I have been encouraged by many to write a blog for some time and often wondered why anyone would be interested in what I had to say. After many years of nursing cardiac patients, teaching nursing, and then moving on to carrying out 15 years of research in Women and Heart Disease, I realised I had much to offer women on this topic.
During last 18 months I have started another journey, that of Social Entrepreneur, and it has been during this time that I have started to think differently about my contribution.
Through establishing Her Heart, a new not for profit charity I am now committed to spreading the word that heart disease is the biggest killer of women, bigger than all cancers combined. I feel incredibly lucky that I am able to build on all my knowledge from the past 30 years in order to dedicate myself fully to this cause.
Having had the opportunity to connect with women around the world and speak on this issue I am constantly reminded about the lack of readily accessible, and easily understood information around this issue, and overwhelmingly the feedback has been ‘we need more’.
In order for us to better connect I feel it important that this blog starts at the beginning and for you to know my story. I am a nurse, and was one of the early nurses to get a PhD here in Australia. I am originally from the UK having immigrated to Australia to be with my family 26 years ago. I have been very fortunate to continue in a job that I love. Nursing has been very good to me. Having worked in cardiac nursing since 1987 and caring for many patients I went on to teach nursing in hospitals , universities, and researching signs, causes and treatment of heart disease. In the past 15 years I have worked with some of the best researchers and having reached the pinnacle of my career as a Professor the feeling should surely have been that ‘I truly had it all’, but it wasn’t.
I found myself wanting to do more, not more of the same, but more for the everyday woman. I began to question my impact on making a difference, that’s not to say that what I was doing at the time wasn’t important. I had measurable outcomes; outstanding research students, published studies, received grant funding, produced many research articles; all on a Professors salary. I had also worked with the best team in amazing offices overlooking Melbourne’s magnificent Gardens! Despite all this, it wasn’t enough. I felt it was almost unethical of me to continue researching a topic when women still had no idea that heart disease was their biggest killer, and that we still continue to lose one woman every hour to this disease. I wanted women to understand that they didn’t have a higher risk of dying from breast cancer or any other cancer, when research shows that they are actually three times more likely to die from heart disease.
Many people talk of having a Ah Ha moment, or an epiphany and there were a couple of moments which really impacted on me. One was when we hosted the 2014 World Congress of Cardiology in Melbourne (which included the 4th International Women and Heart Disease Conference) where specialists came from around the world. I can recall the disappointment I felt at not being able to show them that Australia had a strong presence in active campaigns and that we weren’t doing more regarding Women and Heart Disease. For some time after I felt troubled and frustrated that women would approach me and ask “How did we not know that heart disease is our biggest killer?” It was becoming clear that I could either complain and worry about this lack of awareness, or do something about it.
Over the next few months I became unsettled in my work, but then came the next Ah Ha moment, this happened while I was learning how to Tweet a You Tube video I had just viewed and enjoyed, which was an interview with Cassandra Kelly at the Sydney Opera House. Cassandra is one of Australia’s top 100 women of influence and having successfully tweeted about her interview I was staggered to see that she had re-tweeted my post! In the next 24 hours she had sent me an e mail congratulating me on my work and suggesting we connect. Later that week I could hardly believe that I was sitting at a Glass Elevator Conference in Sydney surrounded by senior women in leadership, including Cassandra Kelly and the former Premier for Queensland Anna Bligh. It was during this conference, talking to these fabulous women that I realised that we really can follow any path we want, and that right there I had a community who could provide the support to conquer any glass ceiling! That very evening I made the decision that I could no longer work happily in my role as Director and Professor and would need to resign (from my well paid job) and follow a different path. Apart from being around women and heart disease I was unsure what it would be, I knew however that 2015 was not going to be the same.
Since then so much has happened, and I have met with some truly amazing women and received support for both my cause and myself personally. Enrolling myself in an entrepreneur course with The Entourage helped me significantly as I met and worked with such a supportive community. Also, being encouraged to apply for the Inaugural League of Women Entrepreneur Awards at the end of 2015 proved to be important. To my amazement, Her Heart was awarded the Casey Kinnaird Community Award which opened up another set of great connections with leading female entrepreneurs.
Finally, through an Introduction at a Rotary event, I was extremely fortunate to meet Tina Manolitsas who now heads up our Marketing & Communications Department. I truly believe our paths were meant to cross as she has been incredibly important in taking the charity to the next level. There has also been key advisors and students too who have helped establish Her Heart in this first year; a charity which I sincerely hope will reduce the hundreds of women who are lost every day to heart disease.
I hope that sharing my journey with you will mean that you know a little more about how Her Heart was created, and ultimately that you will share your stories with me by either responding and/or through supporting our cause.