Virtua to host heart disease support group for women

A new women-only heart disease support group has been launched at Virtua Health after two patients put their experience to help create greater awareness.Two New Jersey women, Lynn Niblick of Easthampton and Joan Wisniewski of Monroeville, both in their 60s and married with children and grandchildren, survived heart attacks in 2015.

“Imagine being in great health, showing no unusual symptoms, getting perfect stress test scores, and finding out that a diagnostic catheterization test showed 97 percent blockage in your artery. Think about driving yourself to the hospital because of persistent and uncomfortable chest pain only to find out that what you were feeling was actually a heart attack,” Virtua said in a statement, adding that was the combined experiences of Niblick and Wisniewski.

The two were encouraged to join WomenHeart, a national coalition for women with heart disease, by Virtua.

The result of their time as volunteers with the national organization is the upcoming launch of a local WomenHeart at Virtua. The program is set to start this month and help provide a safe zone to discuss heart disease and receive support for patients’ conditions.