Christus Health hosts annual Women with Heart Education and Fashion Show, bringing awareness to women’s heart disease

Christus Health hosts annual Women with Heart Education and Fashion Show, bringing awareness to women’s heart disease

Published 7:32 am Sunday, February 8, 2026

Models dressed in elaborate ballgowns and suits walked down a runway as Christus Health hosted its annual Women with Heart Education and Fashion Show inside the Broadway Square Mall in Tyler on Saturday. 

“People love to come to the mall and see what’s happening,” said Deb Chelette, regional vice president of cardiovascular services at Christus Health Northeast Texas. “It’s really to get a mix of all ages because heart disease doesn’t just hit people that are elderly and we’re all at risk for it, so it’s to just touch everybody.” 

Christus Health hosted its annual fashion show to bring awareness to heart disease, specifically in women, during American Heart Month, celebrated nationally during the month of February. This year, Christus recognized Women with Heart honoree, Patricia Ayub, who shared her journey with the disease at the event. 

As the show ran featuring different clothing brands from around the mall, several booths were set up to connect women and individuals with diverse resources to help educate them about the symptoms of heart disease, treatment and overall healthy heart lifestyle choices and habits. Heart disease presents differently in women than in men. 

“Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women,” Chelette said. “Our goal is to increase awareness of heart disease. So many women think it’s a gazillion other things, but heart disease is our No. 1 risk and we need to know about that ahead of time so we can fight back.” 

In the United States, one person dies every 34 seconds from cardiovascular disease and it remains the leading cause of death for women, men and people of most racial and ethnic groups. In 2023, 919,032 individuals died from the disease, which is 1 in every 3 deaths, according to the Center for Disease Control. 

Ayub shared her heart disease story at the event and said she used the resources she was once given at a Christus Health heart event to catch her heart attack before it was too late. 

“I woke up in such horrible pain and the resources I was given were telling me I was having a heart attack that day,” Ayub said to the crowd. “It helped me know the symptoms I was feeling were not just heartburn or indigestion, but that it was real and I needed to get to the hospital.” 

Ayub said the day before she was having a casual dinner at a Mexican restaurant with her daughter and remembers having pain. 

“I said, ‘I can’t have anything spicy,’” Ayub said. “‘I just have such horrible heartburn and I can’t even stand it and nothing I’m doing is making it feel better,’ and that should have been my No. 1 sign because for a week I had already been feeling tired and had back pain.” 

Women with heart disease may not experience the crushing chest pain, sweating and radiating pain movement that is more prevalent in men, making it hard to distinguish between an upset stomach and a serious medical episode, according to John Hopkins Medicine. 

“I kept telling myself it’s just indigestion, I pulled a muscle and I’m just tired,” Ayub said. “We tell ourselves that because as women, we’re so busy taking care of everybody else and we do not take care of ourselves. If there’s any message I want to give to you today is please take the time to take care of yourself.” 

Ayub said at the time she was the caretaker of her dying mother and the stress caused the issues. 

“It could have been too late, but I knew from all of the years of listening to these wonderful women and going through table to table,” Ayb said. “Please do it, hear what they have to say to you, know what they offer to you and then go do it and get checked.” 

Chelette said the key health habits individuals can have are awareness and partnering with their healthcare provider. 

“Christus has an incredible team of primary care doctors and that’s the first step, and should they need heart care, we’ve got an amazing group of cardiologists and we’ve got all the diagnostic testing,” Chelette said. “The test we do now for heart disease is a simple five minute CT scan and you can literally go with your girlfriends over a lunch break and you walk out with a form in your hand giving you an idea if you are at risk for heart disease.” 

Jessica Medina, clinic manager for the Christus Sleep Medicine Clinic, which helps patients with sleep apnea, said this is the clinic’s third time at the event and she enjoys the fashion show and community awareness. 

“It’s so fun and we enjoy it a lot,” Medina said. “The fashion show is my favorite part and the community itself being able to be a part of the community of jobs and patients to get help.” 

Medina said the event really helps put heart disease into the forefront of women and men’s minds. 

“In regards to our health, it’s harder for women to lose weight,” Medina said. “So when we know more about our body and how our body works it helps us manage our health and make sure we are taking care of ourselves because who else will.” 

For more information on Christus Health’s Heart and Vascular Institute visit, https://www.christushealth.org/locations/heart-vascular-institute.