Elise Bolda, Guest Survivor Speaker
Throughout her career, Elise Bolda has served as a health advocate in her teaching and research in health policy. Part of her teaching was educating people that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death. In the spring of 2010 during her annual physical, she informed her doctor that her sister had a pacemaker implanted, her father had a heart attack in his 40’s, and that two of her cousins succumbed to heart disease. Her doctor suggested that with her family history, she should get some baseline data on her heart. After a cardiac catheterization, she learned that of the three main arteries that feed blood to the heart, two were 100% blocked and the other one was 98% blocked. She needed a quadruple bypass. “I feel profoundly grateful to the American Heart Association for the research they have supported that saved my life, literally! I never had a heart attack and my heart muscles are undamaged. I feel very grateful to be here rather than being 1 of the 1 in 3 women who die from heart disease.”
Loretta LaRoche, Keynote Speaker
Loretta is an international stress management and humor consultant whose wit, and irreverent humor, has, for over 30 years raised the humor potential in all of us. Loretta is founder and president of The Humor Potential, Inc, a company offering programs and products for life style management. Her special brand of optimistic psychology has an incontestable positive effect on the health of all that are exposed to her. Organizations worldwide use Loretta's prescription for laughter to manage stress in the workplace and improve morale.
She has had seven one-woman television specials air on 80 PBS stations across the country. Her 7th special, Juicy Living Juicy Aging aired on PBS August of 2009. She has been nominated for local and prime time Emmy Awards, has appeared on CNN, ABC and NBC affiliates. She has authored 8 books, The Joy Journal, Happy Talk, Relax: You May Only Have a Few Minutes Left, Life is Not a Stress Rehearsal and, Life Is Short- Wear Your Party Pants, Squeeze the Day, Kick Up Heels Before You're Too Short to Wear Them and her newest book Lighten Up.
Entertainment
Phil Smith, Magician
Phil Smith, of Abracadabra Productions is a master magician w/ 37 years of experience in dazzling audiences. He studied acting, mime, juggling at USM and received a B.A. in theatre. "It was the closest study to magic, I could find." Phil has enhanced more than 2,500 corporate events over the years from spicing up company meetings, open houses, to promoting them at trade shows all over New England. When your company or division is looking for creative ways to do team building, motivate sales teams, or customize presentations for your organizations conference all you need is a little magic, the magic of Phil Smith. www.corporatemagician.com
