The Meaning Behind New Bedford’s Mysterious Green Heart Billboards

I'm not sure of the first time I noticed this billboard on 195 Westbound in New Bedford, but it wasn't long ago. I know for sure that the billboard sparked enough curiosity for me to ask my daughter to snap a picture of it as we drove by it late yesterday afternoon.

By complete coincidence, not 20 minutes later, someone on Facebook reached out to me with the very same curiosity. Sonia Ouellette Bentley tagged me in her latest post. "Anyone know what’s with the simple green heart on the billboards on 195 are about? I googled, but didn’t find anything. Michael Rock?" she wrote.

I figured that Sonia and I can't be the only people wondering about these simple green hearts on 195, so I answered her right back.

"We'll get to the bottom of this," I replied. "Because that's what we do. If you need useless info, I'm your guy."

Without skipping a beat, Sonia answered, "I knew the right person to ask."

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My first thought was that the month of February is Heart Health Month across the country. Maybe a healthcare provider like Southcoast Health or Hawthorn Medical put up the billboard to garner some talk about it.  One other clue is that the heart is in the colors of SouthCoast Health.

If my analysis is correct, I'd expect the billboard to change in the next week or so to reveal the true meaning behind it.
We shall see.

Oh, and keep that heart healthy, won’t you?