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Countries involved in Heart Failure Awareness Day 2011
Countries around Europe planned diverse programmes between 7-8 May to raise awareness of Heart Failure
See what happened in your country during the 2011 Heart Failure Awareness Day.
How various countries promoted Heart Failure Awareness Day
Austria
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Promotional initiatives in Austria:
Activities to take part in in Austria:
- Heart Failure presentations in Austrian health programme communities “Gesunde Gemeinde” (Healthy community).
- Cardiologists to give talks in hospitals and heart failure clinics all over Austria
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Belgium
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Promotional initiatives in Belgium:
- Teaching material about heart failure: leaflets and brochures for examples “L’insuffisance cardiaque au quotidien” – “Leren leven met hart insuffisencie” will be distributed.
- Announcement of the Heart Failure Awareness campaign at the annual BSC congress.
- Announcements in the national and local newspapers, and in other media
Activities to take part in in Belgium:
- Lectures to heart failure patients, their relatives and the general population (epidemiology, symptoms, diagnosis, treatments, the role of education)
- Dietetic workshop: ‘How to cook with less salt?’
- Stand illustrating food high in salt and the hidden salt in meals
- Physical workshop providing information regarding lifestyle advice and exercise
- Movies are shown explaining heart failure
- 'Open house’ heart failure clinics demonstrating the tools used to diagnose heart failure (panel debates with heart failure cardiologists, patient testimonials)
- Blood pressure measurements
Links and downloads:
There is additional information on the different websites of the Belgian Working Group on Heart Failure and on the website of the Ligue Cardiologique Belge.
Links:
www.bwghf.be
www.insuffisance-cardiaque.be
www.hart-falen.be
www.liguecardiologique.be/fr/03_coeur_insuf.cfm
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Czech Republic
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Activities in Czech Republic:
Downloads:
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Denmark
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Details of promotional programmme in Denmark  from the Danish Heart Foundation (Hjerteforeningen – an organization for heart patients), the Danish Working Group of Heart Failure from the Danish Society of Cardiology, and the Danish Network of Heart Failure Clinics.
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Estonia
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Promotional activities in Estonia:
- Newspaper announcements of the Heart Failure Awareness Day (Linnaleht/City Paper, Õhtuleht/Evening News, Postimees)
- Estonian TV
- Announcement in the Estonian doctors’ website www.med24.ee
- Posters promoting the Awareness Day
Activities to join:
- Outdoor activities in the historical Tallinn Town Hall Plaza
- Lectures together with blood pressure measurements, questions and answers
- Six-Minute Walking Test
- A concert
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France
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Promotional efforts undertaken in France:
- Press book sent to public magazines beginning of March
- Information sent to French speaking professional journals beginning of April
- Spreading the message in national and regional newspapers, national and local radio stations and TV
Activities to be part of:
- Interviews with Heart Failure specialists and patients scheduled
- Ten Heart Failure centres have organised conferences dedicated to the general public which will be held 6 June in association with an open day and visits of Heart Failure and rehabilitation centres. During these public conferences patients will tell about their own Heart Failure stories. Heart transplantation, LVADS, dieticians, cardiologists, nurses and psychologists will also participate and share their experiences of caring for Heart Failure patients.
There will be additional information on the French Working Group of Heart Failure and the Fédération française de cardiologie website. Also, after May 6th photos and short commentary will be posted online.
Downloads:
Mentions in the media:
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Germany
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We have a 2-day programme, which is coupled with the opening ceremony of the new Comprehensive Heart Failure Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Herzinsuffizienz) in Würzburg
Watch the film!
This is a new governmental-funded institute for the „Prevention of Heart Failure and its Complications“. The Government will fund 50%, the other half is made up by local contributions.
We started in 11/2010 and will be funded with 5 M euros/year for 5 years, and (hopefully) for another 5-year period after re-evaluation;
For this event we will have TV coverage from local TV stations and the Bavarian TV and we will have several radio broadcastings in different channels this weekend. We advertised in all the local print media, the pharmacies and public domains
The event is coupled with the Heart Failure Awareness Day
6th May: we will have a Patient-Day with 30 booths, partially sponsored by pharma companies. There we will have manifold patient-activities and information opportunities, covering not only heart failure itself but also the contributing risk factors and general health
On the same day the opening ceremony will be held by Research Minister of Bavaria and the President of the University, and also numerous other local and regional politicians and health officers;
7th May: we will have a symposion for the doctors of the region of Würzburg, we expect a large audience here;
During these dates, we will have extensive filming and photo coverage.
Downloads:
- Poster in Germany
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Great Britain
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The City and Hackney ELIC
East Lancashire Community Heart Failure Service
The East Lancashire Community Heart Failure Service - East Lancashire Hospitals Trust (including the Healthy Life Style Team and Cardiac Rehabilitation Team) will be
- holding an all day event at ASDA supermarket in Accrington, the day is being jointly held by the their patient run web site, Heart Failure Team, Cardiology Department at the Royal Blackburn Hospital and the British Heart Foundation;
- having buckets for funds and doing customer packing to raise funds for the patient website and their local appeal the ‘Heart of Blackburn’ to raise funds for a new 3 D ECHO scanner for East Lancashire Hospitals, which is being supported by the British Heart Foundation
- handing out balloons, badges, wrist bands and bags on the day re Heart Failure and their patient run website
- holding raffles – they have obtained signed footballs from Blackburn Rovers and Burnley FC
- handing out educational literature on Heart Failure via their stand, which will be manned throughout the day
- giving Healthy Heart education and advice, including blood pressure checks supported by their Community Dieticians
- having extensive press coverage on the day.
John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford
- The Heart Failure Service Team at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford will be manning a stand on Level 2 of the hospital on 6th May 2011.
Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust
- The heart failure team for the Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust (PAHT) will be holding a heart failure awareness session at North Manchester General Hospital. The team will
- have booklets on heart failure available to take away
- have a stand illustrating foods high in salt (with input from the PAHT Dietician Department)
- give advice on heart failure, its treatment and therapies
- provide information regarding lifestyle advice and the various resource sites available.
Walsall Heart Failure Team
- The Walsall Heart Failure Team (including two health trainers, pharmacy, alcohol awareness, telehealth and echocardiography) is planning to put on a heart failure awareness session on Friday 6 May at 11:00-14:00 in Walsall town. The team plan to
- give an overview of the condition, signs and symptoms, treatment and management of heart failure
- demonstrate telehealth equipment and detail how it fits in with heart failure
- illustrate a normal and abnormal echo image
- explain BNP
- check blood pressure/pulses
- offer advice and education
West Midlands Cardiac and Stroke Networks
- The West Midlands Cardiac and Stroke Networks is running an awareness raising event on the afternoon of 6 May at the Village Hotel in Walsall
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Hungary
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Promotional efforts undertaken in Hungary:
- Local language posters and folders distributed directly to doctors’ offices throughout Hungary
- www.szivelegtelensegnap.hu website will be updated with relevant information, providing advice on how to live every day with heart failure
- Nation-wide media appearances, including talks, press conferences, interviews in local media, with local cardiologists participating
- Leading national experts on heart failure from the Hungarian Working Group will appear in national media to discuss heart failure related topics and promote the Heart Failure Awareness Day
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Lebanon
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Heart Failure Awareness 2011 will be the first Heart Failure awareness campaign in Lebanon (1-8 May, 2011).
Promotional activities in Lebanon will include:
- Posters in hospitals, clinics and major pharmacies introducing campaign dates, symptoms of heart failure and introducing the heartfailurematters.org website as well as the Lebanese society of cardiology website
- Distribution of brochures/booklets in Arabic Language discussing definition, symptoms, types and causes of heart failure as well as when to be referred to your doctor and preventive measures to be taken by patients or caregivers to avoid decompensation and to improve quality of life. These will be distributed to all Cardiology clinics all over Lebanon as well as major pharmacies.
- There will be three 30 second TV spots: defining Heart Failure, highlighting common symptoms and encouraging life style changes to combat Heart Failure
- TV show talks discussing definition, signs, symptoms, causes, treatment and prevention of Heart Failure
Activities to be part of:
- Middle East Medical Assembly (MEMA) will be held between 5-8 May, 2011 at the American University of Beirut
- 6 May: there will be Heart Failure related scientific sessions with well known speakers
- 7 May: Nursing Heart Failure Workshop
- Heart Failure unit concept and Outreach Heart Failure activities will be introduced too
- Lebanese Society of Cardiology stand promoting Heart Failure Awareness Day
- International Nursing Day by the Lebanese Nursing Order will be held on 12 May, 2011 in Beirut
- Heart Failure session addressed to nurses including presentations about acute and chronic heart failure therapy as well as a nutritional point of view
- Lebanese Society of Cardiology stand promoting Heart Failure Awareness Day
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Moldova
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Activities to take part in:
- A conference with physicians (internists) from all districts of Moldova on management of heart failure patients
- Debates with cardiologists
- Lectures about heart failure to patients and their relatives
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Morocco
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Promotional activities in Morocco will include:
Heart Failure Awareness Day takes place on 7 May 2011 in Morocco.
Promotional activities in Morocco will include:
- Media coverage of the day
- Lectures to patients, their relatives and to the public about heart failure
- Open house in hospitals, show heart failure clinics, diagnostic tools and more
- Offer blood pressure measurements
- Arranging competitions, questionnaires, quizzes
- Panel debates with influential, decision-making people
- Important to inform press, radio, television in advance about activities and where they are happening
Activities to take part in:
- There will be stands (location to be confirmed), explaining the public about the heart's physiology, symptoms, etiology, treatment and prognosis of heart failure
- There will be blood tests (BNP), and echocardiography for selected patients
- Treatments to heart failing patients
- Educational sessions (covering diet, physical activity, treatment, control of cardiovascular risk factors)
- Quizzes and competitions
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Portugal
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The Portuguese Society of Cardiology is planning:
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To give direct interviews on TV and radio on the 7 and 8 of May 2011, calling attention to the Heart Failure Awareness Days and spreading information about the problem of heart failure: what it is, how it can be prevented, how to deal with it (how to live with it…)
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To contact a political opinion-leader who,every weekend on TV, gives an interesting talk about the latest national and European news that matters. His talks always have an enormous audience (2-3 million people) and contacts are being made with him in order to show the Poster on 8 May, thus reminding the population about the condition of heart failure
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Articles written by cardiologists will be published on the website of the Portuguese Society of Cardiology (devoted to the General Public)
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The heart failure information brochures that HFA sent to us will be translated
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Russian Federation
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The Russian Heart Failure Society is planning a country-wide campaign:
Click on the link for a few words about the Heart Failure Awareness Days and information about places, actions and dates: http://patient.ossn.ru/
The Heart Failure Awareness Days will start on May 10th, and will last til May 19th.
So far, there is precise information from 3 regions so far at the table ( but around 20 more will join in). The actions are so huge this year (because the country is huge as well)!
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Serbia
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An excellent promotion of the European Heart Failure Awareness Day took place in Belgrade and three other large cities and university centres (Serbia Novi Sad, Nis and Kragujevac). The Cardiology Society of Serbia and its Working group on Heart Failure organized numerous activities as a part of this year's European Heart Failure Awareness Day program.
PUBLIC CAMPAIGN
 The New Motto of this year's campaign was "Give heart a chance" and a special TV spot was made including several famous Serbian rock musicians and the kids from the "Belgrade school of rock n roll" singing the song "Give heart a chance" inspired by the famous Beatles song "Give peace a chance".
Badges and posters with this sign were also exposed during the HF Awareness day events.
During this week, numerous experts from the Heart Failure Working Group of the Cardiology Society of Serbia were present on 12 live TV shows, featured on the all major national and important local TV stations.
We prepared a impressive new version (28 and 23 seconds long) TV spot
announcing the European Heart Failure Awareness day. It was repeatedly shown during the whole week on all major TV stations. A similar audio announcement was played at the several major radio stations increasing the public HF awareness.
In 10 locations in Belgrade, as well as on 4-6 locations in Nis, Kragujevac, and Novi Sad, large billboards were on display for the entire week.
Furthermore, 100 B1 size posters of the same content were put on display in all major hospitals and primary care centres as well as in the public places.
Several interviews with the leading heart failure experts were published in the leading daily newspapers. The major achievement is special section dedicated to the HF Awareness day, on the two central pages of the "Vecernje Novosti" newspaper with the daily rotation of 200.000 (printed on May 5th).
Heart Failure Awareness Day in Serbia were introduced in 861 Serbian web pages and is currently present in the total of 14.100 other web pages.
861 texts on the Serbian web pages during the last week and the total of 14.100 hits on the European HF Awareness days in Serbia !
PUBLIC EVENTS
 On Sunday May 8th, from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., public events dedicated to the HF Awareness Day were organized in the major squares in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis, and Kragujevac.
Information booklets and leaflets were distributed, in addition to the badges with the motto "Heart failure can be prevented and treated" and the new one “Give heart a chance” (in Serbian language). Cardiologists from the Heart Failure Network explained the aim of the HF Awareness Day to the people, reviewed their symptoms and previous findings and measured blood pressure. In Belgrade we have also organized a mobile laboratory
that took 200 blood samples for the rapid analyses of cardiovascular risk profile and the BNP.
Importantly OPEN HOUSE DAYS in the major heart failure centres were announced during the public events and patients invited to hear the lectures and join the newly established national society of patients with heart failure.
 PRINTED MATERIAL FOR THE PATIENTS
We have adapted and prepared in additional 5000 copies a 12-pages booklet and a 2-pages leaflet containing the most important information for the heart failure patients. Both leaflets and the booklets were distributed to the interested people in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, and Nis free of charge.
NETWORK OF HEART FAILURE CLINICS
In the booklet prepared for our patients we have listed the names, contact phone numbers and e-mails of particular institutions which are a part of network of heart failure clinics.
PATIENTS MEET THE HEART FAILURE EXPERTS
On Tuesday, May 10 2011 we organized a series of educational lectures for the patients and also distributed information about the appropriate life-style changes, importance of preventive measure, hypertension treatment, and management of arrhythmias, cardiac resynchronisation, pacing and
implantable defibrillators. Patients were involved in the interactive discussion and had the opportunity to see the exhibits of various pacemakers and defibrillators from the pacing museum of the Clinical Centre of Serbia.
The organization of Heart Failure Awareness Day in Serbia involved active participation of more than 50 cardiologists and HF nurses as well as the numerous journalists and the officials of the Ministry of Health. It is an overall impression that this initiative was very successful both in attracting the public attention on the immense problem of heart failure in our society, but also to the prospects of prevention and new treatment options.
We are convinced that this year European Heart Failure Awareness Day in Serbia was even more successful than the previous one and that new ideas have improved the public awareness of the event.
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Slovenia
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Colleagues from almost all hospitals have agreed to organize activities primarily focused on increasing awareness in the public. In 12 hospitals they will set up stands in points where many people get together and they will perform an on-site questionnaire about heart failure awareness. They will also explain basic information about heart failure and give guidance about diagnostic procedures. All stands will be managed by nurses, GP's and cardiologists. In every centre, we will also have presentations about heart failure for the public, patients and health care workers (nurses, physicians). Local organizers also have free hands to perform additional activities like Nordic walking, rehabilitation, echocardiography, non-pharmacological measures
In a few centres, we will follow the diagnostic algorithm for dyspnoea evaluation: GP's will be invited to identify patients with suspicion of heart failure. On top of their daily routine, they will be able to ask for BNP and receive echocardiography within same day. Finally, patient’s results will be discussed between GP's and cardiologists. Through this, we would like to increase the awareness about diagnostic & therapeutic algorhytm among GP's where the burden of new/unknown heart failure is largest.
At all levels, the media has been informed and full coverage is anticipated. All major TV stations, daily newspapers and journalists specialized in the field of medicine have been contacted. Press releases about heart failure, including definition, epidemiology, current management in Slovenia and future plans how to tackle the problem is pending. Additionally, our WG is about to publish a commentary and update of the 2009 HFA guidelines. It will appear in next month's issue of the Slovene Medical journal and we will put particular emphasis on what we can do in Slovenia and how to improve the current management.
Results of the Heart Failure Awareness Day, including awareness questionnaire among the public (we estimate receiving about 2000 replies), nurses (1000 replies) and physicians (1000 replies) will be presented at national level, when all local organizers will come together. Key persons from Ministry of Health, doctor organizations (medical chambers, medical association, university clinics,..) will be invited and many of them already confirmed their presence. All local organizers will attend the presentation. During this presentation, some of latest studies will also be presented to close the presentation at all levels – we also want to make the specialists aware of latest studies.
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Sweden
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May 4-6
During our national Swedish Cardiovascular Spring meeting we will present a poster from Karolinska Institutet Danderyd Hospital with interesting interim results - "Results of a randomized clinical study evaluating nurse-driven telemedicine interventions for high-risk chronic heart failure patients". This study will be presented in more detail at the Heart Failure 2011 meeting.
May 7
Danderyd Hospital will have an open house for the public with lectures on complicated and severe heart failure. We will discuss our new ward, ongoing research, ultrafiltration, ESC HF Awareness day, Q&A session etc. The open house will be advertised in local and national newspapers
In Linkoping, an open house was help in Linkjoping University Hospital and the heart failure clinic showed different stands with activities as follows: one stand with echocardiography, one stand about the use of natriuretic peptides, one stand with measurement of blood pressure, one stand focused on discussion about exercise recommendations, one stand focussed on discussion about appropriate diet and food intake, one stand with discussion about left ventricular assist devices, one stand about cardiac transplantation, one stand about pulmonary hypertension and finally one stand about CRT treatment
Besides that we had repeatedly lectures to the public about how to live with heart failure, CRT treatment and cardiac transplantation and LVADs
The local press was informed about the activities as well as the local radiostation.
Dagens Medicin will soon publish a short report and an announcement about the HF Awareness Day in Sweden. They will also publish an article with interviews concerning our new ward 96 in the Cardiology Department of Danderyd University Hospital - admitting listed patients with recurrent complicated/severe heart failure patients near or in palliative phase. The patients can call by telephone for admission and do not need to go to the emergency room.
Hans Persson, Gerhard Wikström, Staffan Hederoth have just published an opinion piece about the need for better palliative heart failure care in a national newspaper for health professionals and politicians/policy makers: Dagens Medicin (Today´s Medicine) April 26 (also published on the internet).
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