News anchor Jaime Baker raising awareness for women and cardiovascular disease
Jaime Baker will be wearing red Friday. The bold color symbolizes a heartfelt message.

Over the next nine weeks, the 37-year-old North Side resident hopes to spread awareness about the No. 1 killer of women — cardiovascular disease.

“Women’s heart health is so important,” said Baker, a news anchor for WTOV based in Steubenville, Ohio.

The station covers the Ohio Valley and Baker will be using her on-air platform to start getting the word out starting at 9 a.m. Friday. “Everyone knows someone who has been touched by cardiovascular disease. So many times women are doing so much caring for everyone else that they don’t take the time for their own health. Self-care is not selfish.”

Baker was nominated for the role of a Woman of Impact by Alicia Jordan, a committee member for Woman of Impact for the Ohio Valley American Heart Association. The movement recognizes someone who shines a spotlight on the topic of women’s heart health.

“Jaime is an amazing, powerful woman who exemplifies confidence and projects that onto other women,” said Jordan, marketing director for Belmont Savings Bank in Ohio, via email. “I’ve only heard her speak confidence and positivity to others. She is definitely a woman of impact in my book.”

Baker’s campaign launches on National Wear Red Day, the heart association’s annual day to highlight the importance of women’s heart health.

Baker is part of a nationwide network of women who are driven to make a difference.

Pittsburgh’s Woman of Impact campaign will commence later in February.

Baker will be competing against four other women to raise funds — Peg Riccadonna, Wendy Anderson, Andrea Trio and Melissa Burkett.

Baker’s goal is $10,000, but she doesn’t plan to stop there. She is incorporating a weekly series on air that will include how heart attacks present themselves differently in women versus men, eating a healthy diet, ways to relieve stress and how to get Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) training, an emergency lifesaving procedure performed when the heart stops beating.

The nominee that makes the greatest impact and raises the most funds will be named their community’s Woman of Impact winner.

“It is crucial for women to start taking care of themselves when they are young,” Baker said. “They can make lifestyle changes now to help them live longer. Women will put their families, their pets, their jobs, all before themselves. So many women are living with heart disease — and even worse, a lot of them don’t realize it until it’s too late. We are fighting for better representation in medical research, equitable access to care and treatments and spreading lifesaving information to our sisters.“

Donations to Baker’s campaign can be made here.