Next week's fair marks the fourth annual event in Baltimore for the local chapter of Sister to Sister, which promotes heart disease prevention among women. Organizers expect more than 2,500 people to attend. The group holds similar events across the country.
Allison Buchalter, campaign director for Sister to Sister in Baltimore, said the health fair offers busy working women convenient access to free health screenings and other information on diet, nutrition and recognizing heart attack symptoms. Men tend to feel chest pain, while women experience extreme fatigue, headaches or dizziness.
And women, especially, need the extra push to consider their well being as a priority, Buchalter said.
"I think women probably delay going to see a doctor more just because they're pulled into so many directions," she said. "If you're a working mother, you have so many different people and things to care about, it's difficult. Where do you find time between caring for your family and getting what you need to do at work? Women put themselves last all the time."
Ruth Fry, Saul Ewing's office manager and McGuire's close friend, is joining other colleagues in pressing family members, friends and Baltimore businesses to participate in the free heart screenings in honor of their co-worker. Saul Ewing is giving its 120 employees an extra hour beyond their lunch break to encourage attendance at the health fair.
"It definitely heightened everyone's alertness that you've got to take care of yourself," said Fry, a member of Sister to Sister's Baltimore council that helped organize the fair. "You only have one body and one heart."
In fact, Susan M. Handy, an administrative assistant at Saul Ewing, visited her doctor almost immediately after McGuire's death.
"I've been hearing one by one from different people here going and setting up appointments to get checked," she said. "I think, unfortunately, it has woken up a lot of people."
Fry also sent an e-mail to members of the Association of Legal Administrators in Maryland, describing what happened to McGuire and to encourage female employees to attend the health fair.
"For me, this was a personal loss as Sue happened to be my best friend, both on the job and out of work," wrote Fry, who was one of several members of the firm's CPR team who unsuccessfully tried to revive McGuire. "Sue was nominated in 2006 as one of the Daily Record's Unsung Legal Secretary Heroes. Our firm is still recovering from this tragic loss. Sue was loved by everyone, she was an exceptional human being and all-around great employee."
