EUROPEAN HEART NETWORK HOLDS ANNUAL WORKSHOP AND GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN DENMARK
The European Heart Network held its annual workshop and General Assembly 23 to 25 May 2007 in Elsinore, Denmark.
Dr Harry Rutter of the United Kingdom’s South East Public Health Observatory identified the characteristics of health-promoting environments. He identified them as those promoting physical activity, wellbeing, access, independence, engagement, strong social networks and good aesthetic design and as being equitable and green. He argued for policy interventions to make them more common.
Conversely, Dr Rutter identified health-harming environments as those promoting sedentary lifestyles, road and other injuries, air and noise pollution, social isolation, poor provision of and access to services, health inequalities and environmental degradation.
His messages were consistent with the slogan for this year’s World Heart Day, “Team Up for Healthy Hearts,” which seeks to engage entire communities in the cause of heart health.
Large attendance, broad agenda
Seventy delegates from 24 countries attended the workshop, which focused on five subject areas: mass media campaigns, healthy futures, the use of web sites in heart foundations, Europe’s major health burdens and fundraising.
The World Heart Federation was represented by Director of Cause Marketing Danièle Letoré-Castle and Campaigns Assistant and Membership Coordinator Jane Park. Ms Letoré-Castle spoke about the World Heart Federation’s “Go Red for Women” international campaign, which seeks to improve the response to women’s leading cause of death, cardiovascular disease. In particular, she described the World Heart Federation’s partnership with Elizabeth Arden, Inc., the global prestige beauty products company, to support “Go Red for Women”.
Other presentations
Among the many other fascinating presentations was Professor Finn Diderichsen’s keynote speech about the “Danish paradox” – that is, Denmark’s failure to fully translate its great wealth into better health for its people. His main conclusion: economic growth and a universal welfare state are insufficient in themselves to guarantee strong health development. Among the reasons that he cited for Denmark’s failure were its inadequate policies with respect to the consumption of tobacco and alcohol.
Caroline Hobi described the Swiss Heart Foundation’s Heart and Stroke Emergency Life Saving Programme. Also know by the acronym HELP, the programme seeks to increase the survival rate of Switzerland’s heart attack and stroke victims by making the country’s people more aware of symptoms and responses. Among the mechanisms that it employs are a three-digit emergency telephone number, widespread training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, greater access to defibrillators and creative television commercials. Emphasizing the same theme, Will Goossens described the Netherlands Heart Foundation’s “6 Minutes” campaign, which stresses the importance of a rapid and prepared response.
Tracy Egan of the Irish Heart Foundation described a novel programme to increase donations by people 40 years old and younger. The programme involves encouraging them to send Valentine’s Day love notes on their mobile telephones at a cost of €2.50 per message. The pilot programme raised €15,000 euros for the Irish Heart Foundation in 2006.
Van de Casseye and Volqvartz re-elected
The General Assembly re-elected Freddy Van de Casseye of the Belgian Heart League and Susanne Volqvartz of the Danish Heart Foundation to the European Heart Network’s Board of Directors. Their new terms will expire in 2010.
