About 300 women dressed in pink and visiting bedazzled booths learned about their own health Thursday at DeTar's Healthy Woman Fourth Anniversary Celebration.

The free program hosts one educational session each month on a variety of topics, from physical health to financial and emotional needs.

Michele Rohde, a financial advisor for Edward Jones, has been a member since it started in 2007. Now, with a 16-month-old daughter, she said the program is even more helpful.

"Having children now, it is becoming more important for me to be healthy for my daughter," she said. "I want to eat right and have my husband eat right so we can be here longer for her and see her kids."

Judith Barefield, director of marketing for DeTar Healthcare System, said that is exactly why the program was created.

"We want to empower women with knowledge - about themselves and their families," Barefield said. "We want to help them with what they need and how they can continue to live a life that enables them to provide for their families."

The program, which had 200 members the first year, has since quadrupled in size and has about 800 members.

The speaker for the event, Dale Smith Thomas, focused on making good choices.

"I grew up very poor in Mississippi," said the former Miss U.S.A. contestant and motivational speaker. "I thought I would always be that way, but I learned it is your decisions that make you who you are."

Thomas encourages women to be a winner by choice, through daily decisions made personally and professionally.

The event, which attracted men and women of all ages, included a meal, educational booths, vendors selling jewelry, makeup and purses and a free photo booth.

Dr. Philip Suarez, director of women's services at DeTar, said the program is good for both physician and women.

"The frustration as a physician is so many things are misreported," he said. "It is nice to be able to directly interact with the public with quality information from good sources."

• For more information or to join Healthy Woman, visit detar.com/HealthyWoman