ACROSS THE CAUSEWAY

Our health system colleagues — students, staff and faculty — may not be able to make it to the Davis campus for the giant heart formation, but they’ll be celebrating UC Davis Wears Red Day in their own ways.

A team led by Tim Maurice, the UC Davis Health System’s chief financial officer and a board member of the American Heart Association's Sacramento Division, announced a number of activities, including:

• A noontime walk, beginning at the Education Building.
• A series of 20-Minute Heart Talks on heart disease prevention, at the main hospital and the Lawrence J. Ellison Ambulatory Care Center.
• Special heart-healthy meal options in the medical center and Ellison building cafes.

Maurice encourages health system staff and teams to create their own ways — big and small — to recognize UC Davis Wears Red Day. Pediatrics, for example, has partnered with Build-A-Bear Workshop and a private donor to provide hospitalized children with almost-finished stuffed bears — each child will complete his or her bear by adding a heart.

“Wear Red Day provides a great opportunity to highlight the importance of caring for your heart on every day of the year — for yourself and for everyone who is important to you,” Maurice said.

UC Davis studies the heart, treats the heart and promotes heart health in a big, big way, to be demonstrated Friday, Feb. 7, when thousands of students, staff and faculty will try to set a new world record for largest heart formation.

This show of force against heart disease — the No. 1 killer in the United States — will be happening on the first UC Davis Wears Red Day, coinciding with National Wear Red Day, sponsored annually by the Heart Truth Campaign and the American Heart Association to raise awareness of heart disease as the leading cause of death among women.

We’re hoping to see 12,000 people in the heart formation — so come join in, and bring your colleagues with you! We’ve invited everyone on campus and everyone in the surrounding community to help us make our giant heart, and to attend the Battle Heart Disease Fair afterward.

Here’s everything you need to know about the day's activities, starting with our attempt to beat the 4-year-old Guinness World Record of 11,166 people in a heart formation.

• Start gathering at 11:30 a.m., Hutchison Intramural Field, adjacent to the west entry parking garage; please walk or bike.
• Wear a special-edition UC Davis red T-shirt (details below) or something else red.
• You don't need to miss your lunch: food will be for sale (including heart-healthy options).
• Official photo-taking at 12:30 p.m.
• Use our Facebook event page to tell us you’re coming!

•••

After that, we’ll have the third annual Battle Heart Disease Fair, organized by the Alpha Pi Sigma sorority.

• 1-4 p.m., The Pavilion (adjacent to the Hutchison IM Field).
• The program includes a welcome from Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi, and a talk by UC Davis alumna Jessica M. Núñez de Ybarra, M.D. ’97, a public health medical officer supervisor at the California Department of Public Health, addressing common heart-related illnesses and preventive measures.
• Information tables and health screenings, sponsored by various organizations.
• A performance by the Nigerian Student Dance Group.
• Free and open to the public.
• Check out the Battle Heart Disease Fair Facebook page.

•••

UC Davis heart T-shirts are available now at all UC Davis Stores, including the Sacramento branch, and you’ll also be able to buy the shirts on the Hutchison IM Field around the time of the giant heart formation.

• Short-sleeved in adult and youth sizes, $5.
• Long-sleeved and women’s V-neck (short-sleeved), $8.
• They’re also available online.
• $1 from every sale goes to the UC Davis Women’s Cardiovascular Medicine Program.
• For departmental orders, contact Carol Swafford or Sarah Brodberg by email.
• Extra bonus (good on Feb. 7 only): Wear your shirt and you’ll get discounts at all UC Davis Stores and in all dining commons (for heart healthy meals, of course).

•••

UC Davis Wears Red Day organizers will have a table at this weekend's Davis Farmers Market, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday (Feb. 1) at Central Park, Third and C streets. The organizers will promote the upcoming heart health awareness event, and UC Davis Stores representatives will be on hand with T-shirts for sale.

Online

Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi's UC Davis Wears Red Day announcement.

Feb. 7 isn't just about wearing red: The chancellor is encouraging departments to showcase their work against heart disease. Tell us what your unit is doing.

Record-breaking heart formation: Use our Facebook event page to tell us you’re coming!

Alpha Pi Sigma’s Battle Heart Disease Fair is also on Facebook.

The Heart Truth (National Institutes of Health)

Go Red for Women (American Heart Association)

Men and Heart Disease (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

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