The Circulation Foundation will be holding its annual Vascular Disease Awareness Week from 19th – 23rd March 2012 highlighting that vascular disease can affect anyone at anytime.
 
We really need your help to get our message out there and help raise awareness of the risks of vascular disease.
 
Join us in promoting the week!
I have attached our awareness week toolkits and order form which will help you to create your own events and drum up awareness for the cause.
 
They contain:
·         Introductory letter - Campaign objectives, themes and key messages
·         Step by step guide that takes you through the different levels of involvement
 
Resources:
·          Real life story with a photo, to bring the campaign to life and enable people to relate to the issue and appreciate the need to change their lifestyle
·          Supporting fact sheet
·          Campaign and fundraising ideas
·          Feedback form
·          Postcard – with a key message on it, supporting facts and helpful information
·          Posters
·          Banners
·          Balloons
·          Pedometers
·          T-shirts
·          Stickers
 
Your True Stories – Help move the Nation!
 
What patients will you remember forever?  Maybe it’s for their bravery, their experience, or even their laughter; real life stories have the ability to touch people profoundly, driving them to stand up and take action.  With Vascular Disease Awareness week almost upon us, we want your real life stories to help promote the event.  Whatever the story we want to hear it... so please do take a few minutes to get in touch and write us an email.  Ask your patients if they want to tell their story too, we are just as happy to hear from them. Of course, patient confidentiality is crucial, so patients’ real names don’t need to be used...it’s the story that counts!
 
Please could you pass this onto anyone you feel might be interested?
 
We really appreciate all the help and support you have shown the us.  Let’s make our Awareness Week 2012 the best yet!
 
If you need any further information or would like to talk through any ideas you may have, please contact me.
 
I look forward to hearing from you,
 
Best wishes
Rebecca
 
 
Rebecca Wilkinson
Fundraising & Events Manager
Circulation Foundation
35-43 Lincoln's Inn Fields
London
WC2A 3PE
T: 020 7304 4779
F: 020 7430 9235
www.circulationfoundation.org.uk

The SVN launched their new journal Vascular Matters at the 2011 SVN Conference in Edinburgh, this journal will be sent quarterly to all SVN members and will replace the SVN Newsletter. The journal is packed full of articles pertinent to vascular nursing issues and is the first journal for vascular nurses published in the UK. This journal is by the members for the members, please submit articles to be published and if you have never published before Wendy Hayes, Sue Ward and Louise Allen as well as the publishing company will support and advise.

• Implementing a screening programme for aortic aneurysms
• Wound care in patients with a history of drug use
• Honey and its use in the management of chronic wounds

If you have any comments or wish to submit an article please email svn.org@tiscali.co.uk

Edge Hill University Set Up facebook Group

"We are trying to build up a social area for members of the module, ex members of the module and people who may be interested in joining the module and have set up a Facebook Group HEA3178 for this purpose. Feel free to join us!"

Chris Jones, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Health and Social Care
Edge Hill University, Aintree Campus, University Hospital Aintree, Longmoor Lane, Liverpool 9, L9 7NL   0151 529 6242 jonesch@edgehill.ac.uk

SVN Member and Team are Finalists in the 'Frontline First' RCN Innovation Awards 2011

(Leanne Cook, SVN Member, far right)

Runner-Up: Sheila Hayward, Leanne Cook, Karen Jordan from the NHS Wakefield District Community Drug Treatment Team

In Wakefield and the surrounding areas, a small team of specialist nurses is pursuing radical ways of improving the health of substance misusers. Concerned that clients were slipping through the net of primary care, the team now operates both a drop-in clinic and outreach service to engage with some of the most hard-to-reach people in society.

Establishing need

RCN member Sheila Hayward says: ‘We know that our clients have chaotic lives so expecting them to attend appointments is quite futile. We’ve adapted our service to suit the lifestyle of the people we treat so they can be seen whenever and wherever works best. If they don’t come to us, we seek them out instead. I have been known to give health advice in McDonalds and we hold regular vaccination sessions in a city centre bar.’

Although the service is now proactively offering a range of health interventions for drug users, it has grown from humble beginnings. Set up three years ago with just one nurse employed, the service was initially tasked with simply screening for blood born viruses. Since then the team has grown and additional services have been introduced in two local prisons.

Evaluating impact

All clients entering the service are given a full health screening and a range of care pathways have been developed to address key areas including dentistry, sexual health, nutrition and family planning. Among the most successful pathways are those addressing wound care and deep vein thrombosis. As drug users often inject into the groin, these conditions are commonplace among clients and need to be managed to avoid costly hospital admissions.

Building on success

Team leader Karen Jordan says: ‘Some of the clients we see have suffered with chronic leg ulcers for more than five years. They’re often treated in A&E to avert a crisis but then sent on their way with no after care plan. We intercept these people and educate them so repeat visits to hospital are avoided. It’s about empowering clients with knowledge and getting them to engage with health services. We’re now seeing real results.’

http://frontlinefirst.rcn.org.uk/sites/frontlinefirst/index.php/preview/pages/innovation-awards-finalists/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=RCN&utm_content=finalists&utm_campaign=20110126innovations&source=20110126innovations

Online Forum

 The new SVN website has an online forum for all members and offers the opportunity to discuss topics with other members. Members need to seperately register for the forum and as well as public conversations members can send private messages to other members if required. Any complaints from other members or the posting of inappropriate material will lead to the user being removed from the forum. 

 For a comprehensive list of Vascular events please go to the Diary page (members section)