Suzanne, I’m so sorry. Thank you for trusting this space with something so painful. What you shared is exactly why this work matters because real lives are lost when symptoms don’t fit the expected narrative. I’m holding your mother in mind as I continue this work. 🤍
Thank you. That means more than I can say. It’s painful, but it helps to know these stories are being carried forward with care and intention. I’m grateful for the way you’re holding this work.
I am a retired nurse who worked for years in community and public health. I find this interview timely as February, which is heart disease prevention month, approaches. While I applaud Dr. Maas’s efforts to bring women’s cardiac care to the fore, I didn’t hear her discuss anything about discussing preventative measures across women’s health care. For example, the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Go Red for Women is a valuable resource that all clinicians can use to direct their patients to adapt healthier lifestyles. The site also provides information about how women might have “soft” or atypical symptoms of heart attack.
One aspect of care that I would love to see change is instead of referring to patient complaints, call them patient symptoms or reports. Calling a patient’s symptoms complaints implies that what they experience isn’t real. All of us need to be better listeners.
Thank you so much for this and for the decades you’ve spent in community and public health. Your point about language really landed with me. The difference between calling something a complaint versus a symptom may seem small, but it carries so much weight in how seriously women are heard and believed.
One of the things that struck me in Angela’s story was how that moment with a patient forced her to confront exactly this gap of a system and vocabulary that quietly diminishes lived experience. I really appreciate you naming this so clearly. We don’t change outcomes without first changing how we listen. 💛
Thank you, Maryann. I wish that health PSAs gave as much attention to women’s heart health as they do for breast cancer screening or cervical cancer screening. The current political climate leans towards diminishing health priorities for women particularly women of color who are particularly vulnerable. We can’t let a male-centric focus dictate what women’s health is.
You’re so right. Heart health still doesn’t get the attention it deserves for women, even though the risk is so high. And when awareness is missing, the women most vulnerable are often the ones left behind. These conversations matter so much more than people realize. 💛
Absolutely. Women worry about breast cancer, but are far more likely to die from cardiovascular diseases. I still think that society has long associated heart disease particularly coronary artery disease and hypertension are male diseases, yet those conditions are often silent until a cardiac event. The more that women’s health becomes less reproductive health focused, the better that women can live healthier lives.
Such an important and pertinent point EmmS. Women’s health is so much more than reproductive health and it’s great to see that more capital flowing into areas of women’s health that represent the life journey beyond reproduction.
I lived my life with a "genetic" heart condition that went unnoticed. It wasn't until I went into heart failure in my forties that we really started to dive into it. There were signs and symptoms that indicated a potential problem but they were ignored. Thank you for bringing attention to this issue and for pushing the boundaries and how we look at heart disease in women.
This is deeply personal. My mother died of undiagnosed heart disease.
Her symptoms didn’t fit the expected narrative, and they weren’t acted on in time. These blind spots aren’t abstract—they cost lives.
Thank you for continuing to name this.
Suzanne, I’m so sorry. Thank you for trusting this space with something so painful. What you shared is exactly why this work matters because real lives are lost when symptoms don’t fit the expected narrative. I’m holding your mother in mind as I continue this work. 🤍
Thank you. That means more than I can say. It’s painful, but it helps to know these stories are being carried forward with care and intention. I’m grateful for the way you’re holding this work.
I am a retired nurse who worked for years in community and public health. I find this interview timely as February, which is heart disease prevention month, approaches. While I applaud Dr. Maas’s efforts to bring women’s cardiac care to the fore, I didn’t hear her discuss anything about discussing preventative measures across women’s health care. For example, the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Go Red for Women is a valuable resource that all clinicians can use to direct their patients to adapt healthier lifestyles. The site also provides information about how women might have “soft” or atypical symptoms of heart attack.
One aspect of care that I would love to see change is instead of referring to patient complaints, call them patient symptoms or reports. Calling a patient’s symptoms complaints implies that what they experience isn’t real. All of us need to be better listeners.
Thank you so much for this and for the decades you’ve spent in community and public health. Your point about language really landed with me. The difference between calling something a complaint versus a symptom may seem small, but it carries so much weight in how seriously women are heard and believed.
One of the things that struck me in Angela’s story was how that moment with a patient forced her to confront exactly this gap of a system and vocabulary that quietly diminishes lived experience. I really appreciate you naming this so clearly. We don’t change outcomes without first changing how we listen. 💛
Thank you, Maryann. I wish that health PSAs gave as much attention to women’s heart health as they do for breast cancer screening or cervical cancer screening. The current political climate leans towards diminishing health priorities for women particularly women of color who are particularly vulnerable. We can’t let a male-centric focus dictate what women’s health is.
You’re so right. Heart health still doesn’t get the attention it deserves for women, even though the risk is so high. And when awareness is missing, the women most vulnerable are often the ones left behind. These conversations matter so much more than people realize. 💛
Absolutely. Women worry about breast cancer, but are far more likely to die from cardiovascular diseases. I still think that society has long associated heart disease particularly coronary artery disease and hypertension are male diseases, yet those conditions are often silent until a cardiac event. The more that women’s health becomes less reproductive health focused, the better that women can live healthier lives.
Such an important and pertinent point EmmS. Women’s health is so much more than reproductive health and it’s great to see that more capital flowing into areas of women’s health that represent the life journey beyond reproduction.
It's not "atypical" if it's over 50% of the population!!!!
The absurdity of it all is mind boggling Lara!
I lived my life with a "genetic" heart condition that went unnoticed. It wasn't until I went into heart failure in my forties that we really started to dive into it. There were signs and symptoms that indicated a potential problem but they were ignored. Thank you for bringing attention to this issue and for pushing the boundaries and how we look at heart disease in women.