Speakers: Danielle Poole
What prompted you to become a WomenHeart Champion?
Danielle Poole : ladies and building these bonds, I really understood how important the value of a shared experience. A shared traumatic experience can help to the recovery process. You know, like that, having somebody who's been where you are able to help you to the place where you see them and that's a beautiful thing and given the opportunity to have an impact on this organization and let more women have that experience. I just thought there was, you know, no better opportunity.
What have you learned during your time at the Symposium?
Danielle Poole : The ladies coming together to have the shared experience and help each other is absolutely more than enough to propel the purpose of this organization. But coming here to the symposium and learning that about all the different conditions that are considered matters of the heart or heart disease, learning that we can have impact on legislation, learning that we can actually impact how doctors treat their patients just by giving our feedback to the wonderful cardiologist staff here at Mayo, just by giving them our feedback they're taking in info from us and that's, that gives us value, but it also impacts the people that they treat and the doctors that they train to treat people. So what I've really learned this weekend is that this organization is so much more than a support group and it has so much more value.
What have you enjoyed most about this experience?
Danielle Poole : There are really two aspects of this for me that I just can't, you know, put a title on which one is the most. But for me meeting the cardiologists at mayo, the women, I've gushed over them the entire weekend because honestly, yes, we know cardiology is a male dominated specialty. What where I'm from, I don't see female cardiologists in any practice. And so to see the diversity represented and know that somebody is taking in account me, right, somebody like me actually has did the work to make their life's purpose, treating cardiac conditions that could impact me on a more individual level. I just can't measure that enough. But right up there with it is my heart sisters. These ladies they completed for me the process of understanding why this has happened to me, meeting these ladies. So so much younger than me. I'm 45 and I thought this is so young to be suffering with heart disease. And to hear that some of these ladies started their journeys at birth in their teen years, in their twenties in their thirties and here they are 2025 30 years later, still impacting how people are treated, healed and live with heart diseases. It's just a beautiful thing. So these ladies will forever be my heart sisters. I'm overjoyed. I just feel like this is an amazing, amazing program. I was so happy to have an opportunity to be a part of it and it's just, you know, topnotch. These ladies are amazing and the lady cardiologists are amazing as well. So for me, the best part of the weekend is the exposure to the people. Yes, the information is amazing. It's a lot and I'm gonna go back and review it. But the people, women heart, the staff, the cardiologist that volunteer with doctor Hayes and then the ladies that were here to become women heart champions with me. Absolutely. The best part. So the people were the best part for me.
What would you say to women who are considering becoming a WomenHeart Champion?
Danielle Poole : It challenges you to get yourself to a place where, you know, you can help somebody else get to a better place, right? So it's pushing me to be in a better place with my heart disease and then it gives me the opportunity to help somebody else. So while it might be challenging when you first receive your diagnosis to figure out, you know, what journey or what path or how you're gonna do it. Being a women heart champion is the opportunity to do something for yourself that's majorly uplifting and impacting, but just as uplifting and impacting to multiple of other women. So I would say, hey, take the challenge. Come on.
