Heartlink Goes Digital – providing Heart Health Information
At our Annual General Meeting on 1st October, Heartlink introduced a new way of sharing important heart health information with people in our local community.
Introducing Short Films Bringing Heart Health Information to Life
Under the leadership of our Trustee, Dr Harmandeep Singh, we are producing a series of short, impactful films covering important heart health topics. The films use new technology, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), to help produce high-quality information in a simple and accessible format.
The first film, HEART ATTACKS (see photo above), was shown at our AGM and will form part of an initial series of 10 short films. These will be followed by patient stories and information about heart medication.
The films will be shared through digital platforms people use every day, including YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, as well as the Heartlink website at heartlink.charity.
Our aim is to reach a much wider local audience and provide clear, reliable information that can help people recognise heart health problems, understand their risks and know when they should seek help.
The films support our Heart Health Campaign, which includes an Early Detection Programmeand aims to identify hidden heart health risks in our local community before they develop into serious illness.
The programme brings accessible “spot checks” directly into trusted community settings, combining health screening with education and advice. Checks are carried out by trained medical clinicians and pharmacy professionals from our partners at Chana Chemist, with Heartlink volunteers helping with engagement and follow-up.
Instagram and HARI – Heartlink Advice, Resources and Information
Alongside our new films, Heartlink's new Instagram page at #heartlink.charity went live at our AGM and is now available to the local community.
Our Instagram page ‘heartlink.charity’ provides another way for Heartlink to share information, updates and details of our activities with local people.
As part of our Instagram presence, we have also introduced HARI our new digital assistant.
HARI is designed to make it easier for people to find information about heart health, Heartlink's services, activities and resources. It gives people another simple way to access information when they need it.
You can find us on Instagram by searching for #heartlink.charity.
These new digital services are an important step forward for Heartlink, helping us reach people in new ways while continuing our long-standing work of providing information, education and support for heart patients, their families and our local community.
He made it! Sukh's Challenge - success!
Sukh has just successfully completed his trek and climb of Mount Toubkal in Morocco which is North Africa's highest peak at a massive 4167 metres, reaching the summit on 16th September. He took on this challenge to raise funds for Heartlink and our work of supporting local heart patients. He has beaten his target of £2500.
BACKGROUND
At a Heartlink visit to David Lloyd Health Centre in Heston, we were approached by Sukh Ghosh, one of the personal trainers who works there. In September he was planning to take on the five-day challenge of climbing
You can see the ROUTE HE TOOK BY CLICKING HERE
He offered to use this as a Charity Challenge to raise funds for Heartlink and to spread awareness about heart conditions in the local community. A copy of the leaflet about his Challenge is shown with this news item..
As a personal trainer at David Lloyd Heston, Sukh specialises in Thai boxing and developing mental toughness for those struggling with depression and mental health problems. He tells us that his grandmother passed away from a heart attack. He has been inspired to undertake this to support Heartlink from talking to our Committee Member Kuldeep and meeting our team at the recent event at David Lloyd Heston.
Sukh attended our meeting at Ealing Hospital in July to tell us all about his planned mountain trek He got a fantastic response and encouragement from our members & from our speaker, Heartlink Trustee Dr Harmandeep Singh.
We would like to express our huge thanks and admiration to Sukh in doing this for Heartlink and local heart patients.
Big impact at major community event
The great Heartlink volunteer team can feel rightly proud of the impact they made to promote heart health at the large Emergency Response Roadshow in Southall on Saturday 12th September.
The event was organised by Ealing Council Emergency Management Team in coordination with a full range of local emergency and community services, and held in the afternoon at the Parkside Yards in the Green Quarter close to Southall Station.
Our busy stall on the main concourse was supported by the offer of blood pressure and blood sugar testing from our fantastic partners Chana Chemist in the upstairs community room. A constant queue of local residents went upstairs for their tests after chatting to us about our work at our stall. The testing team of four barely stopped for three hours, with a good number of people offered follow-ups or recommended to see their GPs, after receiving their results. Lots of our friends from the local emergency services took advantage of our testing.
We were very pleased to be visited by Ealing Mayor Councillor Faduma Mohamed and Deputy Mayor Councillor Dr Ghulam Murtaza.
A particular thanks for their invitation to take part and all their help to Jags Sanghera, Head of Community Engagement at The Green Quarter and Shaan Motaleb, Deputy Head of Emergency Management.
A huge shout out to the 20+ wonderful Heartlink volunteers who joined and helped over the course of the afternoon.
See many more photos of the event in our PHOTO GALLERY HERE
Local awards for friends of Heartlink
A team from Heartlink was pleased to join the fantastic celebration at the packed out Southall Community Alliance Awards Ceremony on the evening of Friday 11th September.
Heartlink is proud to be affiliated to the Southall Community Alliance which represents community organisations from across the Southall area, and to work with them in the interests of all our local communities and residents.
Their Awards Ceremony was attended by over 300 and honoured a range of local individuals and organisations who have made outstanding contributions
We were extremely pleased with the success of our two awards nominees.
· Gurdev Chana, who has led our monthly chair yoga at our Community Hub for dozens of our members and supporters over two years, won his award in the ‘Outstanding Community Achievement’ category.
· Our local heart health promotion and test testing partners Chana Chemist who regularly work with us at community events, were winners in the ‘Community Business Excellence’ category.
The Heartlink team enjoyed a great evening of good food, entertainment and catching up with literally hundreds of our local friends. Congratulations to the SCA team for organising a great event!
Top cardiologist gives vital advice to Heartlink members
Another record attendance for one of our monthly meetings heard widely respected Cardiologist Professor Prakash Punjabi give one of our best and most challenging talks.
The talk was entitled ‘The Cardiovascular Effect of Diabetes’ and his hugely informative presentation can be seen below.
He gave us a wide range of vital information and clear advice for how to reduce our risks of major heart health problems and how to maximise the benefit of any heart surgical procedures we have had. His talk was very entertaining and he dealt with a wide range of questions from members as he went through the topic.
He explained the vital role of the natural hormone insulin in our blood in breaking down food into glucose (sugar) which we use for energy, and the damage and problems caused by lack of insulin. Diabetes increases cardiovascular disease risks by up to 4 times and can lead to heart attacks, heart failure, strokes, and leg blood flow problems.
He emphasised and listed simple steps we can all take to reduce our problems. He told us to make sure we get our heart health regularly reviewed as medications have a dramatic impact and a range of highly effective new medications are becoming available.
Professor Punjabi‘s background and achievements are hugely impressive. He has worked in cardiology in West London for over 30 years and performed very many heart bypass operations. A number of our members at the meeting thanked him personally for his skills, one of whom he operated on 23 years ago.
He told us that he worked at Ealing with Professor Kooner on the ‘Lollipop’ research project (later called the South Asian Biobank), which has established the scientific basis for the fact that the genetic makeup of people of South Asian Heritage gives them a higher risk of cardiovascular disease problems.
His impressive list of current roles include:
Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at Imperial NHS Trust. Professor of Practice in Cardiothoracic Surgery at National Heart & Lung Institute. Training Program Director for the UK’s largest Cardiothoracic Surgery National Training Programme. President of the Cardiothoracic Section of the Royal Society of Medicine. Surgical Tutor for the Royal College of Surgeons.
Who we are.....
Why we are here
Welcome to Heartlink and our website!
Have a look round the site to get full details of what we do and our many activities
You can find help and advice about heart disease by clicking the link HERE.
We want you to join us, whether you need help yourself, want to help others or just want to get involved.
Heartlink is a local charity led by heart patients, for heart patients and their families. Based in Southall, Greenford, Hanwell, Ealing, and West London, we provide support and advice to those living with heart conditions, especially those undergoing or recovering from hospital treatment.
While clinical staff focus on medical care, Heartlink offers something equally vital, personal understanding and guidance from those who’ve been through the same journey.
We are deeply committed to raising awareness about heart disease risk factors within the community. By hosting educational workshops, health awareness events, and outreach campaigns, we help individuals identify and address common risks such as high blood pressure, poor diet, smoking, and lack of exercise.
Our goal is to empower people with the knowledge they need to make healthier choices and reduce their chances of developing heart-related conditions.
Our website is 'heartlink.charity'.
See the 'About us' section for fuller details of us and what we do.