Disease in a red dress

AUBURN -There's an outdated stereotype about heart disease that is still lingering. Think - heart attack. Do you think of a middle-aged man overworking himself at his desk or on an assembly line, or a woman?

Heart disease is still a top cause of death for men, but it's also the number one killer of women who have to handle the multitudinous stresses of working life, child care, as well as being a support system for families and friends.

“They used to call it a man's disease,” said Mary Mazzeo, Auburn Memorial Hospital's nurse manager of the hospital's critical care unit, including its cardiovascular services. “But it's really not. Women and men get it equally.” Last week, of 13 cardiac patients at AMH, nine were women.