Local woman hails Irish Heart Foundation support after heart surgery

A new drive is underway to bolster State funding for Irish Heart Foundation patient support services, which an Athlone native has credited with helping in her recovery from surgery.

Locals are being urged to lobby their TDs and Senators to sign a pledge to support funding for their continued operation.

Levina Reeves, 49, an Athlone native, who now lives in Athleague, has hailed the support the Irish Heart Foundation afer she undewent heart surgery.

Levina was in excellent physical health, had a proactive health lifestyle and rarely had a trip to her GP.

She had, however, been suffering from chronic stress for about five years.

In December 2019, she contracted the flu and within a matter of days her health started to deteriorate.

She also contracted pneumonia and sepsis, and was subsequently diagnosed with a rare condition - circumferential pericardial effusion with right ventricular impairment - a build-up of extra fluid in the space around the heart.

Heart surgery, a six-week hospital stay and initial recovery was just the start of a long and frightening journey.

After being discharged from hospital, she felt there were “no patient resources”, until she came across the Irish Heart Foundation.

“I came across the Patient Champions Programme in the Irish Heart Foundation. The shared knowledge and experience from the programme has helped me a lot.

“The work that Pauline, the facilitator, does with so much compassion…she is a genius at handling it all.

“Information and awareness of all heart diseases and stroke are key. This programme wants to change the mindset of people to be able to accept their condition.

“Before getting involved with the Irish Heart Foundation, I felt isolated and burdened. I would recommend the Irish Heart Foundation’s support services absolutely, you are part of a community. You will feel empowered by like-minded individuals. It’s like finding your tribe.”

For many, supports provided by the charity are the only help they receive after a life-changing heart event, heart failure, stroke or other cardiac conditions.

The practical, social and emotional support services begin when patients leave hospital and continue for as long as they are needed.

Now local people are being encouraged to ask their local representatives to sign an online pledge on irishheart.ie/advocacy to ensure €1.2million in crucial annual funding is made available.

The Irish Heart Foundation currently receives just 8.6% of this to fund patient support services nationwide, which it says is inadequate to help the current volume of patients.

The services reduce costs for the State every year by supporting patients to continue living in their homes rather than requiring nursing home care or being readmitted to hospital - but only a fraction of this work is State-funded, says the charity’s Director of Advocacy and Patient Support, Chris Macey.

“Nationally, 80,000 heart and stroke patients are discharged from hospital every year, or one every seven minutes, in many cases to a bleak and uncertain future,” he said.

“One in three of all stroke patients returning home are being referred in to our services, whilst we are also supporting thousands of heart patients.

“These people cannot simply return to the lives they led before and desperately need the unique pathway of support services that the Irish Heart Foundation provides.

“We are doing our utmost with our resources to ensure that people can make the most of life after a stroke or heart diagnosis, but we cannot guarantee continued delivery of these services.”

Mr Macey says stroke patients leaving hospital often feel abandoned – and many heart failure patients end up in a revolving-door system where they need to be re-admitted.

“Our range of services, described by patients as a lifeline, reduce the need for admission to hospitals and nursing homes. A heart disease diagnosis or stroke often leads to post traumatic stress disorder. But the counselling we provide is the only psychological support available to many patients.

“People are denied basic services and it is appalling.”

In addition to counselling, the Irish Heart Foundation provides nurse-led needs assessments, weekly support calls, back-to-work programmes, fatigue management, peer-to-peer support services, social interaction and online exercise groups. Patients also have access to a Nurse Support Line to provide medical advice.

Once they sign the pledge, elected representatives’ names will appear on irishheart.ie/advocacy/ and they are also asked to share the pledge on their websites and social media.