Who we are
Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke provides expert care and support to anyone at risk of or currently living with chest, heart and stroke conditions. We also fund local ground-breaking research into better treatments, care and prevention.
Working with people of all ages across the province, we’ve been delivering our services since 1946, carrying out extensive research into how to prevent these conditions, alongside ‘on the ground’ support. This support is still ongoing, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, though with a few changes to ensure that we work within government guidelines for a safe service.
As a charity, almost 90% of our work is funded thanks to donations from you, so we urgently need your support. We know times are tougher than ever, but the pandemic has hit charities particularly hard. If you can, please help us to continue caring for the thousands of people who rely on our vital services in Northern Ireland.
If you’d like to find out more about how you can get involved with our work, just click this link.
What We Do
Care and Support
We offer a wide range of services for people living with or at risk of chest, heart and stroke conditions, all specially designed to provide the personalised support you and your family/carer need.
Aimed at improving both your mental and physical wellbeing, our care programmes help you to:
- Adjust to living with your condition day-to-day
- Enjoy life to the full, re-engaging with hobbies and family life
- Improve your confidence and independence
Our services are tailored to suit your specific needs and are centred on improving your overall quality of life, with emotional support as well as physical rehabilitation provided. We also offer specific support for younger people with chest, heart and stoke conditions as well as separate services for carers.
Prevention
As part of our ongoing commitment to preventing chest, heart and stroke conditions, , we offer services to workplaces, communities and schools to help detect early signs of chest, heart and stroke illness and empower individuals to make healthy choices
Our prevention services include:
- Full or mini health checks within workplaces
- Online Health talks/presentations
- Free workplace health and wellbeing programme called Work Well Live Well funded by the Public Health Agency
- Online Health and Homeless service with smoking, alcohol, physical activity, wellness and cooking programmes
- Online talks and workshops for children and young people in schools
- Provision of health promotion advice, information and resources for local people and community
Through sharing key information on chest, heart and stroke, we empower people by giving them the knowledge on how to adapt their lifestyles to support better health – now and into the future.
Research
We fund research in local universities and hospitals that will advance how we treat, care for and prevent chest, heart and stroke conditions.
Since 1994, we have invested over £7.6 million into research, funding over 100 projects. Find out more about our research.
Campaigning
We campaign and lobby local representatives and Government to introduce health policies and changes in legislation that will lead to improvements in the care and treatment of chest, heart and stroke illnesses, and in the health and wellbeing of the people Northern Ireland. Find out more about our campaigning work.
