Sister to Sister in Boston

Sister to Sister has been part of the Boston community since 2004.

Sister to Sister is proud to partner with Brigham and Women's Hospital to provide heart-health screenings, events, classes, and more to the Boston area on a year-round basis. 

Brigham and Women's Cardiovascular Wellness Service is a multidisciplinary effort of Brigham and Women's Hospital, dedicated to preventing heart disease and promoting heart health in women. 

"Smart for the Heart" Online Program

Sister to Sister, in partnership with Brigham and Women's Hospital, is proud to announce Smart for the Heart, a comprehensive wellness program to empower women to improve their heart health. 

The program is based on its Health Risk Assessment (HRA), the premier questionnaire for calculating your personal risk for heart disease, with immediate results and comprehensive recommendations to improve heart disease  risk factors.

There is an extensive variety of tools to help achieve your health and wellness goals, including weight loss, healthy eating, stress reduction, and smoking cessation.   

  • Meal Planner
  • Food Log
  • Nutrition Tracker
  • Recipe Analysis
  • Exercise Logs
  • Pedometer Tracker
  • Exercise Plans & Demonstrations
  • Wellness Articles

We hope you will join us in Smart for the Heart, and to share this new resource with your friends, family and co-workers.  Please visit Smart for the Heart to sign-up.  It’s quick and easy, and all of your personal information will be kept strictly confidential.

Heart Happenings

 Heart Happenings presentations were held monthly in 2011 in the Shapiro 3rd Floor Porch from 5:30-7:00pm. Each event included free food and refreshments, a short presentation by one of the Brigham's very own cardiologists on cutting-edge cardiovascular topics, and an open Q&A session. To view the taped presentations and Q&A sessions, please visit Brigham and Women's archives page. 


Upcoming Screening Events for 2012

The Cardiovascular Wellness Service is pleased to offer free monthly cardiovascular disease screenings as part of Heart Happenings, an initiative to prevent heart disease in our community. Screenings provide simple tests to measure risk factors for heart disease and one-on-one counseling sessions – a great step toward taking control of your own heart health. The Cardiovascular Wellness Service is currently compiling a list of 2012 screenings, so check back soon for our updated calendar of events. 

Past Screening Events

Sister to Sister and Brigham and Women's Hospital participated in the 7News and Partners Health and Fitness Expo at the Hynes Convention Center on June 25th and 26th, 2011.  Over 700 women and men turned out to get heart smart by receiving complimentary heart-health screenings with immediate results and personalized counseling sessions with a medical professional.  Counseling sessions were offered in English and Spanish.  The event included celebrities, area doctors with cutting-edge medical information, fun activities for kids, free health screening for adults, lifestyle presentations and healthy cooking tips.

The BWH Cardiovascular Wellness Service screening area at the Hynes Convention Center. A participant getting blood taken for cholesterol and glucose analysis.

The Love Your Heart program was a 13-week initiative for 35 women (mean age 48.2) in the Boston area who were at risk of heart disease.  The program provided education and information about nutrition, stress reduction and overall heart health and support for healthy living and a free 3-month gym pass.

In partnership with Body by Brandy Gym and the Boston Black Women’s Health Institute, the program offered baseline and follow-up screenings at the end of the 13 weeks. 
 
A significant heart disease risk reduction was calculated:
– Obesity rates went from 80% to 71%
– The percentage of participants identified with hypertension dropped from 41% to 29%
– Those with an elevated waist circumference went from 94% to 76%

If you are interested in learning more about Love Your Heart, please contact us via email or call 617-442-2187 for more information.

Free cardiovacular disease screenings in the fitness center. The popular yoga sessions at the Body by Brandy Wellness Center.

 

         
         
         

 

 

 

Executive Women's Event

Let’s face it: We women are our own best advocates. We’re natural-born problem-solvers who feel a duty to share the wisdom of our life experiences with others. Women can move mountains…if we know which mountains to move.

At our Executive Women’s Events, held in cities nationwide, Sister to Sister helped women in leadership roles recognize that heart disease is a life-or-death issue for women that they can help resolve.

These events served as the kick-off to our National Women’s Healthy Heart Campaign.  Its goal was to reach women who are senior level executives, elected officials, and leaders in the community in order to encourage the women to promote the Health Fair to their employees, colleagues, family, and friends.

The attendees participated in free cardiovascular screenings with immediate results and personalized counseling sessions to demonstrate how and why screening interventions work to save lives.  The screenings were generously donated by Brigham and Women's Hospital, our partner in Boston.

Guests were treated to heart-healthy meals from local restaurants, a program of speakers from leading cardiologists and specialists in the field of heart health, information about heart disease awareness and prevention and exciting raffles and fun take home keepsakes.

Outreach for the Boston Executive Women’s Breakfast led to a wonderful combination of key influencers in the financial, medical, government and social service arenas of Boston.