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Nurse Deanna Carlson
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VIDEO: Deanna Carlson, R.N., BSN, Explains Why Heart Disease The No. 1 Killer of Women

Find out why heart disease is the number 1 killer of women, more than all cancers combined.

Visit Deanna Carlson, R.N., BSN, on the web at St. Joseph Hospital Women’s Heart Center in Orange, CA

Deanna Carlson: My name is Deanna Carlson and I work at St. Joseph Hospital in the Women’s Heart Center and I am the Clinical Coordinator of this center and I am a Registered Nurse.

Because women aren’t aware that it is and they’re not taking care of themselves. We’re so busy taking care of our families, taking care of our children, taking care of our elderly parents that we forget about ourselves.

So we start making bad choices in our diet and exercise program while we forget about it altogether or we don’t take heed to our family history when it comes to cardiac issues. So you know that maybe your mother or father had diabetes or you know they had high blood pressure or you know they had a heart attack at an early age, but you don’t take heed to that, you don’t listen to that, you don’t grab it, embrace it and say, “Oh my gosh, maybe I better have my cholesterol checked, maybe I should eat better, maybe I should take some time out for me and go on a 30 minute walk”.

The Women's Heart Center program provides:

* Low-cost personal Heart and Vascular Screenings.
* Free heart and self-health risk assessments.
* Educational Seminars addressing nutrition, exercise and osteoporosis.
* Specialized in-hospital care for women admitted with heart disease.

"Symptom recognition is a key problem," says Women's Heart Center co-director Shalizeh Shokooh, M.D. "About one third of women don't experience the typical symptoms of heart disease that most men experience. Many women report having vague chest discomfort with a sudden onset of severe fatigue or shortness of breath."

"This is one of the reasons St. Joseph Hospital opened the Women's Heart Center," says co-medical director Warren Johnston, M.D. "Participation in the Center provides women with the heart-health protection they need." Women can attend a private heart-health screening provided by a highly trained cardiac registered nurse.