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Her Heart
Campaign

Help us protect the lives and good health of our mums, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, nieces, daughters, cousins, and friends.

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Heart stats

Often considered as a ‘man’s health issue’, research* in recent years has revealed that women are dying needlessly from heart attacks, or not making as good a recovery as they could, because they don't receive the same care and treatment as men.

A woman is 50% more likely than a man to receive the wrong initial diagnosis for a heart attack.

Women are less likely than men to receive a number of potentially life-saving treatments in a timely manner following a heart attack.

Women are also less likely to be prescribed medications to help prevent a second heart attack.

Women in recovery from stroke, TIAs and heart attacks have a longer and less successful recovery journey from these illnesses due to often prioritising others’ needs before their own.

The same report revealed that women having a heart attack delay seeking medical help longer than men because they don't recognise the symptoms.

As women get older it is also increasingly important to be aware of the risk factors that can make them susceptible to developing Coronary Heart Disease.

NICHS Her Heart Logo Web

Our Her Heart Campaign

The danger heart disease poses to women is why we are launching our ‘Her Heart’ initiative.

We want to raise awareness of the prevalence of heart disease in women and promote prevention and self care.

Know the Signs

Heart attack symptoms vary from person to person, but often include:

❤️ Pain or discomfort in your chest that happens suddenly and doesn't go away;

❤️ Pain that spreads to your left or right arm, or to your neck, jaw, back or stomach;

❤️ Feeling sick, sweaty, light-headed or short of breath

Gillian Ross

Know Your Risk

Common risk factors include:

❤️ High blood pressure

❤️ High cholesterol

❤️ Smoking

❤️ Diabetes

❤️ Being overweight

❤️ Not exercising enough

Stand Up for your Health

❤️ SCHEDULE regular Blood Pressure Checks

❤️ DON’T IGNORE symptoms – visit your GP

❤️ ASK QUESTIONS about your heart health

❤️ FAMILY HISTORY- if there is a history of cardiac issues make sure your GP knows

Real Women's Stories

Stories

Denise's Story

Denise Davison from Saintfield was told by doctors she was a ‘ticking time bomb’ after being admitted to hospital with dangerously high blood pressure. Denise’s high blood pressure was only detected after she attended an event, at which we were offering blood pressure checks.

Stories

Cathy's Story

Cathy McMullan, a Civil Servant from Bangor, knows all too well the dangers of high blood pressure. After receiving one of our Well Checks she was alerted that she had high blood pressure which wasn’t improving, and subsequently discovered she had suffered what doctors believed to be a silent heart attack.
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Support Her Heart This Autumn!

Help us protect the lives and good health of our mums, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, nieces, daughters, cousins and friends by showing heart for all women this autumn!

There are so many easy ways to get involved!

You could:

❤️ Go Red! Host your own fundraiser filled with fun activities at home or work!

❤️ Support Her Heart in your Salon and promote heart care and hair care!

❤️ Sign up to take part in our Her Heart 5K 

❤️ Host a Heartfelt Morning Break or a Her Heart Afternoon Tea 


We want to see a Northern Ireland where the heartbreak of losing a loved one to heart disease too soon is in our past, not our future.

  • At least 80p in every £1 raised or donated is spent delivering our life-changing care and prevention services, as well as funding local research into these illnesses.

    How does NICHS spend donations?

    Thanks to our loyal supporters we raised more than £3.35 Million last year to support our programmes across Northern Ireland.

    £1.39 Million was spent on delivering our care support programmes, £576k was spent on delivering our prevention programmes and £736k on local research into chest, heart and stroke related conditions.

    In other words, for every £1 raised, around 80p, went directly to funding our care and prevention programmes as well as research to help fight chest, heart and stroke conditions.

    How you can help

    Over 335,000 people in Northern Ireland are living with chest, heart and stroke conditions, and these illnesses are responsible for 37% of all adult deaths every year. That's almost 6,000 people. Every day across Northern Ireland 11 people will suffer a stroke and 17 will have a heart attack.

    With your support we are able to continue our vital care and prevention work across the community, caring for people who are living with chest, heart and stroke conditions and helping prevent people becoming ill in the first place.


    Support us today and help us lead the fight against chest, heart and stroke illnesses across Northern Ireland.

    Donate

  • What is Gift Aid?

    Gift Aid is a scheme that allows charities to reclaim tax on a donation made by a UK taxpayer, which means your donations will be worth 25% more to us at no extra cost to you. If you Gift Aid your donations we can claim back from the government 25p for every £1 you donate to Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke.

    This additional income really does make a big difference, so please don't forget to Gift Aid donations if you are a UK tax payer.

    You could make your donation to us NICHS worth even more!

    Whether you are making a cash donation, setting up a regular gift, or asking friends and family to sponsor you in an event, your donation could be worth an extra 25% thanks to the Gift Aid donations scheme. Last year, we were able to reclaim over £74,000 through donations that were gift aided which contributed towards our care and prevention programmes.

    Watch this quick video where money saving expert Martin Lewis explains why everyone should ‘say yes’ to Gift Aid on charity donations!

    Martin Lewis Gift Aid


    Gift Aid Calculator

    How it works:

    Under the Gift Aid scheme, if you are a UK taxpayer, the Government allows charities to reclaim 25p of every pound you give – and it doesn’t cost you an extra penny! With your permission NICHS can re-claim this tax on your behalf.

    Once you’ve read the Gift Aid statement and are happy you can comply with it, simply tick the Gift Aid box to say you agree that NICHS can reclaim tax for you. If you’d prefer to complete a paper version of our Gift Aid Declaration form and post it into our office, you can download a pdf version by clicking on the button below.

    If you’d like to find out how much more your donation would be if it was Gift Aided, just use the calculator below.

    Click here to download a Gift Aid Declaration

    What we need to claim Gift Aid

    • Your full name and home address
    • The donation amount you are giving. We can accept cash also.
    • We can't claim Gift Aid on donations from company accounts. The donation must be your own money and not the proceeds of a collection.
    • For you to confirm that you pay income tax or capital gains tax which at least equals the amount NICHS and other charities and community amateur sports clubs will claim in the appropriate tax year (6 April one year to 5 April the next). This is currently 25p for every £1 you give.
    • Using the declaration form, we can claim Gift Aid on all your donations in the last 4 years and all future donations.
    • Once you have become a Gift Aid donor, please let us know if you stop paying tax or if you change your name/address so that we can update our records.
  • If you would like any further help, or have any questions, please contact Supporter Care on 028 9026 6743 or supportercare@nichs.org.uk

  • The work that we do is only possible because of the generous donations that we receive from our supporters. You are very important to us. Thank you so much for helping us in the care and prevention of chest, heart and stroke illnesses across Northern Ireland.

    When you make a donation to Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke, we promise that :

    • Your donation will be used wisely, responsibly and for the purpose given.
    • If a donation is made for a specific purpose we will honour that request.
    • We will safeguard your personal information in line with Data Protection principles.
    • We will communicate with you in accordance with your wishes.
    • Queries or complaints will be responded to as quickly as possible.
    • Administration costs will be kept to a minimum.
    • Your support will be acknowledged and we will keep you updated about how you are helping people who suffer from chest, heart or stroke illnesses.
    • Fundraisers will respect you as a donor and will be transparent in their dealings with you at all times.
    • Fundraisers will work to the highest professional standards and will adhere to the practices and guidelines as directed by the Institute of Fundraising.
    • Where donations are solicited indirectly, i.e. by 3rd party agencies, we recognise that donors have the right to request information about them.

    If you have any questions, please contact Supporter Care on 028 9026 6743 or supportercare@nichs.org.uk.