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Portia Williams

PDT Staff Writer

February is “National Heart Health Month” and Southern Ohio Medical Center responded with the Relax with Heart event held Tuesday at the SOMC Friends Center.

With 120 participants registered and a steady flow of walk-ins from 2 p.m. until 6:30 p.m., staff and volunteers for the Relax with Heart event remained busy.

Amy Fraulini, director of SOMC Heart and Vascular Services said events related to cardiovascular health are imperative.

“Heart disease is still the No. 1 killer across this country. It beats breast cancer, it beats all other diseases,” Fraulini said.

According to Fraulini, Scioto County, Southern Ohio, and Northern Kentucky have the highest mortality rates for heart disease across the country.

“We have a lot of work to do here to educate people and to do healthy screenings,” Fraulini said.

Fraulini said screenings that were made available to the attendants consisted of cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, and body mass index.

“We want to screen everybody so that we can find out what their numbers are try to identify health needs for our community,” Fraulini said.

Fraulini said health counselors were on site to and made themselves available to counsel with participants on their health care needs and to assist them in finding a physician if needed.

“Stress is a major contributor to heart disease, so with this event we wanted to focus on the many ways you can easily reduce stress and unwind,” Fraulini said.

Relax with Heart also provided opportunities to learn how to relax through low-impact exercise, massage therapy, and spa treatments.

Exercise demonstrations were performed by SOMC fitness professionals every half and hour during the course of the event. Exercises from programs such as Silver Sneakers, Dance for the Soul of it, Yoga, and Yoga Gold were displayed.

Several booths were in place containing information for healthy lifestyles as well as healthy snacks and food for participants.

“We are just heart to create awareness, and to help our community to become healthy,” Fraulini said.

Portia Williams may be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 286 or portiawilliams@civitasmedia.com.