Members of the Eisenstein family meet with Valerie King of Mt. Zion Baptist Church. From left to right, Dan Eisenstein, King, Bob Eisenstein, holding a health screening sign, and Nan Speller.
Photo by Mary Donaldson
Eisenstein Symposium returns to its intimate roots
Ashley Lord, R.N., screens Rosa Lee Houston at Mt. Zion Baptist Church.
Photo by Mary Donaldson
The 7th Annual Ann F. Eisenstein Women's Cardiovas-cular Symposium returned to a grass-roots approach in educating women about heart health.
The first symposium, held at Jewish Community Center in 2000, invited a select group to hear the message about the misperceptions surrounding heart disease in women.
As the years passed, the audience grew to crowds of 400.
A change in direction will hopefully create a more intimate environment where women can feel comfortable asking questions and discussing issues concerning their health.
“We are going to the at-risk communities so that we can educate women about their individual risks,” said Lisa Mendes, M.D., director of the Vanderbilt Women's Heart Center.
“This provides a great forum. The women want to ask questions and we want to be able to interact with them. This is an incredibly useful format in that regard.”
This year a smaller group met to discuss cardiovascular disease in women.
Held at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, specialists from Vanderbilt University Medical Center talked about the various elements involved with heart health and addressed concerns of the audience.
“Over the last two decades, the number of men dying from cardiovascular disease has decreased,” said Mendes. “But in women, the rate of death has stayed relatively stable.
“One in three women will ultimately die of heart disease and younger women are developing this disease. Atherosclerosis is a disease that can begin in the late teens and early 20s, but is modifiable and even preventable with lifestyle modification,” she said.
Attendees were invited to attend one of five breakout sessions to gain an in-depth look at specific issues relating to cardiovascular disease in women including cardiovascular disease and stroke, preventing heart disease, nutrition, diabetes and exercise.
The symposium was created by Ann F. Eisenstein, a heart patient at Vanderbilt for more than 40 years and a lifelong supporter of Vanderbilt, in an effort to provide education to women about their heart health.