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Cardiac Rehab Support West Sussex - Latest News

20th of February 2024

Two of our longest serving cardiac rehab volunteers, John Aniello and Clive Rice, have retired this week. Clive has been with us since 2008 and John since 2011.

In their time they have done all the tasks of the cardiac rehab volunteers/buddies: they have helped-out at rehab exercise classes and patient information sessions, shown new volunteers the ropes, visited patients on the wards and even acted marshals on many of our CRS Fun Walks.

Literally hundreds of cardiac patients will have reason to be grateful to them for their patience, good humour and boundless enthusiasm. They will be sorely missed.

Very best wishes for your ‘retirement’ from the Cardiac Rehab Team and the CRSWS Trustees.

Fundraising hike for CRSWS

The NHS University Hospitals Sussex Cardiac Rehab Team from Worthing and Southlands have been raising money for our charity, ‘Cardiac Rehab Support West Sussex’. On the 1st of October 2022, the team hiked around The Walk of the Rings, taking them to Chanctonbury and Cissbury Rings, starting and finishing at Lancing Ring.

Many, many thanks to Diana and the team. Any donations you could make would be much appreciated! Thank you. To do so go to:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cardiacrehabworthingandsouthlands

Steve Hodder, CRSWS Trustee

23rd of September 2022

The Walk of The Rings Update!

On the 1st October 2022 the University Hospitals Sussex Cardiac Rehab Team from Worthing and Southlands, will be completing a 13 mile (half marathon) hike over the South Downs to raise money for the charity ‘Cardiac Rehab Support West Sussex’. The undulating route starts and finishes at Lancing Ring and will take them to Chanctonbury and Cissbury Rings too - ‘The Walk of The Rings’!

Any donations will be very gratefully received! Thank you.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cardiacrehabworthingandsouthlands

Let’s hope the weather is kind to them on the day.

3rd of September 2022

18th of October 2021

Funding a Defibrillator for Men in Sheds Lancing & Sompting

We are pleased to report that Cardiac Rehab Support West Sussex is supporting ‘Men in Sheds’ by providing the funding for them to purchase an AED (an automated external defibrillator) for their Northbrook College site. An AED can help a person experiencing a sudden cardiac arrest. It is a sophisticated, yet easy-to-use, medical device that can analyse the heart's rhythm and, if necessary, deliver an electrical shock, or defibrillation, to help the heart re-establish an effective rhythm.

‘Men in Sheds’ describes itself as providing ‘…facilities where members can feel at home and pursue practical interests in a safe, friendly, and inclusive venue. It is a place of skill-sharing and informal learning, of individual pursuits and community projects, of purpose, achievement and social interaction’.

A spokesperson for the group told us that the AED ‘…will be a very good safeguard for the men of a certain age who are doing good work for the community’.

20th of October 2020

National Lottery Funding Update

In 2019 Cardiac Rehab Support West Sussex (CRSWS) applied for, and was given, £10,000 Lottery funding to support the local Cardiac Rehabilitation Service at Western Sussex Hospital NHS Foundation Trust improve access to new treatment options for its patients. Little did we know that in March of this year the whole country would be in lockdown and all their traditional methods of cardiac rehabilitation would be put on hold.

The grant has enabled the Cardiac Rehab team to provide a new type of service to their patients. With this money they were able to purchase a webcam so that they could connect via video link with patients unable to see them in person. It paid for a member of the team to be trained on the use of new rehab services, including digital and paper-based programmes, to suit a variety of cardiac conditions. These programmes, when used alongside telephone and video calls, mean that patients have still been able to access safe virtual cardiac rehab during this difficult time.

The Charity has also been able to purchase an ECG machine, new heart rate monitors and other monitoring equipment to help improve the safety of the service for the patients and hopefully reduce unnecessary calls or visits to the GP for these tests.

“The virtual rehab programme has been a real bonus for our patients” said Tracey Molina, Cardiac Rehab Team Lead for Worthing and Southlands, “the patient feedback has been very positive, which means that we will still be offering this as an option to patients even though we are able to offer face-to-face sessions again to our patients. It provides a useful alternative for those patients who do not want or need the face-to-face sessions”.

Having used the Lottery grant to help the Rehab Team set up these new services, CRSWS will be continuing to support the local NHS Cardiac Rehabilitation Service in their delivery.

7th of January 2022

Farewell to Gill

We thought you would like to see this from Hayley:

'Farewell To Gill

Gill joined us as a volunteer back in 2010 – she helped out at our Worthing classes on a Tuesday morning – welcoming patients and assisting them as needed to move around the gym and equipment. She was also often contacted via the buddy helpline to talk to patients undergoing surgery or treatment and was particularly helpful for our female patients and those who needed to start taking warfarin as she was able to empathise and encourage them using her own experiences. She was also sometimes able to spare some time to assist in the education sessions we held at Worthing Leisure Centre and enjoyed helping anxious patients to feel more in control, and less nervous.

Sometime later she also joined our neighbouring Charity “Cardiac Rehab Support West Sussex” as a Trustee and as part of the committee helped to ensure that funds raised by our patients were spent appropriately and in the best interest of the cardiac patients.

We wish her well on her retirement as a volunteer and as a Trustee, and hope she will enjoy her new lease of life having moved closer to her family. We will miss you Gill and thank you from the bottom of our heart for everything you did to help cardiac patients in West Sussex.

Much love

From the Cardiac Rehab Team at UHSussex

(Worthing and Southlands Hospitals)'

15th of June

Cardiac Rehab Support West Sussex (CRSWS), is pleased to announce that heart patients in the Worthing and Southlands area are now benefiting from a range of rehabilitation resources thanks to a grant they received from the National Lottery Fund.

Back in September 2019 the Fund gave CRSWS £10,000 to support the local Cardiac Rehabilitation Service at Western Sussex Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to help improve access and treatment options for their patients. Little did we know then that in March of this year the whole country would be in lock down and all our traditional methods of cardiac rehabilitation would be put on hold.

The lottery money has paid for the training of a member of NHS staff to learn how to use these resources and funded the purchase of both digital and paper-based rehab programmes to suit a variety of cardiac conditions. These programmes, when used alongside regular telephone and video call support from the NHS team, have meant patients can still access cardiac rehab.

The NHS Cardiac Rehab team are now able to send patients rehab programmes by post, including a relaxation CD, information about their conditions and instructions on what exercise they can be doing at home. These can also be accessed digitally and online if the patient prefers.

“We feel very lucky to be in this position” said Tracey Molina, Cardiac Rehab Team Lead for Worthing and Southlands, “if we hadn’t started the ball rolling with this work back in September, we wouldn’t have been able to react as quickly to the COVID situation. Hopefully soon we might be in a position to offer face-to-face sessions again but, in the meantime, we are very happy to be able to offer these virtual programmes, which will still be a useful alternative in the future for those patients who do not want or need the face-to-face sessions”.

23rd of April 2020

The Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehab Team at Worthing and Southlands Hospitals were delighted to receive a spirometer machine today which had been purchased by Cardiac Rehab Support West Sussex using funds donated in memorium of Cherry Taylor and Raymond Hawkes.

The spirometer machine allows the team to take measurements to assess the lung function of the patients they are seeing where necessary which can aid in the correct diagnosis of the patient’s condition. This piece of equipment will help the team to improve the service they provide to local patients and they were keen to express their gratitude to the family and friends of Cherry and Raymond for their kind donations.

CARDIAC REHAB VIDEOS

17th of April 2020

If you're looking for some Cardiac Rehab information during lockdown, why not check out our new videos page. It features a selection of informative cardiac rehab talks given by Western Sussex Hospitals.

NHS CORONAVIRUS GUIDELINES

16th of March 2020

Unfortunately, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, all NHS Cardiac Rehabilitation Exercise Classes and Education Sessions have been cancelled until further notice.

If you haven't already, we recommend you checkout the NHS Coronavirus guidance linked below.

From all of us at Cardiac Rehab Support, please take care and stay safe.

22nd of January 2020

Today marks the launch of the Web-based Outreach Rehab Project. With Lottery Funding and the support of our Charity, the team have been trained and it has gone live. We will keep you updated.

9th of December 2019

We helped 'Singing for Pleasure' a few years ago with one of our grants and it's great to learn that they are thriving and changing peoples' lives.

“We thought you would like to know that our group is still going strong. We get between 30 and 40 each week and we have a lot of fun! We get really good feedback from singers, ranging from “It always cheers me up” to “You saved my life” from a lady who started to come soon after being widowed. To begin with she often shed tears about songs she sang with her late husband but now she meets other singers for coffee and has made firm friends with others. We love what we do!
With regards
Roger and Sheila Sharman”

19th of November 2019

We thought we should share with our supporters some of the positive feedback we receive from people who apply for and receive grants from West Sussex Cardiac Rehab Support West Sussex. Recently, our Charity paid for members of the NHS Trust’s Cardiac Rehab team to attend a British Association for Cardiovasular Prevention and Rehabilitation Conference in London. Nicola Bean has sent us the following message:

'Just wanted to say thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to attend this year’s BACPR conference on Cardio vascular prevention and rehabilitation it was an inspiring few days with some great motivational speakers I think we all came away excited about future innovations in cardiac Rehab.

Many thanks - Nicky Bean'

Remember - none of this would be possible without your continuing support!

28th of October 2019

Charity Update:

£10,000 lottery funding is now in the CRSWS account and will pay the initial costs of our Cardiac Outreach Project.

As a first step, a contract has been agreed with an internet company that can provide cardiac patients with safe exercise programmes they can do in their own homes.

Four exercise groups in new locations are also in the planning stage and funds will be available to pay for transport to sessions for those patients who have mobility problems that would make it difficult for them to attend otherwise.

The Trustees have put aside resources to continue all of these initiatives should they prove successful.

The Charity has also recently approved two applications for grants, namely: the funding of cardiac training for an instructor at a local gym and the purchase of a replacement treadmill at Southlands Hospital.

Great News!

Sept 2019

Cardiac Rehabilitation Support West Sussex (CRSWS) is to receive £10,000 of funding from the Lottery to help launch a range of new services for cardiac patients in West Sussex.

Currently older and more frail cardiac patients recovering in the community may not be able

to access rehab sessions because of restricted mobility or poor access to public transport.

But, with funding from the National Lottery, CRSWS will be working in partnership with the

Pulmonary and Cardiac Rehab Team at Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust,

to tackle this problem.

The Charity plan to use Lottery funding and their own resources to set up exercise groups in

new locations; fund transport for patients who have poor mobility or disabilities;

and, provide resources to enable cardiac patients to undertake comprehensive exercise sessions

safely in their own homes.

Hayley Fairclough, Lead Physiotherapist for Pulmonary and Cardiac Rehab at Worthing Hospital

said that:

‘As a result of this project over 500 people a year with heart problems will be able to access rehabilitation sessions regardless of mobility or disability. This project will considerably increase the life chances of particularly vulnerable patients recovering from heart problems"

More news soon....

May 2019

New AED at Littlehampton Health Centre

The Physiotherapy department at Littlehampton Health Centre took delivery

of an automated external defibrillator this month which was funded by

Cardiac Rehabilitation Support West Sussex (CRSWS).

Lesley Hinton, WSHT resuscitation officer, shown handing over the defib above -

came over to provide training for the staff based at this satellite site used by

Western physiotherapy service. James Barclay, team lead physiotherapist said

" we are very grateful to the charity for providing this vital piece of equipment.

It is very reassuring to know that if the worst happens we are now in a good position

to provide immediate emergency assistance whilst we await the arrival of an

ambulance. A great big thank you to CRSWS for providing this."

Fun Walk 2019

There won’t be a Fun Walk in 2019. We have organised a sponsored annual walk every year for 12 years now and many thanks to everyone who has taken part. But, rising costs and falling receipts have meant that we need to look at alternative ways of raising money for Cardiac Rehab Support. So we are going to break with tradition and perhaps think again in 2020.

But watch this space, as we are putting together some ambitious and exciting new ideas for helping heart patients in West Sussex and we are now exploring different sources of funding. More to follow….

And, if you have thoughts as to how we can raise money, do let the Trustees know.