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Women flock to first Spirit of Women event
Parking spaces were hard to find downtown Thursday afternoon and evening as hundreds of women flocked to the Liberty Theatre for Mercy Health Center's first Spirit of Women event of 2008, "A New Year, A New You."
In a Monday morning telephone call, Mercy Marketing and Development Director Carla Bryant Farmer said the combined attendance numbers of both performances came to 406 people.
The event, which included champagne and a light buffet meal, began with opening comments by Mercy Vice President and Chief Operations Officer Reta Baker. Then, after an invocation by Sister Concetta Cardinale, comedian Marian Kelly took the stage. With a stand-up act about everything from nail biting to what it's like to grow up in a large family, she had audience members laughing so much, they hardly had time to catch their breath between laughs.
Later in the program, Kelly set up a "talk show" format and brought onstage, in turn, Dr. David Parris of Mercy Physicians and Raymond James financial advisor Tim Emerson of Citizens Bank, N.A. Interspersed with lighthearted banter, Kelly and Parris discussed questions about women's health, including weight and how it does or does not relate to a woman's overall fitness and health.
Parris said that people who are cardiovascularly fit and healthy do not always fit into the federal weight guidelines for their height.
Kelly asked if it's possible for people to change their basic metabolism so they can burn calories faster.
In response, he said burning calories at a faster rate can be achieved by building more muscle mass.
"I think it really comes down to what your lean body mass is and, like a snowball effect, the leaner you are and the more muscle you have, then the easier it is to burn up calories," he said.
Literature in the audience members' packets explained that this can be done through strength training and by eating smaller and more frequent meals.
Parris said he tells patients not to focus so much on the numbers on the scale but on recognizing when they are at a point in their muscle toning and their weight where they feel good.
"You know what that weight is once you get there," he said, adding that people shouldn't take the government weight charts as hard and fast rules for fitness.
Emerson later came onstage as Kelly's second talk show "guest" and shared some of his expertise on investing and financial planning. In the days before the show, he said, he did some research to see how much investment advice is available through books and online for women.
"I did find it interesting... in preparing for tonight, I went to the library and looked on the Internet, and there's just an amazing amount of information about investing, but especially for women investing," he said.
One resource he found is a book by financial writer Suzy Orman, titled "Women and Money."
Emerson referred to a workbook included in the audience packets, which includes a number of worksheets to help women become more knowledgeable about their finances. One of the forms is designed for determining a spending budget.
"I think everbody should, once a year...figure out their net worth," he said.
Emerson also said that it's important for people to do their own investment research, so they can build their own knowledge base, communicate more clearly with their broker, and make good investment decisions.
"Actually, some of the best investors are women because ....women to research. They think about things," he said, adding that women tend to be more cautious investors than are men.
One of the reasons it's important for women to educate themselves on financial matters is that they tend to live longer than do men and, even if they didn't do so when their mate was alive, they will eventually find themselves in charge of their finances.
Emerson said although men have traditionally made higher incomes than women, women are catching up and now. One in three women earns more than her husband, Emerson said, and in general, women now make almost the same as men.
Asked what a Roth IRA is, Emerson explained that money put into and grown in a traditional IRA is tax deferred but, as soon as the money is drawn out, taxes must be paid on it.
"The Roth grows tax free," he said, explaining that the income tax is paid on the money before it goes into the Roth IRA and then grows tax free throughout the person's lifetime. "You can even pass that money on to your kids, tax free."
Between Kelly's standup routine and the information part of the program, the audience was treated to an entertaining "commercial" performance by volunteers and Tina Rockhold of Mercy Health for Life, promoting the next Spirit of Women event, the "Day of Dance" to take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23, at Fort Scott Middle School. Day of Dance will be open to females from 6 to 110 years of age and will teach them the cardiovascular benefits of dance. The keynote speaker at that event will be cardiovascular consultant Stephanie L. Lawhorn.
Farmer said audience surveys show that the women attending liked the interactive format of the Thursday program.
"They really enjoyed the format and the interaction with professionals," she said.