With clinicians who recognize gender differences in heart disease, Parkview Heart Institute has made a commitment to women in our area, providing support and education through unique community events and opportunities. To further our dedication to and advocacy for the cause, we are so excited to offer something special for women in our community: The Her Heart Challenge!

“This is not a weight loss program,” Leah Felger, program coordinator, Parkview Heart Institute, said. “It’s not a 12-step program to quit smoking or to lower your numbers (whatever those may be). It’s a program about getting healthy and finding the tools that can help you reach your own goals. Now, if your goal is to lose weight, we can help you with that. If your goal is to find support, we’re going to do that. If your goal is to lower your blood pressure or cholesterol or to quit smoking, we can help with that as well. Our goal is to help you understand your own risks for heart disease and help you find ways to decrease those risks to lower your chances of developing heart disease, which remains the No. 1 killer of women in the United States.“

The Her Heart Challenge

1. Assembling the Challengers.

We do have limited availability. Applications will be accepted May 1 – 31, and are available online and for pick-up and drop-off at the Parkview Heart Institute information desk. We will conduct interviews in June and make a final announcement shortly after.

2. Measuring success.   

We will kick things off with a mini check-up day at the Parkview Center for Healthy Living. This is going to give participants a baseline that they can use to set their own personal goals if they are seeking something such as lowering blood pressure (maybe decreasing need for medication), lowering cholesterol, losing weight, losing inches, decreasing stress, lowering A1C (blood glucose,) etc.

3. Sleepaway start.

The Her Heart Challenge will officially begin with an overnight stay at Camp Potawotami in August, where we will enjoy fellowship, work on further defining our own measurable goals, and begin our journey toward an improved lifestyle.

4. Getting into the program.

After camp, we will officially start the 12-week program, which concludes in November with another mini check-up.

5. Holiday help.

Like any good friend, we plan to keep in touch and keep you on track during the holidays. Challengers can commit to the Holi-Weigh-In, to not lose weight, but rather to maintain and not gain! We will hold group meeting and weigh-ins in December and January.

6. You did it!

The Parkview Heart Institute will present the Her Heart Challenge graduates to the female attendees at the fourth annual Love your Heart Expo in February.

Up for the challenge? Be sure to fill out your application online or pick one up and submit it the Parkview Heart Institute information desk for consideration. We know you can do it!