Author: cbhbadmin

We will be joined by a team from the national cardiovascular prevention programme, who would like to talk to patients/people about their views and experiences on using innovation to manage and improve their cardiac conditions and develop a better quality of life. This is our chance to ensure people with heart rhythm problems are included in this programme!

If time allows, our resident cardiac physiologist Kate will also talk about her research into ICD support groups.

As usual, there will be refreshments and time to socialise and share experiences with each other.

Our first training and guidance session for new buddies was successfully delivered on 21st May. We’re delighted to welcome new buddies to the group!

Our buddies can offer a supportive ear if you’re struggling with adapting to your new device or have questions about living with an ICD or pacemaker. If you’d like to speak to a buddy, please EMAIL US.

Our next meeting will be held at 2pm on Wednesday 25th May in the large hall in Arbury Community Centre.

We will be joined by a technical representative from Boston Scientific. They will be bringing a simulator to demonstrate routine ICD check-ups and will be happy to answer questions about what happens when you come to clinic.

The first staff awards held by Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have been launched. Patients, family and friends are able to nominate individuals or teams at Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) who have made a difference to their lives and embody the trust’s values of “safe, kind, excellent”.

Titled ‘Kindness, compassion and care – The Public Choice Award’, the category is open to nominations now via a simple form below.

Those nominating can also send a personal message of thanks to staff – and all of these will be passed on to the nominees.

https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/news/nominate-to-our-public-choice-award-and-say-thank-you-to-cam-9238050/

It’s looking promising to return to Arbury Community Centre for our meeting on 23 March, which will be held at 2pm. We are looking forward to seeing you all in person.

The topic of the meeting will be battery monitoring and device replacement. There will also be time to meet and talk with other members and refreshments will be provided.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 23rd March at 2pm so please add the date to your diaries.

Further information will follow regarding the speaker and/or discussion topic.

We’re hoping this meeting will be held back at Arbury Community Centre but will confirm this nearer the time.

Following our recent meeting and excellent talk from Arrhythmia Alliance’s Patient Services Co-ordinator Tracy Goodman, please see Arrhythmia Alliance UK (heartrhythmalliance.org) for the upcoming ‘virtual’ Living with a Pacemaker patient educational event taking place on Thursday 3 February 2022. 

Arrhythmia Alliance will also be launching in the future ‘Living with an ICM’ and ‘Living with a CRT \ICD\S-ICD’  any many more too.  Tracy has promised to stay in touch as and when these dates have been confirmed.

Given the current levels of Covid-19 in the community, we have made the difficult decision to hold our meeting on 12 January over Zoom only. The link will be emailed to members soon, if you are not yet a member but interested in joining the meeting please email us.

We will be joined by Trudie Lobban from Arrhythmia Alliance, our affiliated charity, who will tell us more about their charity and what they do to support patients with heart rhythm problems.

The meeting will be followed by our Annual General Meeting. The agenda for this will also be emailed to members shortly. Please consider attending and having your say about how you would like your support group to run in the future. New volunteers are also always welcome, so please contact us if you’d like to find out more.

Our next meeting will be held on 12 January 2022 at 2pm. We will be joined remotely by Trudie Lobban, the founder of the charity Arrhythmmia Alliance with whom our support group is affiliated. This will be followed by our annual AGM, further information will be circulated to members nearer the time.

We are also thinking about increasing meeting frequency to 6 per year in 2022 rather than 4. We need to get dates organised and rooms booked so if you have feedback about this idea, or suggestions for meetings, please contact us as soon as possible.

We are planning to return to Arbury Community Centre to resume meetings in person. The large meeting room has been booked to allow for some social distancing.

Floyd Brown, a technical specialist from Boston Scientific will be joining us for an educational session on ICD technology. If have any specific questions you’d like Floyd to address please let us know via email and we can forward them in advance.