Betsy Doherty of Brooklin wants knitters and crocheters to “get the red out” – red yarn, that is. She is organizing the “Scarves for Hearts” project. Here’s how it works: Knit or crochet a red scarf and donate it to the WomenHeart support network for women with heart disease. The scarves will be given to local women heart patients at Eastern Maine Medical Center to remind them that they are not alone as they deal with the difficulties of heart disease. Information about WomenHeart will be included with each scarf.

“Giving a scarf with the WomenHeart information adds a personal touch,” said Doherty, who is a knitter and once owned a yarn store.

Last year, it was Doherty who needed heart surgery. That event taught her that heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women in the United States. After she recovered, she decided to become a spokeswoman for the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease program, WomenHeart, which promotes heart health information and education to women about heart disease.

WomenHeart is the nation’s only national patient advocacy organization serving 8 million women living with heart disease and provides support, information and advocacy. The organization’s goal is to improve quality of life and health care, including early detection, accurate diagnosis and proper treatment, according to the WomenHeart Web site.

Doherty is in the process of establishing a WomenHeart support network in Ellsworth, where she volunteers in the cardiac rehab unit Maine Coast Memorial Hospital.

She recently returned from a Science and Leadership Symposium at the Mayo Clinic, where she received training that will aid her in establishing the support network.

She said the Scarves for Hearts program began last year in San Diego as an individual effort among women and proved to be so popular that WomenHeart will make it part of its national program.

“Similar things have been done for cancer patients, like knitting chemo caps,” Doherty said, “so it just seemed like a natural extension to knit for heart patients.”

So far, Doherty has received a dozen red scarves, some knit by cardiac rehab patients at the Ellsworth hospital.

There are no guidelines for knitting or crocheting a red scarf, except that it be red, Doherty said. Red is the color associated with efforts to enlighten women about the importance of maintaining heart health, just as pink is the color used in campaigns to raise awareness about breast health.

Send handmade red scarves to: Betsy Doherty, 12 Reach Road, Brooklin, ME 04616.

Some scarf makers, Doherty said, photograph themselves wearing the scarf and include the photo when they donate the scarf to Scarves for Hearts to add an even more personal touch.

The Bangor area has a WomenHeart group, organized by Alice Page of Corinth. For information, call 285-7592, or e-mail spch1@netzero.com.

For more information about WomenHeart and the Scarves for Hearts project, call Doherty at 359-8414, e-mail 2mileyc@gwi.net, or visit www.womenheart.org.

Doherty is available for speaking engagements, health fairs and other venues.

Snippets

Fiberphilia, a knitting, embroidery and cross-stitch store owned by Michele Goldman, will open Friday, Nov. 24, at 32 Mill St. in Orono. Shop hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, call 866-3423.

Eggemoggin Textile Studio in Sedgwick will hold a Holiday Show 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Nov. 24-Dec. 3. The work of textile artists Sallie Findlay, Mia Kanazawa, Ron King, Chris Leith and Brennan Murphy will be featured. For more information, call 359-5083, or visit www.chrisleithstudio.com.

Those of you who knit caps for patients undergoing chemotherapy will find free cap patterns at http://bevscountrycottage.com/knit-beanies.html, at www.chemocaps.com, and at www.headhuggers.org/patterns/patterns.htm. The Bev’s Country Cottage Web site also provides many patterns for other charitable knitting and crochet projects.

Call Ardeana Hamlin at 990-8153, or e-mail ahamlin@bangordailynews.net.