Hospital’s Women’s Heart Wellness Center to benefit from March 29 5K in East Hampton

March 11, 2014 By Kimberly Gensicki, 860-224-5900 X6507

New Britain - The Hospital of Central Connecticut’s Women’s Heart Wellness Center will be the beneficiary of the Saturday, March 29 first annual Running with Scissors 5K Run/Walk in memory of Karen Pfaffenbach at Sears Park in East Hampton.

The run will start at 10 a.m. with registration from 8:30 to 9:45 a.m. The Park is at 68 North Main St. The event is organized by a group of childhood friends of Karen Pfaffenbach who died in April 2013 from heart disease.

The Hospital of Central Connecticut’s Department of Cardiology is fielding a team of participants on race day.

“We are thrilled to join forces with the friends of Karen Pfaffenbach in raising the awareness of cardiovascular disease in women. The money raised from this event will help support efforts to increase awareness of cardiovascular disease in women,” says Justin Lundbye, M.D., FACC, chief of Cardiology.

“We wanted the money to go to a place where it would be put to great use to raise awareness as to women’s heart disease issues,” says JoAnn Pagliughi, one of the 5K organizers. She says HOCC’s Women’s Heart Wellness Center and it’s WomenHeart of Central Connecticut support network appealed to the group, which wanted to turn the tragedy of their friend’s death “into something good.”

HOCC will also have two stations at the event, representing the Department of Cardiology and WomenHeart of Central Connecticut. HOCC, a founding member of the WomenHeart National Hospital Alliance, provides a monthly peer-led support network, WomenHeart of Central Connecticut, for women with heart disease.

Entry fee is $25 online or $30 at event on race day. To register, visit www.runforkaren.com. For more information, contact runforkaren@gmail.com.

The Hospital of Central Connecticut (HOCC) is a 414-bed, 32-bassinet acute care teaching hospital with two campuses, New Britain General and Bradley Memorial in Southington. A member of Hartford HealthCare, HOCC services include emergency, inpatient, surgery, laboratory, outpatient, and radiology. Among specialty areas are cardiovascular care, metabolic health, obstetrics, oncology, orthopedics, and psychiatry/behavioral health. For more information, please visit www.thocc.org; for a physician referral, call 1-800-321-6244.