Longview News Journal -- — By Amy Burke aburke@news-journal.com Longview News-Journal

To celebrate national heart month, a giant inflatable heart filled the gymnasium Friday afternoon at the Good Shepherd Institute for Healthy Living.

The AmeriHeart, a walk-through interactive heart exhibit, is being used to educate visitors about the anatomy of the heart.

“We decided to have the AmeriHeart here to give our community and our patients the education behind their heart,” said Eric Oaks, the director of cardiology for Good Shepherd. “It shows different disease processes; it shows how we at Good Shepherd can fix these disease processes and improve their quality of life.”

The heart will be on display and open for guided tours today at the 26th annual A Fair of the Heart free community health fair from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Maude Cobb Convention and Activity Center in Longview.

Free health screenings also will be offered at the event.

Go online to news-journal.com/multimedia to take a video tour of the interactive exhibit AmeriHeart.