American Heart Association celebrates February as American Heart Month

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — February is American Heart Month.

The American Heart Association reminds women on this Valentine’s Day to protect their heart in more than one way.

Heart disease is the number one killer of Americans, taking more lives than cancer.

The American Heart Association says it’s big a threat to women of all ages who sometimes don’t recognize the signs of disease.

Executive Director Caitlin Brunell of the Jacksonville American Heart Association says, “specifically for women, nearly 45-percent over the age of 20 are living with some form of cardiovascular disease and are not aware of that.”

The American Heart Association says about 70-percent of cardiac arrests happen outside a hospital , making someone who knows CPR the difference between life and death.

Brunell says children as young as nine can learn CPR.

“Some nine-year-olds may be familiar with the song Baby Shark,” she says. " Some adults probably would be a bit mor familiar with the song Staying Alive. Those are the songs that you can apply those compressions to.”

The American Heart Association offers free online tutorial videos for hand’s on CPR, in addition to training kits to practice CPR on infants, children, and adults.

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