“Know Your Numbers” is National Anthem of Heart Month

Friday, Feb. 3 is National Wear Red Day®, the kickoff for February Heart Month, when Americans raise awareness of heart disease as the number one killer of women.

Consider the facts:

• 80 million Americans – about 1 in 3 adults – have some form of heart disease.
• Every day, 2,200 Americans die of heart disease – an average of one death every 39 seconds.
• Heart disease kills nearly five times as many women as does breast cancer.

Mayo Clinic has developed an unofficial national anthem for Heart Month that brings home the message in a fun and memorable way. The music video already has more than 45,000 views and 200 likes on YouTube, and more than 1,400 likes, shares and comments on Facebook.

It’s a spoof of the 1982 Tommy TuTone hit, “867-5309/Jenny.” Click the play arrow below to go right to the catchy chorus of the parody:

In the original video, Tommy was obsessed with Jenny and her phone number but couldn’t work up the nerve to actually call her, and ended up in jail for being a peeping Tommy.

In our updated parody, it’s 30 years later and a graying Tommy has mended his ways and is calling Jenny (who hasn’t changed her famous phone number) to apologize for stalking and to plead with her to “Know Your Numbers” to prevent heart disease.

After adding her as a friend on Facebook, Tommy also urges Jenny to check out this interactive Facebook application with heart disease risk calculators and other educational links.

Media OpportunitiesMayo Clinic cardiologists or others involved in the video are available for interviews during the week of January 30 in advance of Wear Red Day® and throughout Heart Month in February.

• For radio stations, a live call-in segment with a Mayo Clinic cardiologist could include audio from the song as bumper music. Download the full mp3. To schedule, call 507-284-5005 or contact us by email. And of course you could embed the video on your station’s Web site.
• For TV networks and stations, the video could be included in a roundup of funny and popular YouTube videos you might have as a regular feature in your morning shows. If you want to do a longer story, we can arrange satellite interviews, and you can download high-quality snippets from the song for broadcast use below (right-click and “Save as…” to download) Outtakes and other production footage also are available by request.
• Know Your Numbers chorus (25 seconds)
• Opening of song (37 seconds)
• Interactive Facebook application introduced (29 seconds)


• For print and online journalists and bloggers – Cardiologists are available for interviews, and embedding the video could make for an interesting multimedia story on practical application of social media to promote health.

To request an interview, call 507-284-5005 or contact us by email.

For more information on heart disease, see the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s National Wear Red Day® toolkit site and Go Red for Women.

 

Read the full article at mayoclinic.org