Women’ Health Luncheon

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN
FREMONT, CA

WOMEN’S HEALTH LUNCHEON

Women’s Health was Front and Center at This Luncheon

By Shirley Gilbert

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Co-President Jo Szeto and Barbara Lyon lead women in a demonstration of gentle yoga.

      What can we do to know if we have osteoporosis and how can we guard against it?  How can we keep our blood pressures at a healthy level? Why do doctors recommend the DASH diet?  What benefits can you get from Washington Hospital’s Women's Center?

      Those questions and many more were answered at the first AAUW Women’s Health Luncheon held on Saturday, January 21st at Anderson Auditorium in the Washington Hospital West’s Building.

      About 50 members and guests had their blood pressure tested by nursing students from Cal State East Bay Nursing Program, enjoyed some gentle yoga led by amazing 91-year-old yoga guru Barbara Lyon, downed a box luncheon put together by our local Panera Bread Restaurant and heard three experts talk knowledgeably about critical women’s health issues.

      We were welcomed by chair of the Women’s Health Luncheon, Sara Hinkel, whose vision of passing along important information about women’s health resulted in this important luncheon gathering.

      Dr. Barry Shibuya (http://www.drshibuya.com), Fremont rheumatologist and on the staff of Washington Hospital gave listeners the scoop on an illness prevalent in women:  Osteoporosis. Here are some of the facts about this crippling illness:

Osteoporosis is a skeletal disease that results in thinning of our bones. One of the difficult things about this phenomenon is that it’s something you can’t feel happening to you and it’s only brought to life after you suffer a fracture of spine, hip or wrist.
The result is a decrease in the quality of your life which also leaves you with a fear of falling.
Osteoporosis affects 50 percent of women over 50 and 25 percent of men over 50. Age is the biggest risk factor, of course.
How is it treated? Steroids seem to be the treatment of choice although over the long haul prednisone, a steroid, has several adverse side affects like bringing on nervousness or making you hungry and causing weight gain.
Dr. Shibuya recommends that all women over 65 be tested for the condition.
How can you prevent osteoporosis? Calcium, Vitamin D, weight-bearing exercises, stopping smoking, and classes in fall prevention and balance can all help defend against getting the condition, and if you have it, guarding against fractures.

The doctor also indicated that there are many medications to slow the disease’s progress available today that patients should explore.

A luncheon guest gets her blood pressure tested by a nursing student from Cal State East Bay.

Doug Van Houten, RN (doug_vanhouten@whhs.com), was the second speaker on women’s health. He has been a registered nurse for 30 years and has spent most of those years in Critical Care. He helped start the stroke program in Washington Hospital and spoke on the importance of blood pressure and its affect on the heart.

Nurse Van Houten explained what blood pressure is, and since many of the participants had just had their blood pressure checked, this gave us further insight into what the figures mean.
Hypertension (high blood pressure) starts at about 140/90 although Van Houten cautioned women that hypertension would not be diagnosed after just one reading; it must be on a constant basis over a long period of time.
65 million Americans suffer from hypertension and one-third don't even know they have it.
Hypertension can cause strokes which is the cause of 27 percent of deaths in women.
Strokes affect our organs including our brain, heart and kidneys.
What can we do to avoid hypertension?: Know your blood pressure and take it at home at various times of day and on a constant basis, making certain you record it for your doctor. Maintain a good proper weight for your frame -- two-thirds of Americans are overweight. Be physically active and exercise on a regular basis (run, walk, swim, etc.). Cut down on alcohol and if you don’t drink, don’t start. Avoid drugs like cocaine. Reduce your sodium intake.
Nurse Van Houten highly recommended the DASH diet (www.nhlbi.nih.gov) since it has proved to lower your blood pressure along with many other benefits.
Finally, get a good night’s sleep. He then described amusingly the sound his wife’s snoring makes that led him to believe she has sleep apnea (which she did have and has since been treated).
According to the good nurse, whatever your blood pressure is today, it would be wise to work to lower it.

Finally, Kathy Hesser, Coordinator of the Women’s Health Center at Washington Hospital, who has been a nurse for 35 years and has worked at Washington Hospital for 24 years, spoke. She gave women an oral tour of the facility and a walking tour of it after the luncheon ended.

Organizers of the special event include Sara Hinkel, Jeanne Delp and Janice Longo

      The center has been open for five years  Its aim is to keep women healthy and make those stressful women’s exams easier and even fun.  They also have created a place where women can learn about their health and do something about it.

      There is massage, tai chi, yoga, cooking demos -- a whole list of preventive health possibilities for women.   They also administer ultrasound, bone density, CTs, MRIs in settings that women are most comfortable with.  There are also many “lunch and learn” sessions and Nurse Hesser alerted the women to the center”s upcoming (March) conference which only costs $10 and delivers so much important health information.

      Sara Hinkel warmly thanked the speakers and the team who helped put the event together and made it such an unqualified success.

Click Here to see pictures of the Fremont Branch’s Women’s Health Luncheon Album.

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