Knowing your family’s health history can help you avoid both heart disease and stroke! Use the chart found here to map your family’s health history. Start with your immediate family – find out if your brothers, sisters, parents, or grandparents have had heart disease, strokes, heart attacks, or any other major health problems. Be sure to ask how old they were when they developed these issues.
Use the following tips to get the best information:
- Share your purpose for asking. Explain that knowing family health history is important information that doctors can use, and offer to make the information available to other family members when you are finished compiling it.
- Give several options for how you receive the information. Some people might not feel comfortable sharing health information over email or phone and prefer a face-to-face conversation.
- Listen to your relatives’ answers without interruptions or judgment.
- Respect privacy – make sure that you let your relatives know that the information they share with you is confidential, and be sure to respect that.
Map Your HEART and Family History Challenge:
Once you have completed the chart, fill out the feedback form found at the bottom of our website (https://www.ithaca.edu/hr/benefits/wrklife/go_red) or here and submit it to the Office of Human Resources. Please do NOT send your family health history form. This is for your records. Your submission must be received by February 28th to be entered into a prize drawing.
Questions? Email Allie at allie.ic.hr@gmail.com and check out our FEBRUARY IS HEART MONTH website here https://www.ithaca.edu/hr/benefits/wrklife/go_red!
**Don't forget the following challenges going on and events coming up**
- I HEART Red Photo Contest: Wear red every Friday in February, take a picture of yourself or your friends wearing red (be creative) and submit it! If you wear red every Friday in support of heart month, your name will be submitted into a prize drawing. All "Wear Red" photos are to be submitted to allie.ic.hr@gmail.com by February 28th.
- February 24th - Living a Heart Health Lifestyle - starting at 11:30am in Business 301 (Park Center). Gina Chapman for the American Heart Association will be offering tips on how you can become more heart healthy!
RSVP to benefits@ithaca.edu!
SUPERVISORS: PLEASE POST
Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Katie Sack at ksack@ithaca.edu or (607) 274-1208. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.
