Arrhythmia Awareness Week
Know Your Pulse to Detect that Blackout
STARS supports Know Your Pulse Campaign 2010
In 2010, ‘Know Your Pulse’ will be the theme for our annual Arrhythmia Awareness Week (AAAW) 7th- 13th June 2010. This week long event will raise public and medical awareness of the pulse as a means of identifying potential cardiac arrhythmias. STARS is supporting Arrhythmia Alliance (A-A) in working to ensure that pulse checks become a routine procedure when someone visits their GP surgery. By making pulse checks routine procedure when someone visits their GP, more people will be diagnosed and treated for cardiac arrhythmias.
You can help to achieve this goal by supporting the ongoing 'Know Your Pulse' campaign during Arrhythmia Awareness Week.
Why should you support the Know Your Pulse campaign?
The problem…
In the UK,
• More than 2 million people have an arrhythmia
(diagnosed and undiagnosed).
• 120,000 people experience unexplained loss of
consciousness each year.
• 100,000 sudden cardiac deaths each year; the equivalent
of 250 people per day.
• 30 per cent of adults and 39 per cent of children are
misdiagnosed with epilepsy when in fact they have a
heart rhythm disorder.
• Sudden cardiac arrest leads to more deaths worldwide
than breast cancer, lung cancer and AIDS combined.
• The pulse is the easiest way to detect an arrhythmia
What your help means to us…
We believe that your efforts, no matter how big or small, will help to raise public and medical awareness of blackouts caused by cardiac arrhythmias in the UK.
What you can do…
- Order individual Pulse Check Cards – For individuals, friends and family. The Pulse Check Card is a public self-educational tool that teaches the reader how to take their pulse, what it means and when they should seek further advice for an irregular heartbeat. Order Pulse Check Cards from pippa@stars.org.uk
- Posters and Leaflets Pack – Ideal for distributing information and promotional items to local GP surgeries, medical centres, schools, libraries, leisure centres and other community centres. Order your Posters and Leaflets Pack from pippa@stars.org.uk
- Pulse Check Pack – With a selection of information and promotional items, this pack is ideal for teaching people how to take their pulse or for holding a display stand at your local hospital, shopping centre, GP surgery or community centre. Order your Pulse Check Pack from pippa@stars.org.uk
STARS can provide FREE, Department of Health endorsed educational literature and promotional materials that you can use in support of the Know Your Pulse campaign.
- Sign the No. 10 Downing Street Government e-petition to help ensure routine procedural pulse checks in GP surgeries.
Simply visit http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/KnowYourPulse/ and take a couple of minutes to sign the petition.
With enough signatures the government has to formally respond.
If you want more information on how to ‘Get Involved’ please visit www.aaaw.org - we provide all supporters with educational literature and promotional materials.
To access a summary of ‘Know Your Pulse’ campaign 2009 click here