What Women Don’t Know Could Kill Them: Every 60 Seconds a Woman Dies of Heart Disease
Stop ten women on the street and ask them what their biggest health risk is, and, chances are, more than half of them would answer “breast cancer.” They would be wrong. Taking the life of one woman every minute, heart disease is the leading cause of death of women in America. Unfortunately, most women put their own needs behind the needs of their families, rarely considering the risks and dangers of this devastating disease.
To address such widespread lack of awareness, The Main Line Health Heart Center announced the launch of its Women’s Heart Initiative, a one-of-a-kind team of physicians and clinical staff in southeast Pennsylvania, designed specifically to empower women in taking charge of their cardiovascular health.
Unlike other women’s cardiovascular initiatives, the Women’s Heart Initiative features a unique difference – it includes focused, highly structured medical training for both physicians and nurses that will help them recognize and assess the often overlooked disease. In this way, it is slated to become a leading resource not only for women, but also for clinicians who aim to further their understanding of cardiovascular disease and how it affects women.
Providing specialized attention and healthcare, the Women’s Heart Initiative educates women and their physicians to talk openly about the warning signs of heart disease. The Initiative provides continuing education, wellness outreach, risk assessment and physician referrals for all women.
Offering health screenings, workshops and other heart healthy events, the Initiative includes a team of cardiologists, heart surgeons, nurses and other highly trained healthcare professionals dedicated to delivering superlative care and understanding the distinct needs of women.
Women experience heart disease warning signs differently than men, and, as a result, are often diagnosed when the disease is in an advanced stage.
Every woman needs to be aware of her risk factors for heart disease and how she may experience surprisingly different heart attack symptoms than the “classic” symptoms many men exhibit. Atypical symptoms in women include:
- Unusual fatigue
- Shortness of breath, difficulty breathing
- Dizziness, nausea, unexplained anxiety
Leaders in their field, the co-directors of the Women’s Heart Initiative include three physicians passionate about empowering women with the tools, knowledge and resources to defeat heart disease:
- Dr. Maribel Hernandez, Lankenau Hospital cardiologist/electrophysiologist:
Having attended medical school at Stanford University and completing her residency at New England Deaconess Hospital, Harvard Medical School, her areas of clinical interest now include arrhythmias and women’s heart disease.
- Dr. Herman Movsowitz, Paoli Hospital cardiologist:
He attended medical school at the University of Cape Town Medical School in South Africa and completed his residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Subsequently, he completed his fellowship training at Albert Einstein Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital.
- Dr. Leslie Poor, Bryn Mawr Hospital cardiologist:
She attended medical school at the Medical College of Pennsylvania and completed her residency at Abington Memorial Hospital and her cardiology fellowship at Lankenau Hospital. Dr. Poor’s areas of clinical interest include prevention of cardiovascular and coronary artery disease and heart disease in women.
“Although heart disease is the leading cause of death among women in our country, women often ignore the warning signs of a heart attack because they frequently differ from the symptoms experienced by men,” said Dr. Maribel Hernandez. “We created the Heart Initiative to address the urgent need for women to access education, tools and resources tailored to meet their distinct heart health needs.”
The Initiative aims to create supportive relationships between women and their physicians in order to promote lifestyle modification and cardiovascular risk factor reduction, while promoting the ideals of Learn, Act, Live:
- Learn: Learn more about heart health, the risks of heart disease and how to live a healthier lifestyle. Share this knowledge with other women in your life – sisters, mothers, daughters and friends – so that they too are empowered.
- Act: Make choices that reflect a commitment to heart health – go to a health screening, attend educational programs, learn to cook heart-healthy recipes, make your first priority you.
- Live: Live your life to the fullest, knowing that if you ever need medical help, the Women’s Heart Initiative is right around the corner – providing the region’s best doctors, surgeons and cardiovascular health programs tailored exclusively for women.
The Main Line Health Heart Center will officially launch its Women’s Heart Initiative at a kick-off event, held Thursday, November 5th from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at the Villanova Conference Center. Women are invited to a night of elegance that will include a gourmet heart-healthy dinner, heart health screenings, boutique vendors and a panel discussion featuring the Women’s Heart Initiative Co-Directors. Keynote speaker Kathy Kastan, author of From the Heart: A Woman’s Guide to Living Well with Heart Disease and the Women’s All Heart Family Cookbook, will discuss her own battle with heart disease and the road she took to getting diagnosed and properly treated.
