Our Keynote Speaker
Loretta LaRoche
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.
Our Local Survivor
Mindy Beyer
When Mindy Beyer was born, doctors told her parents she would probably not live past the age of three. Born with multiple heart defects, the now 33 year-old young woman became a cardiac nurse and runs a cholesterol screening program at the Maine Heart Center as well as working per diem with Mercy Hospital.
Mindy has endured three heart surgeries to help repair her multiple heart defects, the major one being that that her ventricles are reversed. This leaves her right ventricle - the weaker of the two ventricles – as the major pumping chamber to pump blood to the rest of her body.
“I knew after I had my first open-heart surgery at age 12 that I wanted to be in the health field to help others with heart disease,” said Mindy. She also cited that heart defects are the #1 birth defect in America.
When Mindy and her husband decided they wanted to try and have children it was discovered she had an aortic dissection that had never been detected and ordered that she have another open-heart surgery.
“Although my family and friends were frightened for me,” she said. “I was confident in the ability of the Maine Medical Center cardiac team, and the advancements made possible by the American Heart Association. There is the possibility of a heart transplant in my future but I don’t worry. I know that if that time comes, research funded through AHA grants will help develop new advancements and surgical techniques to make transplants ever better than they are today.”
There is very little historical data on adults living with congenital heart defects exists since so many people with her condition did not survive into adulthood. She feels hopeful that this will change as new data is being collected on the much larger population of adults now living with congenital heart defects
“I can’t live day to day like other people. You must be proactive for yourself and look at the big picture,” said Mindy. “Despite this, I never want people to feel bad for my situation. I feel that I was blessed with being born with a heart condition, it has made me who I am today: a strong independent woman who can overcome anything!!!”
Today, she is able to use her experience to help her patients get through very tough times. “I see many patients who didn’t think their symptoms were a big deal before they got to the hospital. I can’t emphasize enough to call your doctor or 911 even if you just have one heart attack symptom. Realize that it can happen to you.”
