According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease is the number one killer among women, with 289,758 women dying in 2013 because of the disease.

One in four deaths among women are from heart disease, and a reported two-thirds of women who suddenly die of heart disease showed no previous symptoms.

Because of these statistics, Vaughan Regional Medical Center is stepping up to try to improve the heart health in women in Dallas County and the surrounding areas by providing them a chance to attend a luncheon Wednesday focused on prevention and management of heart disease.

“With this month being heart month, we decided to do a luncheon just focused on women’s heart health,” said Maegan Austin, director of physician relations and industry at the hospital. “We’re very excited about it. We’re excited to share the information and, hopefully, keep people interested in finding out about their health and preventative health measures to help people become healthier.”

Jody Allyn, CRNP, and a nurse practitioner in cardiology at Vaughan, will be the speaker at the luncheon.

“Learning how to take care of yourself and discussing what’s important can prevent a lot of problems,” Allyn said. “I think it’s important. Hypertension is a big problem in this area, and I think by the time people understand the importance of their high blood pressure, they’ve already had problems.”

Some of the topics of discussion will be a healthy diet and regular exercise.

“A lot of women don’t realize that there are factors that can be either genetic or diet or their exercise plan, that can be affecting their heart now and in the future,” Austin said.

Austin said she hopes the program will continue and the hospital will be able to give back to the community with more luncheons on various topics.

“We’re always trying to do something to give back to the community. We would like to do more lunch and learns to help the community on health issues that we see in the community,” Austin said. “We’re hoping to continue it and start a trend where we give back to the community and try to make our community healthier.”

Call (334) 418-4122 for more information.