Heartfelt farewell to cardiac support group's founding member

Friday 04 February 2022

An islander who helped set up a support group for islanders with heart issues after having one of her own has been celebrated for her decade of service as she stepped down last week.

On Friday, the Jersey Heart Support Group bid farewell to Angela Keenan during a coffee morning at the Radisson Blu Hotel, as it marked its tenth anniversary, coinciding with National Heart Month.

Set up a decade ago by Angela, the group offers to "carry on where hospital rehabilitation leaves off and continue to battle against cardiac conditions for islanders with heart conditions", through means including gatherings, installing defibrillators around the island, and providing information.

Talking to Express about her time at the group, Angela explained that it was originally set up after her and a group of other patients realised there was no similar service on the island.

Pictured - left to right: Richard Collinson, Phil Volante, Angela Keenan, and Lee-Anne Penn, who were all early members and supporters of the Jersey Heart Support Group.

"I'm one of the original founding members along with Phil Volante, and the reason we joined up is we actually had heart issues ourselves and the General Hospital under [cardiologist] Andrew Mitchell set up a rehabilitation class," she said.

"While we were there, we ascertained there was nothing in Jersey that would stay in Jersey, and Lee-Anne Penn, who was a member of Andrew Mitchell's team, came to talk to us about what was going on where she had worked previously.

"So from that day onwards, we set up the Jersey Heart Support Group, and it's still going strong."

Since then, she has been on the committee as the charity have helped support islanders with various heart issues, raised awareness, thrown multiple fundraising events and also contributed around 25% of the public defibrillators currently around the island.

Indeed, Angela said her highlights were "seeing people who have had the benefit of having their lives saved by using the defibrillators, seeing the team at the hospital under Andrew Mitchell helping people with financial needs that don’t fit the criteria on the island of money that we’ve provided, and just actually meeting people that we know have had various heart problems and have had the benefit of our support somewhere along the line."

On why she was moving on, she explained that it was "solely to give the opportunity for young people to come forward and put what their ideas are," and reassuring that, "I will still be in the background doing odd bits, and obviously anything that's needed, I'll be there to help."

A keen gardener, Angela was also given a rose bush at the event, which the group hope will leave her thinking of them every time she looks at it.

Speaking about her time at the charity, fellow founding member and Chairperson Phil Volante said that "she’s had a very, very big impact on everything we do", citing her avid car booting and antique skills as methods the charity has used to raise funds, as well as her time in town shaking collection boxes and handing out information leaflets.

He also praised her work for several other island charities including Age Concern and Hospice, summing up: "She’s just generally a good egg."

When asked about what she would like to see for the future of the support group she has spent ten years of her live building up, Angela highlighted the importance of keeping the money in Jersey for Jersey people, and re-emphasised bringing in even more members and fresh blood.

"I think a younger generation have got so much to offer in conjunction with really mature people to go forward and really make the island aware of what the Jersey Heart Support Group consists of," she said, adding: "That new blood brings new ideas and can go only go forward bigger and better, and that's what I want to see." 

The celebration of Angela's service coincides with National Heart Month. 

Over the next four weeks, there will be a dedicated display at Jersey Library put together by the Jersey Heart Support Group. It will feature books promoting good heart health and advice on living with or caring for people with heart-related illnesses.

Find out more about the Jersey Heart Support Group by clicking HERE.