Healthy Hearts in the Community

Cardiovascular diseases cause around a quarter of all deaths in the UK – that’s one death every three minutes. They devastatingly shatter families and break communities.

Around 50% of heart attacks and strokes are associated with high blood pressure, which is a frightening figure when you consider that an estimated 6-8 million adults in the UK are living with either undiagnosed or uncontrolled blood pressure. High blood pressure can often go undetected, given its surprising lack of symptoms, and many people won’t realise they have it until they find themselves in hospital with a heart attack or stroke. We want to change this!

The most effective way to avoid emergencies is diagnosis and treatment before it gets to that point. This is exactly the purpose of our project. We aim to leverage the convenience and accessibility of the fantastic Lakeside Shopping Centre to deliver free, life-saving heart health checks to members of the public. By utilising existing infrastructure and linking with local services, this proposal presents an innovative solution to address the growing health concerns of heart diseases, whilst promoting early intervention and preventive care.

Over a 12-month period, we will deliver our Healthy Hearts in the Community project at Lakeside Shopping centre in Essex. Based in a pop-up store, we will deliver heart health checks to people visiting the centre every week. Our Health Coaches will identify adults with high blood pressure, high BMI and/or a high body fat percentage, who are at risk of developing a serious heart condition. Following every health check, people will be given advice on lifestyle modifications including diet, exercise, and stress management, as well as signposting to local health services. If deemed necessary, they will be referred to their local GP or hospital. A partnership with your organisation would mean we can directly support over 11,000 people with immediate intervention, promote public health and empower our communities to take control of their own health.

Not only will this partnership support your CSR goals, it will also give your business a unique opportunity to engage with the large and diverse audience of Lakeside Shopping Centre, which has a weekly footfall of over 350,000. Our pop-up store will be dual branded with your logo, as well as all the program advertising that will be situated throughout the centre, generating brand exposure to over 20 million people throughout the 12-month project. You will also feature on the marketing we generate as a charity which will directly link to your brand. There will be a plan to develop opportunities for employee volunteering with the heart hub.