Avera heart awareness event today

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In honor of heart awareness, Avera Queen of Peace in Mitchell has teamed up with three other South Dakota Avera health facilities for a “Fire Up Your Heart” event.

The event is at 5:30 p.m. today at the Pepsi-Cola Theatre for the Performing Arts and will include food, wine and massages, along with a message from motivational speaker Donna Hartley. The event is free.

“The intent is to get awareness of issues associated on how women experience a heart attack and to raise consciousness of the symptoms of heart disease,” said Trish Delaney, vice president of marketing at Avera Queen of Peace.

Health information will be provided by Avera Heart Hospital, North Central Heart, the American Heart Association, and Avera Queen of Peace Hospital.

At 7 p.m., Hartley will speak. She is the author of “Fire Up Your Life” and “Fire Up Your Intuition.”

Delaney said Hartley will focus her message on the adversities she has overcome in her life. Hartley is a plane crash, cancer and heart attack survivor.

“At the beginning, it would have been easy for her to roll over and say, ‘I’m done, I’m downtrodden,’ ” Delaney said. “She’s giving tips and providing energizing discussion on moving ahead and being positive.”

Hartley will provide a first-person account of what a heart attack might feel like, but the event as a whole will be more fun than grave, Delaney said.

“We’re expecting people to come for an enjoyable evening. We want them to take some literature and take home a thought or two,” she said.

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