WomenHeart Science and Leadership Symposium for Women with Heart Disease
Mayo Clinic – Rochester, Minnesota

America has gone pink - pink ribbons, pink hats, and pink shirts. The color pink is synonymous with women's breast cancer. America knows that the color pink signifies the fight and fellowship of breast cancer as one of the major causes of death in women. What most of us do not know is that more women die of heart disease than all cancers combined, even breast cancer. This past weekend we had the opportunity to document and follow 25 ladies from all walks of life as they came together to become educated leaders for WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, whose goal to educate and empower women to take control of their health.

We spent a weekend at the WomenHeart Science and Leadership Symposium for Women with Heart Disease at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota hosted by Dr. Sharonne Hayes, who is considered the rock star of cardiologists for women in America. These ladies will be the boots on the ground that will head back into their communities empowered and equipped with the tools to help educate their fellow sisters. The intention is to create an opportunity for the women from these communities to have a medical facility that they can go to to learn about heart disease and openly discuss their cardiovascular issues and not feel alone or ashamed about their heart conditions. It is the mission statement of the 15-year-old Washington, D.C. based organization to level the playing fields, although not to take away from the struggles that women cancer patients experience, but to educate America, the medical community, and become the sole advocate for what is truly the number one killer of women - cardiovascular disease.

The Symposium Overview
Over the course of the weekend we were able to follow these women as they shared their own heart stories. And in the process of learning how to help women in their hometowns, they clearly formed bonds with their "heart sisters" that will last a lifetime. WomenHeart CEO Lisa Tate said during the opening dinner, “You are all a part of an exclusive club. It may not be one that you wanted to be a part of, but here we all are.”

Beverly Granger from Glen Cove, New York is a 63-year-old self-employed dentist and self-proclaimed gym rat. She was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension at the age of 62. This was corrected when she had open-heart surgery and she has since returned to the gym. She has even become certified to train women to lead better lives. As she transitions into this next phase of life, she is excited about having the chance to raise awareness about heart disease in women and provide support networks for those who have some form of heart disease.

Anne Stockton from Powell, Ohio near Columbus had her encounter with heart disease just four months prior to the Symposium at the age of 38. She found out that she has been living with the symptoms since she was 34. Her doctor insisted that it was stress and anxiety that she was suffering. One day, she was in the midst of a workout and her heart rate just took off to 220 bpm for nearly an hour. After an EKG, she was finally diagnosed with Supraventricular Tachycardia.  Just talking about all this still causes her to get very emotional. She is dedicated to being a WomenHeart Champion in her community to spread awareness of heart disease and to help women understand that they are not alone in this fight.

We had the chance to follow these two women as they engaged their new heart sisters over the course of the weekend WomenHeart Science and Leadership Symposium for Women with Heart Disease; from the opening reception and dinner, to tai chi, to making a heart healthy lunch with Chef Pasquale Presa, laughter yoga, and finally, even having hands-on time with devices that many of them currently have inside them to manage their own hearts such as pace makers or defibrillators.

Day 1
The first full day of the WomenHeart Science and Leadership Symposium for Women with Heart Disease would be very busy for the women. 6:55 that morning there was a brief walk that was optional for them to start off their day. Anne, who was feeling ambitious, was up at 6 a.m. for a 6-mile run to kick things off. From there, the women were treated to a nice buffet breakfast and had time to get ready for the long day ahead.

Following breakfast was an introduction to understanding heart disease and how to live with it from Dr. Hayes. The founder of the Women’s Heart Clinic at the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Sharonne Hayes, is viewed as one of the leaders in all of America for women’s heart health. After she completed the entertaining and educational presentation, the women participated in small group discussions to discuss their own personal stories together.

Then the hotel arranged for the women to work with Executive Chef Pasquael Presa to prepare some simple heart healthy dishes that they would then eat for lunch. Alisa Krizan, the Patient Food Service Director for the Mayo Clinic, began with a presentation on the importance of a healthy diet for heart care and had the women break off into 7 groups to work in the kitchen. Once in groups they put on their own aprons and chef hats and were escorted to the kitchen by the chef that they would be working with.

It was a fun sight to see all of the women working hard on their dishes. They were each assigned a different task within their group as they worked on menu items ranging from blueberry and thyme smoothies to melon soup, yellow gazpacho, a chicken dish, salad with fresh fruit, a dessert with pineapple, and egg salad. Once their time was up in the kitchen the groups showcased their work and their group leaders presented their creations. Lunch was then served.

One of the most amazing parts of the weekend training was to follow a tour of the Mayo Clinic Cardiac Diagnostic Lab as well as time meeting with a few of the cardiovascular experts there. The women split into 2 groups and had a rare chance to see, touch, and ask questions about the medical devices that many of them currently have for their hearts as well as witness a demonstration of an echocardiograph.

Dr. Patricia Best discussed how medical devices have evolved for the heart. With the help of Celeste Koestler an RN from Mayo Clinic, the women went hands on with pacemakers, defibrillators, stents, and the instruments used to hook these up to the heart inside the body. For most women there, this was the first time that they had the opportunity to hold these devices.

The second half of the tour offered a chance to learn what doctors are looking at when they perform an echocardiograph. Dr. Amy Pollak and Dr. Adelaide Olson from the Mayo Clinic discussed, in detail, not only how cardiovascular imaging works and what doctors are looking at, but there was also a live demonstration with the assistance of Dawn Morrisette, who has 17 years experience as a sonographer with the Mayo Clinic. The women were engaged and asked very detailed questions. There was no question about the impact these presentations had on these women. The last part of the day at the Mayo Clinic was a Q&A session with Dr. Hayes, Dr. Best, and Dr. Olson.

The first full day would conclude following a dinner with a mock support network meeting lead by support network coordinators. One thing that was apparent as the day progressed was how close the women were becoming and how much this meant to each and every one of them.

Day 2
The second day began with Tai Chi at 6:45. Anne Wolter of the Mayo Clinic guided the women who participated through an introduction of the Qigong discipline. She explained benefits that it offers people and in particular, how it helps individuals that suffer from heart disease.

The afternoon would feature more workshops including a laughter yoga session. We caught up here with Beverly and Anne. Ann Marie Gullickson led the class and introduced what laugher yoga is, how it began and by whom, the power of laughter, and finally guided the group through a session. At the beginning of the class you could see a little skepticism in some of the faces of the participants. However, that quickly changed once the laughter began. As we were filming, there were times where we couldn’t help ourselves, and joined in the laughter. A few of the women would say later that this was the highlight of the day for them.

The day would wrap with a lovely dinner where Lisa Tate would address the newest WomenHeart Champions. Now they are ready to head back to their communities and begin to make a difference. They are now part of a group of more than 600 Champions that have attended the Symposium since its inception in 2002.

Conclusion
More than 40 million women in America are currently living with some form of cardiovascular disease. Heart disease is the leading cause of death of American women with one in four female deaths. African-American and Hispanic-American women are at a greater risk than Caucasians and are less aware of their cardiovascular risk factors.

WomenHeart is dedicated to making a difference in the lives of women. Through their efforts, awareness is rising, however it is an uphill battle. Mary McGowan, the Chief Operating Officer of WomenHeart, told us, “it’s a shame that this isn’t as talked about as it should be. We are at the cusp of something big here as women are starting to pay more attention to their heart health.”

We were honored to be a part of this impactful weekend. Both the Mayo Clinic and WomenHeart will continue their efforts in making a difference in the lives of women. It is time for all women to start paying attention to the signs. If you are a woman with heart disease, know that you are not alone.