Tomorrow is National Wear Red Day (or Go Red for Women) in the States, which focuses on cardiovascular health for women.

Saturday is World Cancer Day, which aims to increase awareness of preventable cancers worldwide.

Every year I wonder why these two awareness days are so close together – even overlapping on certain years – when they are both tremendously important as the number one and two killers of developed countries. I’ll deal with my internal questions since the days will not change any time soon.

I digress.

Wear red tomorrow, or get involved in other ways. If you wear certain scrub colors per policy, accessorize with red (red t-shirts under scrubs, red socks, red bows, red earrings, red scrub cap, whatever). Tell your colleagues and patients about the signs and symptoms of a heart attack or stroke in women. If you’re female, know them, the risk factors, and the prevention strategies yourself. Don’t be a superwoman; take care of yourself.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7wmPWTnDbE

And let the advocacy continue into Saturday (and beyond, I hope) with World Cancer Day. One in three cancer deaths are preventable through changing lifestyle habits, such as eating healthily, exercising regularly, not smoking, and reducing alcohol consumption. One in three. Therefore, a key mission of World Cancer Day 2012 is to collect pledges and encourage people across the world to commit to positive lifestyle change to reduce their cancer risk. To realize this mission, a dedicated World Cancer Day 2012 application on Facebook allows users to make their personal pledge to the online community by donating their Facebook status.  A companion campaign on Twitter will support #WorldCancerDay as a trending topic. If you’re interested in hosting an event, there are quite a few resources available, as well.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFscKip7o-Q