February 19, 2009 - For Immediate Release

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LOYOLA OFFERS FREE SEMINAR ON HOW TO KEEP A HEALTHY HEART

MAYWOOD, Ill. -- Loyola health and fitness experts will offer a free seminar Saturday, Feb. 28, on the latest recommendations for keeping your heart healthy.

The seminar will be held from 10 a.m. to noon at the Park Ridge Public Library, 20 S. Prospect Ave., Park Ridge, first floor.

Four specialists from the Loyola Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine in Park Ridge will speak:

-- Cardiologist Dr. Charlotte J. Bai will discuss an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation.

-- Registered nurse Marianne Cosentino will discuss devices such as pacemakers and defibrillators and ablation therapy for irregular heartbeats.

-- Clinical dietitian Heidi Pankratz will discuss eating for a healthy heart.

-- Fitness specialist Sara Nelson will discuss cardiovascular exercise for a healthy heart.

To register, call (708) 327-7020.

The Loyola Center for Heart and Vascular Medicine at Park Ridge, 1030 W. Higgins

Road, is located just off the Cumberland Exit of the Kennedy Expressway. Loyola physicians offer a full range of outpatient heart and vascular treatments and diagnostic services such as nuclear cardiac imaging, non-invasive cardiac imaging and peripheral vascular testing.

Based in the western suburbs of Chicago, Loyola University Health System is a quaternary care system with a 61-acre main medical center campus, the 36-acre Gottlieb Memorial Hospital campus and 25 primary and specialty care facilities in Cook, Will and DuPage counties. The medical center campus is conveniently located in Maywood, 13 miles west of the Chicago Loop and 8 miles east of Oak Brook, Ill. The heart of the medical center campus, Loyola University Hospital, is a 561-licensed-bed facility. It houses a Level 1 Trauma Center, a Burn Center and the Ronald McDonald® Children's Hospital of Loyola University Medical Center. Also on campus are the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Loyola Outpatient Center, Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine and Loyola Oral Health Center as well as the LUC Stritch School of Medicine, the LUC Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing and the Loyola Center for Fitness. Loyola's Gottlieb Memorial Hospital campus in Melrose Park includes the 264-bed community hospital, the Gottlieb Center for Fitness and the Marjorie G. Weinberg Cancer Care Center.