WellStar West Georgia Medical Center had a heart to heart with women from the LaGrange community at its annual the Heart Truth for Women Luncheon Tuesday. The luncheon saw hundreds of women attend the event, which included presentations on heart health and guest speaker Connie Carey.

The event also honored Dr. Robert Copeland for serving the LaGrange community for more than 50 years.

WellStar President Jerry Fulks said the event has been held since 2007 to focus on raising awareness of heart disease in women. He said it often goes undiagnosed in women.

“It has different manifestations in the body from normal symptoms you might hear such as pain in the arm radiating out or those types of things. It can be much less noticeable in women,” Fulks said.

The event this year brought back Carey, who presented two years ago.

Carey spoke on aging without losing physical or mental ability. She said the keys to being a ‘super-ager’ are challenging yourself mentally, being physically active, taking naps and keeping a sense of humor.

Carey related heart health to a story of how she once broke the mouthpiece of her flute by swinging it at another person, but missed and hit a desk instead when she was 11.

“I was fortunate after abusing my first flute to get another flute. You don’t get another heart. This is your one body, a gift to you, a choice how you treat it,” Carey said. “I know that it’s hard to cut back on sugar and processed food. I know that it’s hard to lace up those tennis shoes on days when you don’t feel it. But I want to encourage you to love yourself, to value yourself enough and to remember that you’re all that you’re going to get and to treat this heart with value, with love and respect because it’s the only one you’re going to get.”