St. Mary's Hospital hosted its annual Women's Health Institute for the first time Tuesday at the new Health Plaza.
The agenda consisted of a display of informational booths complimented by a nutritious dinner and a trio of doctors speaking on back and spinal pain, heart and lung disease, and memory loss.
Each of the presenters left the audience with a clear message: Women are likely to experience different symptoms than men when it comes to diagnosing health issues.
Dr. Jeff Lehman presented information about back and spinal pain, assuring the audience 85 percent of the population would experience at least one episode of back pain.
For women with small frames, he offered advice to prevent early bone degeneration and urged taking precautions early.
"Be sure to get the necessary dosages of calcium and vitamin D, maintain a healthy lifestyle, be sure to exercise and not to smoke," Lehman said. "Your spine is like wood; once it goes bad there's very little you can do to reverse it."
Dr. Allyson Walker, a thoracic surgeon at St. Mary's, gave the audience a very visual presentation of women's high risk factors for heart and lung disease.
She elicited gasps from the audience with two startling statistics. According to Walker, one of every three women die from heart disease, and for women experiencing chest pain, there is typically a four-hour delay before they reach out for help.
"As women, we experience atypical symptoms, not the ones that we used to hear Red Fox from 'Sanford and Son' talk about," Walker said.
She explained the common indicators of heart disease may be high blood pressure, swelling in the legs and chest pain, but the atypical symptoms that occur in women include arm, neck, jaw and even back pain.
"Ladies, not everything is a stomach upset from the night before," Walker said. "We really need to know what's going on with our health and be advocates for our own health care."
In between presentations, St. Mary's gave away door prizes to audience members who registered for the event.
The final presenter was Dr. David Brummett, a neuro-radiologist at St. Mary's. He talked about memory loss and how St. Mary's Hospital has the tools to detect Alzheimer's at an early stage.
He began by reminding the audience former President Ronald Reagan declared Alzheimer's Awareness Week in 1982, prior to his own diagnosis.
"Currently, Alzheimer's affects 47 million people worldwide and is the sixth leading cause of death," Brummett said.
He said using PET scan technology, which is also known as nuclear medical imaging, St. Mary's can help detect the disease at an earlier stage and help patients to live longer with the disease.