Orlando Hadassah's heartfelt appreciation for a successful luncheon

The Orlando Chapter of Hadassah recently held the Bunny Rosen Women's Heart Health Fashion Show Luncheon at the Westin Hotel in Lake Mary/Heathrow. Once again this annual event proved to be a great success. In keeping with Hadassah's 2016-2017 "Celebration of Women," the theme of "My Fair Lady-Race Day at Royal Ascot" made for an entertaining afternoon with genial company, excellent food and a beautiful venue.

This event contributes charitable funds to promote heart-health awareness, training and information to women in the greater Orlando area. The chapter also provides funds for research to unravel the mysteries of heart disease through the Hadassah Medical Organization's Heart Institute in Jerusalem.

Currently, physicians at HMO are researching ways to use specialized stem cells to replace cells lost to heart attacks or disease. A technique is under investigation that would enable a patient's own cells to repair the heart, as opposed to transplanting foreign cells from outside the body. The hope is to induce parts of the heart to regenerate and limit the damage done by heart attacks.

In the not so distant future Hadassah doctors hope to take a CT or MRI picture of a person's heart valve, model the image with a 3D printer, and then build a personalized new valve to implant in an individual's heart. This work is preliminary but it may be the next frontier in personalized medicine as it relates to cardiology.

These are but a few of the concepts Hadassah researchers are working on to improve heart health in the U.S. and abroad.

The members of the Orlando Chapter have contributed their time and funds to support these extraordinary medical projects as well to promote heart disease awareness among area women. We wish to thank those whose exceptional efforts led to the rousing success of this annual event. Our appreciation to Susan Livingstone for her overall support, and financial direction and to Emily Rotenberg for her assistance throughout the planning and implementation of the event. Our gratitude to principal sponsor Rita Weissmann for her advice and assistance whenever called upon.

Kudos to Paula Roth for planning and preparing the lovely centerpieces and to Nancy Greenfield for handling the arduous job of taking reservations, meal requests and organizing the seating. Hats off to Joan Schwebel for preparing the beautiful gift baskets and handling the basket auction. And speaking of hats, Joan was the winner of our Royal Ascot Race Day Hat Contest. Our own "Eliza Doolittle," Morgan Schwartz, was the runner-up.

A huge thank you to Marj Smith for her efforts to provide black and white cookies as a reward to all who dressed in black and white to mimic the film's race day. We gratefully acknowledge Andrea Silverman, Carol Wolfson, Debbie Selnick and Paula Rubin, our fund raisers, and Ima Coordinator, Claudia Glick, whose efforts brought in a record number of baskets and contributions for our Chinese auction and to Roslyn Leventhal our problem solver who stepped in with solutions whenever needed. Thanks to Marcia Wasserman for coordinating the event and designing the programs and place cards.

Our gratitude to our models, sponsors, members, and Chico's Winter Park and Altamonte Springs whose efforts made this event possible.