Heart Valve Voice
Saturday 21st September 2019
Today we release our celebration video where we thank all the advocates, clinicians and people who took the time to talk to, and listen to, us over the past week. We have had so much fun over the past days across the UK and want to celebrate our activities with you all. We took the carnival of our Street Doctors to London, Edinburgh and Belfast and got an incredible response from them. We can’t wait to unleash them on Cardiff next week.
A personal highlight for me was the book campaign. I was overwhelmed by the amount of schools and young people who took part and were engaged by our brilliant book Grandad’s Heart Valve Disease Story and the other intergenerational educational materials we have developed. I was particular proud as my son wrote the book, he clearly had been listening to what Dad does at work!
As well as developing our materials for children we also took on governmental policy. The response to the Welsh Report has been so positive and although its findings bring into light the harsh reality of the problems in the Welsh healthcare system, we are confident that we are helping to make the changes needed to increase detection and improve the quality of, and access to, treatment.
We know our work with the Welsh assembly is not finished and we look forward to being an important part in the development of these polices over the coming months and years.
In total we have reached tens of thousands of viewers across our three webinars at the start of the week. Add to this all the people we spoke to on the streets of the UK and the numbers reached is eye watering. Education and awareness are at the very core of Heart Valve Voice and as we continue to develop and innovate our materials and methods, we know that our voice will get louder and our message will get stronger.
Ultimately, I am in awe of the volunteers who give their time to help raise awareness of a disease that is often masked by the natural signs of ageing…..