LEWISTON – The Central Maine Medical Family and the Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute will host the seventh annual “A Heart to Heart” Heart Disease Conference from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, March 3.

The event will be held in the Chairmen’s Room on the ground floor of the 12 High Street Medical Office Building. The program will be telecast to Bridgton and Rumford hospitals. The free event is open to men and women.

The conference will begin at 8 a.m. with registration and a heart-healthy continental breakfast buffet. At 8:45 a.m., Cindie Rice, RN, MSN, the Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute’s director for outreach, prevention and wellness, will introduce the day’s schedule and keynote speaker, Dr. Dervilla M. McCann.

McCann, a cardiologist who practices in the Lewiston-Auburn area, will discuss “Broken Hearts and Beyond,” focusing on a recently recognized phenomenon called “broken heart syndrome.”

According to medical researchers, there is a “mind-body connection” between emotional trauma and “cardiac events” such as a heart attack. Broken heart syndrome appears mostly in women.

A graduate of Bates College, McCann earned her medical degree at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. She completed residency training at New York University Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital, New York City, and served a cardiology fellowship at the Naval Hospital in San Diego. She is certified in cardiology by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

“Heartfelt Experience” will be the topic of a panel discussion set for 10:15 to 11 a.m. The panel will offer a “tour” of a cardiac patient’s experience, including transport via LifeFlight of Maine to the Central Maine Medical Center Emergency Department, the institute’s cardiac catheterization laboratory and the single-stay unit, through the cardiac rehabilitation process to discharge.

From 11 a.m. to noon, Sharon Kuhrt, RN, MSN, director of the Central Maine Medical Center School of Nursing, will present a Mediterranean-style cooking demonstration.

Following the last presentation, a heart-healthy lunch will be served. Participation in the day’s event will be limited to the first 100 registrants.

For more information or to register, call 795-8240. Registrations can also be made via e-mail at prevention@cmhc.org.