family history of high blood pressure and heart disease. So did many members of her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta.
It's a part of why they are taking on the task of educating themselves and their community through their Heath Wins campaign.
"Part of some of the problem with heart disease in our community is a certain amount of stigma, we do have in our community kind of a superwoman stigma," said Michean Johnikin, pediatric cardiologist and member. "So one of the things that we are challenging ourselves and the community is to start talking."
