Pontypool Pacers Heart Support Club
About us
Torfaen has one of the highest number of heart disease incidents in the UK.
The Cardiac Rehabilitation Project has been developing within South Gwent since 1990. It began with a partnership between the Local Authority ant the establishment of a Cardiac Rehabilitation Course in Cwmbran. In 1994 an Outpatient Rehabilitation Clinic was started in County Hospital Panteg. These initial Steps have culminated in the provision of a comprehensive Service for the people living in the Glan Hafron Trust area.
Pontypool Pacers Heart Support Club was established as part of the strategy to develop a service in Torfaen in1995. This strategy aimed to support people from the time they became ill until optimun health was achieved. The rehabilitation of a person with heart problems continue long after full clinical recovery and stabalisation of the heart condition has been made. To achieve optimum health a service that provides education and ongoing support through a multi professional and multi agency approach is needed.
Community Heart Support
Comprehensive Cardiac Rehailitation includes good quality community based groups where members are able to continue and complete their rehabilitation. During the thirteen years since Pontypool Pacers was formed it has continually grown, starting with thirteen members and one class a week, it now has an active menbership of over one hundred and fifty and supports eight classes a week.
The classes offer a forum for mutual support, essential education for long term health and wellbeing and suitable exercise sessions to meet all levels of fitness. The package contains one more major element. This is quite simply the mere fact that people come together to share and deal with a common problem. Only those with a shared experience can really know the doubts,fears and anxieties that can come with that experience.
Pontypool Pacers Heart Support Club is the only outlet in the Pontypool area supporting cardiac patients ant their families on their long and difficult journey through to a full and active life
News
2006 was in fact a pretty lean time for Pontypool Pacers. Our funds were depleting quickly to a rather dangerous level. Drastic action needed to be taken and after a lot of deliberation a decision was taken to raise members contributions for the first time in our 12 years.
In the meantime our hopes were pinned on being succesful with a Lottery applcation.
To our great relief Cynthea Beynam Chair of Pontypool Community Council came up trumps with £1600 raised as part of her fundraising year as Chair. This was a well needed injection into our funds and to our great delight it was followed by the news that we were succesful with our application to the Lottery and were granted £3100 from Awards for All Wales.
They say that good things come in threes and so it was in our case when we were granted funding for a Concept 2 Exercise Rowing Machine from Torfaen Community Chest..
All in all then a much better year in 2007 ending happily with our Annual Christmas Party which was a great succes.