LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
Starburst Gayla will welcome the year of WomenHeart |
by Fay Jacobs |
What are you doing New Year's Eve? This year, area women are going to have a New Year's Eve party with lots of heart.
In addition to being a wonderful event to kick off the new year with our partners and friends, a group of Rehoboth/Lewes-area businesses and nonprofit organizations are banding together to wage the battle against women's heart diseasethe #1 killer of women in the United States. While this campaign to increase awareness and work for early detection, accurate diagnosis, and quality treatment on behalf of the women of Sussex County will be a long-term effort, the program's launch will be at a giant New Year's Eve party at the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center. The event, co-sponsored by the CAMP Rehoboth Women's Project, will be the cornerstone of what is expected to be a big women's weekend here at the beach. The party organizers, under the leadership of Dr. Roni Posner of Lewes, expect to sell 500 tickets or more and they are encouraging folks to come to Rehoboth/ Lewes for the final weekend of December and stay through New Year's day. Called the Starburst Gayla, the event is planned for 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. on New Year's Eve, with great music by a popular DJ, cash bar, midnight champagne toast, plus a coffee and dessert buffet. Tickets are $40 and can be obtained at the Camp Rehoboth office or by calling 302-227-5620. Proceeds from the event will go to the Camp Rehoboth Women's Project and WomenHeart, a non-profit organization and the nation's only patient advocacy organization representing the 8,000,000 American women living with heart disease. According to Posner, "Our plan is to continue this awareness campaign, through 2003 and beyond, with more events, presentations at clubs and churches, and potentially an information "hotline" for Rehoboth/Lewes area women and their families to call." WomenHeart promotes early detection, accurate diagnosis, and proper treatment for women through its support, information, and advocacy programs. Posner is one of the 59 women heart patients from around the country who recently returned from WomenHeart's first Science and Leadership Symposium at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The Symposium combined medical lectures by Mayo Clinic staff and small-group sessions, including media and presentation skills training. WomenHeart's executive director, Nancy Loving, and Mayo Clinic's Dr. Sharonne Hayes, the Symposium's Medical Director, were both exuberant about the four-day event. "It exceeded our wildest expectationswe are just thrilled!" The women attending the symposium renewed their commitments to work in their communities to improve the way women heart patients are treated. "We are on a mission," said Susan Cardelli of San Francisco, California. "Now we are a united and powerful force to be reckoned with." That force is setting out to combat notions that women are not at risk for heart disease and try to make people aware that women may have different symptoms than men. Often, according to WomenHeart, women go to emergency rooms with symptoms that are sometimes mistaken for indigestion or flu when they are actually having heart attacks. Getting women to understand their risks and symptoms, as well as getting the medical community to recognize these issues is the top priority of WomenHeart. Posner will now pursue WomenHeart's community-wide initiative to bring awareness of the issue of women's heart disease to our community. As part of that effort in support of the women of Lewes, Rehoboth, and other local jurisdictions, local corporations and businesses are being asked to support WomenHeart and assist in this community-wide battle against women's heart disease. For the Starburst Gayla, the host committee includes Roni Posner, Margo Orland, Natalie Moss, Joan Glass, Inez Conover, Ellen Passman, Linda Frese, Maggie Shaw, and Maggie Ottato. For more information about WomenHeart, check out their website at www.womenheart.org. For more information about the Starburst Gayla, call 302-227-5620. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 12, No. 15, November 27, 2002. |