Aspirin campaign encourages Minnesotans to take on heart health

If all you had to do to ward off a heart attack or stroke was take a small aspirin once a day, would you do it?

Most people would probably say yes.

Sixteen thousand heart attacks and strokes afflict Minnesota residents each year. To educate at-risk residents of Hibbing, Minn.—men age 45-79 and women age 55-79—about the benefits of taking low-dose aspirin to prevent heart attacks and strokes, Russell Herder and the University of Minnesota’s Lillehei Heart Institute launched a campaign that earned Russell Herder top honors in the Best Fitness or Health Campaign (External/Public) category of Ragan’s 2013 Health Care PR and Marketing Awards.

The goals of the campaign, Ask About Aspirin, were to increase awareness of the risks and warning signs of cardiovascular disease, and to urge residents to ask their doctors if taking a daily aspirin to help prevent cardiovascular disease was right for them. The campaign also aimed to promote the issue with doctors and health care providers.

Ask About Aspirin used a website, social media, text messaging, outdoor advertising, and TV, radio, print, and online ads to spread the word.

By the end of the campaign, 93 percent of area physicians wanted to learn more about the benefits of taking a daily low-dose aspirin, and 45 percent of residents identified as eligible for a daily low-dose aspirin regimen received a recommendation from their doctor.

You can visit the campaign’s website here.

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