Sister to Sister Healthy Heart Campaign gets to the pulse of today’s busy women
By Sandra Jordan Of the St. Louis American
Vivian Moore almost worked herself to death.
A tall, stately and svelte nonsmoker and nondrinker who did not eat soul food, the former Rockwood School District administrator changed the collective complexion of the admin building when she was promoted to the central office.
Admittedly, working as an administrator in any school system is stressful and challenging. As with many African Americans who are the first blacks at a particular level in the work place, Moore carried the dual blessing and burden of working as hard, if not harder than colleagues to be an exemplary leader to pave the way for others to follow. Moore said she was the only black for 10 years.
“Somewhere in the back of my mind, I represented 68 million other black people. What I did and how I did it was important to them,” Moore said.
Moore took great pride in working as hard as anyone and never too sick days. She was on a personal mission. Other educators depended on her and Moore thrived on being in a position to solve other people’s problems. That is, until a problem of her own in April 1999 threatened to take her life away.
“I was just tired all the time—just tired,” Vivian Moore described to St. Louis area women attending the Sister to Sister Executive Women’s Breakfast—a kickoff event to the 2008 National Women’s Heart Day Campaign.
A traveler—Moore knew something was slowing her down.
“I could not go straight to the gate from my car to the airport without stopping,” Moore said. “I was traveling in places where you didn’t even want to have a headache and here I had heart disease and did not know it.”
Moore was preparing for a school presentation when she decided to go to a doctor about the fatigue.
“Within a few hours I was told I had to have quadruple heart bypass surgery,” Moore said.
She tried bargaining with her doctor, saying she would admit herself right after the presentation was completed (an unconscious attempt to put work above her health) but her physician was uncharacteristically insistent. As a matter of fact, the doctor refused to let her drive home and immediately sent Moore to the hospital.
“I would not be here without outstanding doctors at St. John’s Mercy Medical Center,” Moore told the audience.
After recuperation, Moore returned to work and retired three years later in 2002.
Rather than working to solve issues of more than 22,000 students, Moore now focuses her attention on a much smaller group of children as the longtime owner/operator a The Children’s Academy in St. Louis.
Moore’s mission has also changed. She speaks publicly to promote healthy hearts for women.
Moore was being treated for bronchitis at the time and thought the condition explained her fatigue.
“Stop self-diagnosing yourself and get professional help” she admonished.
“I was not listening to my body, because my body was speaking to me.”
Moore called on the working women to work just as hard on loving themselves.
“You know exactly what you are doing that you should not be doing,” she said. “Choose to live. Choose to be healthy.”
After recovering from surgery, Moore made additional modifications to her lifestyle.
“I learned I did not have to be a sponge to pick up other people’s junk. I’ve learned to say no,” Moore said. “I understand wanting to make it to the top. Been there, done that and I have the custom designer scar to prove it.”
Heart disease is the number one killer of American women and African American women are more likely than other groups of women to die from heart disease. Diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, lack of exercise, and smoking are all risk factors for heart disease.
Free heart-health screenings with on-the-spot results and counseling will be presented by the Sister to Sister Foundation at West County Center mall in Des Peres on National Woman’s Heart Day, February 15, 2008. To pre-register, call 866-450-0575 or visit www.sistertosister.org.