Stall, speech and blood pressure checks
Heartlink made a big impact at the huge Sikh remembrance event for Sant Isher Singh Barsi in Northolt over the weekend of 7th & 8th September.
Our lively stall was visited by many of the attendees for advice about heart health and to learn what we do to help heart patients. Many took leaflets for the new Ealing Smokefree Service, which helps people quit smoking to improve their heart and general health.
On Saturday, hundreds of worshippers in the main tent were addressed by HeartlLink Trustee Dr Harmandeep Singh. He explained how living a healthy lifestyle accords with Sikh beliefs and reduces heart risks. His speech was broadcast internationally and there was a great response from the audience.
On Sunday we were joined by colleagues from Ealing Hospital and Northolt Seventh Day Adventist Church who spent the afternoon giving a queue of attendees blood pressure and BMI checks and basic health advice.
Our particular thanks to the 20 Heartlink members and supporters who ran the stall over the course of the weekend, Doctor Harmandeep Singh for his speech and members of the local Seventh Day Adventist church for their expert help.
Our volunteers enjoyed a selection of delicious food and snacks over the two days. See MORE PHOTOS HERE.
The importance of eye health
50 enthusiastic, Heartlink members enjoyed a fascinating presentation about eye health given by Subhash Suthar, Clinical & Therapeutics, Specialist Pharmacist (Ophthalmology) at our September meeting at Ealing Hospital.
Our topic was very much related to heart health, as many of our members and supporters suffer from eye health conditions which are linked to their heart conditions, some serious.
Subash gave us a fascinating presentation, drawing on his many years of experience in the area and his relationship with relevant specialists and institutions.
A copy of his presentation can be found HERE.
A copy of his detailed advice for using eye drops can be found BELOW.
He explained the anatomy of the eye and the age-related problems that often develop. He went into considerable detail about glaucoma, which is one of the commonest eye conditions, and the treatments that are used for it. He particularly emphasised the importance of us using regular prescribed medications, such as eye drops, exactly as prescribed, often daily or more frequently. He demonstrated an effective way of self- administering drops so that they enter the eye properly. He went on to explain about problems with dry eyes and the importance of selecting and using the most effective drops.
The questions and discussion which followed were wide-ranging, and many members participated and asked for advice.
Subhash is pictured above with many of the attendees.
Summer Party follows chair yoga
Members and supporters enjoyed a special session of our Community Hub in the height of summer.
On Thursday 15th August, more than 40 of us built up an appetite doing our regular chair yoga exercises, led by the excellent Mr Chana.
After that, the number of our volunteers helped serve delicious sandwiches, samosas fruit, cake and biscuits, plus tea and cold drinks to the attendees, while everyone had a good chat and catch up. We had a few words from one of our most dedicated and distinguished supporters, Councillor Mrs Midha, former Mayor of Ealing.
Many of those at the party were looking forward to the coach trip to Eastbourne the next day, organised by longstanding Heartlink member George Lafford.
Volunteers attend training on Cholesterol and Diet
25 Heartlink members and supporters took part in our latest training seminar on 25th July. The training, on ‘Cholesterol and diet’ was provided by Michaela Nuttall of ‘Learn with Nurses’, who is an expert trainer, a cardiac nurse and Chair of the Health Care Committee at Heart UK.
In a lively session, attendees learned about the different components that make up cholesterol and their impact on heart health. Despite many individuals’ cholesterol being influenced by inherited genetic factors, people can reduce their risk by modifying their lifestyle in terms of diet and exercise.
Michaela emphasised the importance of people having blood tests and being aware of their cholesterol numbers, to track them over time. She explained about the various medicines, such as statins, that can help improve these numbers. Later, she provided details of the foods and drinks which have a positive and negative impact on cholesterol levels. All attendees were given a British Heart Foundation book about healthy diet and two different booklets explaining the background to cholesterol.
The seminar was part of Heartlink's ongoing training offer to assist new (and existing) volunteers to understand key aspects of heart health so that they can become Community Health Champions and talk to and advise their own family, friends and community.
Further seminars on other key topics will be held in coming months – so please join us if you are interested.
Chair yoga and Health Checks at the Hub
At the July 2024 session of the Heartlink Community Hub, over 40 members and supporters enjoyed one of our regular lively chair yoga sessions led by the popular Mr Chana. After a break for drinks and snacks, we were joined by a team of young pharmacy staff from Southall Pharmacy on North Parade, Southall, who provided everyone with a blood pressure test and a BMI reading. This great offer was taken up by most people attending, many of whom are heart patients. Heartlink would like to thank Anish from Southall Pharmacy for organising this fantastic support and the team who attended: Maya, Nuria and Jas, who were assisted by students on work placement at the pharmacy. Attendees told us how much they appreciated this excellent afternoon session.
Community health testing in Perivale
At the end of June, we were invited to attend a community health testing event being run at the Hope Church in Perivale by the Northolt 7th Day Adventist Church. Lots of local members of the public were given blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose, lung function and BMI checks from Marian and her team of health professionals. They then chatted about heart health matters to a small team of Heartlink members and we gave out loads of good BHF advice booklets and our leaflets. A good number were interested in coming along to Heartlink events to learn more.
A big ‘thank you’ to Marian & her team for inviting us.
Know your heart medications
Heartlink was privileged to get an informative and highly relevant presentation about common HEART MEDICATIONS from Dr Karagiannis at our July 4th Meeting. Despite it being Election Day, we had a great turnout of 50 members and supporters. Dr Karagiannis is a highly experienced Consultant Cardiologist at Hillingdon Hospital and at the Transplant Department, Harefield Hospital.
He explained in a very clear and easy to understand manner the difference between medications that extend our lifespan, and those that reduce symptoms and give us a better quality of life. He concentrated particularly on medications to address heart failure, those given after heart attacks and heart surgery, medications to tackle the high levels of cholesterol and those for irregular heartbeat and AF. He outlined the most common medications for each of these, their purpose and when they are used. In some cases cardiologists have to try different but similar medications on a patient to obtain the best result.
He then spent 45 minutes dealing with a lot of detailed questions from our members, who widely viewed the session as one of our best.
Packed meeting hears about stents and statins
A packed meeting of Heartlink members and supporters was rewarded by a hugely informative seminar given by Doctor Nabeel Ahmed, Consultant Cardiologist at Ealing Hospital and a regular and popular speaker. The meeting was held in the Lecture Theatre at Ealing Hospital on the evening of Thursday 6 June.
Doctor Nabeel gave us a fascinating and wide-ranging talk which he illustrated using a large-scale model of the heart.
He covered the topic of angiograms and the use of stents to treat patients who suffer from significant narrowing of the arteries around the heart. He explained the significant advances and improvements in effectiveness of stents themselves since they were first introduced in the 1990s. He outlined that, on occasion, the location of the narrowing of the arteries means that stents cannot be used and bypass surgery is a successful alternative.
He took us through the significant reduction in potential problems due to heart plaque for many patients as a result of their use of statins in recent years.
His presentation was followed by a busy question and answer session, which only ended due to time constraints.
Our biggest and best event in 30 years
Over 300 members, supporters and friends enjoyed a fantastic evening celebrating Heartlink’s 30th Anniversary at the Blue Room, Harrow on the evening of Friday 17th May. The event underlined the development of Heartlink into one of the strongest and most effective Heart Support Groups in London and the UK.
We enjoyed an evening of good food, music, dancing and fundraising, plus inspiring speeches from our founder, trustees and key supporters.
The Heartlink organising team was led by Krishanjit Bajwa and our great thanks go to her and all those who helped her make it such a huge success. We also say a big thank you to Mahesh and his team at the Blue Room for hosting us so well and making the delicious food.
After a welcome from our MC for the evening, Tony Patti, we were served delicious starters and then heard from:
· Professor Jaspal Kooner, our founder and President
· Channi Singh, internationally famous Bhangra singer and our new Heart Health Ambassador.
· Councillor Mohinder Midha, who as Mayor of Ealing had raised major funds for our work.
· and Trustee Dr Harmandeep Singh.
TO SEE MANY MORE PHOTOS OF THE EVENT CLICK BELOW
Dr Amarjit Sethi (Trustee) was on hand to welcome guests and raise our profile amongst partners. A display on the large screen showed attendees scenes from Heartlink’s work and history. Our Trustees thanked key donors for funds they presented and pledged to us, and then Tony Patti, supported by long term friend of Heartlink, Steve Pound, ran a raffle for some great donated prizes, to raise more funds for us.
After more delicious food, the audience settled down to a couple of hours of unrestrained dancing and were treated to great live performances from Channi Singh and his daughter Mona.
We were joined for the evening by supporters, friends and key partners from across our area including:
· The Northwest London University Healthcare NHS Trust.
· Pingalwara Charitable Society
· Mael Gael Community Project.
· Ealing Gurdwara
· Shree Ram Mandir Southall.
· West London Asian Society
· NHS staff from Ealing Hospital Cardiology,
Hanwell Rehab Service and Hillingdon Hospital.
· Hounslow Multicultural Centre.
· Southall Lions.
· Howdens
Mael Gael hears about Heart Health Campaign
A small team of Heartlink volunteers received a very warm welcome at the regular session of Mael Gael on Wednesday 22nd May. We had been invited along to tell members about our Heart Health Awareness Campaign and to explain the role of volunteers as part of it. Most members had experience of heart health related issues, either themselves or in their families. There was a lot of interest as we explained about the campaign and the offer of training on heart health. The training is aimed to help volunteers act as Community Health Champions in the local area. We showed the range of helpful training information available via our website and the offer of face-to-face training sessions. Volunteers from Mael Gael who join as volunteers will mainly help people from their families, friends and the community groups they attend.
As well as hearing the Heartlink speakers, attendees were encouraged to take part by Dr. Parvinder Garcha, a key sponsor of Mael Gael, and Harbans Kaur, the group coordinator. A number of attendees signed up, and people took lots of Heartlink literature and booklets. Afterwards, we were treated to the delicious lunch that is a regular feature of the sessions.
Shree Ram Mandir welcomes Heartlink
A fantastic welcome awaited Heartlink and our Trustee Dr Harmandeep Singh when we visited the Shree Ram Mandir on Tuesday 14 May. Umesh Sharma and the Management Team of the Mandir, who are keenly aware of the high levels of heart problems amongst people in their community, wanted to give us the opportunity to explain how to reduce the risks, and the simple steps that people can take.
Dr Harman gave a clear and challenging explanation to worshippers in the main hall of the Mandir. Meanwhile Heartlink volunteers had been invited to set up a stall in the entrance so that attendees could select the advice and information they wanted.
Following on from this event, the Management Team from Shree Ram Mandir joined us at our 30th Birthday Celebration on 17th May and gave us a generous donation for our work.
Heartlink in the workplace
On Friday 3 May 2024, Heartlink was delighted to pay a site visit to Quattro, Acton. Quattro is a large construction supplies company with sites around West London and beyond. It has the benefit of being a family run business as well as being a progressive organisation with a caring approach to its workforce, many of who have stayed with the company for decades.
Our group was welcomed by Tommy James and his sons Oliver and Luke. Acknowledging that workers in the construction industry often work long hours in stressful conditions, Quattro is leading the way in taking care of its workforce. Tommy and his team were eager to offer employees the opportunity to benefit from the free blood pressure monitoring and health advice that Heartlink offered to employees at their place of work.
Together with a group of NHS nurses, led by Heartlink trustee and lead cardiac nurse Barbara Byrne, our visit was hailed a huge success by all. We saw over 20 lorry drivers, office staff and members of the management team.
See the video BELOW for feedack from Tommy James on our visit.
This was our second visit to Quattro and we hope to roll out similar services to other local companies and businesses. For more details of what Heartlink can offer your company please be in touch…..
Community Health Campaign in the Heart of Southall
A packed seminar at Southall Town Hall on 14th March listened to vital advice about heart health and how to reduce your risks. The seminar was given by Dr. Harmandeep Singh, Heartlink Trustee and Cardiology Consultant with Ealing Community Cardiology and at Ealing Hospital. It was organised by Heartlink in association with the West London Asian Society and Southall Community Alliance and held in SCA’s Southall Centre offices. Many attendees also had blood pressure tests carried out by Anish and his team from Southall Pharmacy.
Dr. Harman emphasised that, with a small amount of good advice, all of us can make simple changes to our lifestyle and diet which will reduce the likelihood of heart problems. He stressed the importance of getting the message over to people of all ages and starting good habits at as young an age as possible. This is particularly true for anyone of South Asian origin as their genetic makeup gives them a higher chance of having heart related health problems.
This event was the latest in Heartlink's high profile Community Health Campaign.
Heartlink is looking for volunteers who it will help to train, to assist in ‘spreading the word’ about heart health in the community. We would like to thank Jaskaran Singh from the West London Asian Society for helping organise the event and Janpal Basran, the Manager of Southall Community Alliance and his staff for making us so welcome.