St. John’s Women’s Heart Center Offers Heart Risk Assessments With Instant Results

Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, yet most women are more concerned about breast cancer and other female cancers.

Women often exhibit different symptoms than men both before and during a heart attack, but few recognize the warning signs as being serious. They also tend to wait significantly longer than men before seeking medical attention when experiencing heart attack symptoms, so many do not recover as well.

To promote awareness of heart disease and its considerable impact on women, St. John’s opened the Women’s Heart Center in 2004. The center’s goals are to encourage identification of personal risk factors for heart disease, promote early recognition of heart disease if present, and to support and encourage women who have been affected by heart disease.

“One of the primary services we offer at the Women’s Heart Center is the Heart Risk Assessment,” says Coordinator Cristy Baldwin, BSN. “The assessment is a cost-effective way to identify your personal risk for developing heart disease with immediate results. We discuss the results with you and help you identify modifications you can make in such areas as nutrition, physical activity, and stress reduction, to reduce your chances of developing a heart problem.”

In addition to the one-on-one assessments St. John’s Women’s Heart Center also offers individual consultations on setting up a personal exercise or eating plan, beginning and advanced strength training, weight management tips, and personal coping skills, as well as monthly cooking school classes and regularly scheduled stress reduction classes. All services are moderately priced and do not require a physician referral.

Lifestyle Changes

Joyce Hawks, 63, had a heart risk assessment at St. John’s Women’s Heart Center last year and realized she and her husband needed to make some lifestyle changes.

“I realized that I really needed to start exercising. I’d get home every night and just collapse because I had no energy. I started walking four to five times a week and it’s made a big difference,” says Hawks, who works as an employment specialist for St. John’s. “I am very impressed with the whole program. Susan (Hansen, BSN, director of St. John’s Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation) did my assessment and went over my results with me right then.”

Hawks also changed her eating habits as a result of her assessment and has cut down on fatty foods and increased her vegetable servings.

“We eat less red meat and I grill or broil almost everything now. We really enjoy fresh vegetables on the grill,” she says. “Susan and I have talked about doing another assessment to see how my lifestyle changes have improved my health over the last year.”


For more information or to schedule your Heart Risk Assessment, call St. John’s Women’s Heart Center at 417-820-3666 or 800-200-9000.