Vestido Rojo Sweeps Through The SWA

The SouthWest Affiliate has been hard at work this spring, bringing our life-saving message to the Hispanic community.  We recently wrapped up another successful Vestido Rojo season, with our best results ever.

Vestido Rojo events give women the opportunity to receive complimentary health screenings, learn their risk of CVD, and participate in classes on healthy living.  We hosted events in six cities with a total attendance of 1,776 women (up 18% from last year) and provided over 900 health screenings.  San Antonio hosted the largest event in the nation, with over 600 attendees.  Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin also boasted their largest Vestido Rojo events ever this year.

One of the most exciting elements of our Vestido Rojo events is that we celebrate the importance of getting active with a little Zumba and salsa aerobics. The growth, excitement, and energy behind Vestido Rojo continues to grow largely to the implementation of our Madrina concept.

A Madrina (Godmother in Spanish) is a community member who serves as a health ambassador by inviting friends and family members to attend the event and be a guest at a Madrina’s table. The Madrina also works with her group to encourage them to participate in break-out sessions and become familiar with healthy messages. This concept has gained so much popularity and support that we were able to recruit over 155 Madrinas this year, contributing directly to the growth of our events.

While Vestido Rojo features a lot of beneficial education and health screenings, it was a life-saving event for one Fort Worth attendee. After a health screening, Diane Ortiz was told her blood sugar count was 432 (showing she is diabetic) and her blood pressure was over 200. The health professional examining her recommended Ms. Ortiz go the emergency room as soon as possible. Ms. Ortiz had a friend take her to the emergency room at Baylor All Saints hospital in Fort Worth, where she was immediately admitted. The doctors told her it was likely she would have died within a week if she hadn’t come to the hospital. We were happy to her that Ms. Ortiz is now out of the hospital and doing much better. She contacted our Fort Worth team to let them know that she is improving and truly believes that Vestido Rojo saved her life.