Harry has a heart to back Wessex's 'Heartbeat House'
AN ISLANDER well used to 'Heartbeat House' in Southampton has been recognised as an ambassador for the charity.
Harry Shields, 32, has a congenital heart condition, and had open heart surgery three times before he was six years old.
With representatives of Wessex Hearbeat in the island, they presented Mr Shields with the ambassador award.
‘I knew the gravity of my situation from about the age of five. I’m grateful to my parents because they never treated me differently and didn’t hold me back from doing things as a kid. I muddled my way through all the pitfalls.'
Mr Shields is still looked after by the cardiac centre in Southampton, which he called the best cardiac centre in the world.
‘I wouldn’t want to be cared for anywhere else,’ he said.
Mr Shields first met Wessex Heartbeat events manager Tina Richardson and donor development manager Tina Tolley in 2019 at Heartbeat’s first open house event in Guernsey.
He told them his story, and about an idea he had to improve the psychiatric support that heart patients aged 11-25 received.
‘I thought it would be a worthwhile endeavour to focus efforts into tailoring what exactly it is that paediatric patients needed in terms of psychological support.'
Following discussions, Heartbeat is now funding the position of a cardiac youth worker at the hospital, at a cost of £26,000 for an initial 12-month period.
‘Harry is a wonderful young man. He spurred us on to get things going,’ Mrs Tolley said, adding that the role would also benefit Guernsey families visiting the hospital.
Paddy Whitford, attending the event as a representative for both Rotary Guernesiais – which helped fund the building of Heartbeat House – and The Fort Group, Mr Shields' employer, said she admired the work that he and the charity had done.
‘It’s wonderful what Harry has achieved. Heartbeat offers such amazing facilities now, and Rotary Guernesiais will continue to support it as much as we can,’ she said.
Beneficiaries and supporters of the charity attended the charity's open house event at Les Cotils, which saw Mrs Richardson and Mrs Tolley give an update on its work over the past year.
‘The open house is our way of keeping in touch, building new relationships and to encourage people to talk about us and spread the word of what we can offer to those families when they have to travel to Southampton,’ Mrs Tolley said.
Heartbeat aims to help those diagnosed with congenital and cardiovascular diseases through supporting the work of the Wessex cardiac centre at Southampton General Hospital.
The charity’s 25-bedroom Heartbeat House is of particular use to islanders going to Southampton for hospital visits, providing relatives and friends of patients with a free place to stay for the duration of their trip. Last year, more than a quarter of all stays have been Bailiwick families.
Bob Stacey stayed in the house for three weeks back in 2019 when his wife Margaret had a heart attack, and they have since donated to the charity every year.
‘It’s a brilliant facility, and very well organised,’ he said.
