CONTRIBUTED CONTENT — When someone receives a diagnosis of heart failure or heart disease, it can often feel like a death sentence – but it doesn’t have to be. While experts will certainly agree such a diagnosis should serve as a wakeup call, the emphasis on preventive measures and focus on improving one’s overall health encourages cardiovascular patients to make improvements in order to live the best life possible moving forward.
It’s this kind of education and more that Kelly Taysom, cardiovascular operations director for the Intermountain Health Desert Region, hopes to share with the community during the Intermountain Heart Health Fair happening on Thursday, Feb. 22, in the St. George Regional Hospital Cancer Center Auditorium.
“My goal with this and many other projects is to make a tangible impact on the overall well-being for the heart health of people in our community,” Taysom said. “Education and prevention are key elements that we hope people will choose to focus on with regard to their heart health.”
One part of Taysom and his team’s emphasis on education is re-introducing the Heart Health Fair to members of the community as an opportunity to engage with and network with a wide range of health care providers and heart-related services provided by Intermountain Health and within the Southern Utah community.
“We’ll have individual departments like cardiac rehab, a pharmacist, dietary experts, providers with the cardiac (catheterization) lab and more,” Taysom said. “People will have the opportunity to have one-on-one conversations about the services we offer and get information about the risks and warning signs of cardiovascular issues.”
It’s a topic Taysom hopes people will take seriously, as it has a dramatic impact on the worldwide population at large.
“1 in every 4 men and 1 in 5 women die of cardiovascular disease each year,” Taysom said. “If you take the top three cancers that affect women and combine them, the numbers don’t come close to equaling the number of women who die from cardiovascular disease.”
Even with such sobering statistics, many women don’t understand the risks or the warning signs related to a cardiovascular problem, particularly since the symptoms are often different from those presenting in men.
“We will have information on that topic, and many others, as part of the heart health fair,” Taysom said.
This year, those in charge of the Heart Health Fair hope to attract more than 300 people to the event, with plans to grow year after year.
“This provides a unique opportunity for citizens, as well as members of the health care community, to collaborate on ways to improve and support heart disease prevention efforts,” Taysom said.
The Heart Health Fair will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 22, in the Cancer Center Auditorium on the St. George Regional Hospital campus. The event is free to the public.
• S P O N S O R E D C O N T E N T •
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2024, all rights reserved.