Kansas Health Institute | Information For Policy Makers. Health for Kansans.

TOPEKA — Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson and First Lady Stacy Parkinson will help launch a statewide women’s heart initiative on Saturday.

Health advocates, medical professionals and others will gather at Cedar Crest, the governor’s mansion in Topeka, to discuss ways to take a Kansas City women’s heart program statewide.

Dennis McCulloch, a spokesman for the University of Kansas Hospital, said the hospital’s staff has developed a 90-minute heart health assessment targeted specifically toward women.

“We’re trying to build awareness that this is not a man’s disease anymore,” he said.

One in four women die from coronary vascular disease, according to hospital officials.

About 88 percent of women who have participated in the assessments at the KU Hospital have learned that they have at least one risk factor for heart disease. Most are surprised, McCulloch said.

“We have women who come in and say, ‘my dad died of a heart attack, but he’s a man,’” he said. “There’s a genetic risk for you even though you’re a woman.”

Saturday’s event will team KU hospital staff with health professionals, community organizers and others to gather input on how to roll out the program to communities across the state.

KU researchers want to standardize an assessment for health professionals to administer to women. The researchers hope to use the assessment, coupled with a follow-up appointment a year later, to gauge how the women make lifestyle changes if they learn they are at risk for heart disease.

About 100 invited guests are expected at the event, McCulloch said.