Fourth annual free community event will be held Feb. 22 at Sun City
“Dancing is a fun way to engage your cardiovascular system and keep your heart healthy,” said Emily Harris, who is helping coordinate the program for BMH. “It’s exercise that doesn’t feel like exercise.”
The event takes place from 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Feb. 22, at Sun City’s Pinckney Hall and will feature dance demonstrations and classes, health screenings and seminars, light refreshments, door prizes, and a visit by the hospital’s state-of-the-art robot.
Instructors from the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Bluffton will be offering 20-minute lessons in salsa, cha-cha, shag and Zumba, a low-impact workout performed to Latin rhythms. Dance performances also will be presented every half-hour on the main stage, featuring a lineup that includes several local dance groups like The Beaufortettes, Sun City Cloggers and Family Sliders.
Health experts say dancing can increase your energy level and endurance, lower blood pressure, improve joint flexibility, strengthen bones and reduce stress, anxiety and depression. Because it’s an aerobic exercise, it also strengthens your heart and cardiovascular system.
“The more active you stay, the better,” said Beaufort Memorial vascular surgeon Dr. Chad Tober, one of several
physicians participating in the event. “Stronger muscles mean fewer problems with your veins and less circulatory issues.”
Along with the mini classes and dance demos, Beaufort Memorial Hospital specialists will be presenting short talks on a wide range of health topics, including ways you can decrease your risk of cardiovascular disease and reduce joint pain.
Once again this year, BMH will bring in the ever-popular da Vinci Si, a state-of-the-art computer-controlled robot being used by surgeons to perform minimally invasive procedures, including hysterectomies, prostatectomies and single-site surgery to remove the gallbladder. Urologist Michael Staley, MD, and gynecologist Patricia Thompson MD, both specialists in robotic surgery, will demonstrate the robot and then invite attendees to try it for themselves.
Several BMH doctors also will be available to answer health-related questions. In addition to Tober, Staley and Thompson, those attending will include cardiologist Dr. Stuart Smalheiser, orthopedists Drs. Edward Blocker and Kevin Jones and ob-gyns Drs. Christopher Benson and Gregory Miller.
BMH will also be offering free blood pressure and glucose screenings and $10 cholesterol tests. Be sure to fast after midnight the day of the event if you plan on having your glucose or cholesterol checked.
Dance for Your Health is free and open to the public — both Sun City residents and non-residents — but registration is required. To sign up, visit www.bmhsc.org and click on the event banner on the home page or call 843-522-5957.
