Heartbeat is a local charity established in 1992. It helps new born babies, children and adults diagnosed with congenital and cardiovascular diseases. Heartbeat supports the work of the Wessex Cardiac Unit based at Southampton General Hospital, providing specialised equipment, services, funding of grants and various projects.
One of our greatest achievements is to provide our 25 bed, “Home from Home”, a safe haven where the relatives of patients can stay, when their loved ones are going through their cardiac journey. The house is available to all those families free of charge and they can stay for as long as they need to. It is only a three-minute walk to the cardiac wards. The team at Heartbeat also give pastoral support to those staying aiming to make them as comfortable as possible.
Other pioneering projects include a 3D heart project for babies and children, support for a pshychological cardiac youth worker who works with 11-25 year olds and also for a Lead Failure Heart Nurse.
So far 840 families in Dorset have benefitted from the Rotary Heartbeat House Service and that includes 37 from Corfe Mullen. As more people find out about the Heartbeat projects the numbers coming forward for help are increasing and so donations such as the one from Corfe Mullen Carnival will enable this to continue
