Day of Dance takes place Saturday

The Third Annual Day of Dance for Health is scheduled to take place from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at Fort Scott Middle School, 1105 E. 12th St.

Sponsored by Mercy Health Center's Spirit of Women initiative, the event is designed to combine the fun of dancing to different forms of music, such as rock and roll, country, salsa and hip hop, with health screenings and consumer education on heart disease and other women's health issues.

Jose DeHoyos, a cardiologist at St. John's Heart Care in Joplin, Mo., will deliver the keynote address pertaining to women's cardiovascular awareness and health. DeHoyos received his medical degree from the University of Puerto Rico, and did an internal medicine internship and residency at the William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas.

DeHoyos also completed a cardiology fellowship at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio and interventional cardiology postgraduate work at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Free health screenings will be offered by Mercy Physician Group in the FSMS library. Screenings include non-fasting glucose and cholesterol, blood pressure, risk for peripheral artery disease assessment, body mass index and the Framingham assessment for cardiocascular event.

Guests are invited to participate in dance lessons from talented instructors who teach throughout Southeast Kansas and Southwest Missouri.

"It is exciting to see the variety of dance instruction offered this year," Spirit of Women Coordinator Tina Rockhold said. "There is truly something for everyone, young to young at heart."

Twelve forms of dance or exercise are offered at this year's Day of Dance for Health event: beginning breakdancing, belly dancing, country line dancing, clogging, hip hop, jazz, Latin lean, low-impact aerobics, pom-pom, rock and roll line dance, yoga and zumba.

"The day is designed to inspire ladies to take action toward better health by proving that exercise in the form of dance can be fun, and is an excellence way to increase your heart rate," Rockhold added. "Bring your family; bring your friends. It's a guaranteed good time combined with beneficial health information and tips too."

Dancing can burn as many calories as swimming, walking or riding a bike (as many as 200-400 calories per hour.) If done on a regular basis as a form of exercise, many health benefits result including weight maintenance or weight loss, blood pressure and cholesterol management (lowering), increased energy, increased coordination and muscle strength, decreased sadness and depression, and an overall sense of well-being. Dancing can also help develop new social connections as well as enhance and strengthen relationships, a Mercy Health Center statement said.

Nearly 500,000 women die each year of cardiovascular disease, making it the leading cause of death for American women. One in two women will die of heart disease, yet they continue not to personalize their individual risk for cardiovascular disease, the statement said.

Mercy has also teamed up to provide a "Shop with Spirit" experience. Area businesses that have partnered with Mercy's She Power Consumer Rewards program will provide women with on-site shopping. The six local businesses displaying merchandise are 3 Weathered Gypsies, Books and Grannies, Merl Humphrey Photography, Pretty Posh Botique, Sunshine Botique and Tastefully Simple.

Day of Dance for Health is a free event, but tickets are required and limited to two tickets per person. Tickets are available at three locations in Fort Scott: the Mercy Health Center registration desk, 401 Woodland Hills Blvd.; the Mercy Medical Plaza registration desk, 902 S. Horton St.; and the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce, 231 E. Wall St.

For more information, contact Rockhold at (620) 223-2200, extension 2610.