A ground breaking conference for healthcare practitioners is returning to Leicester for a second year to examine issues around sudden heart deaths in young people.
The second annual SADS Awareness Conference will take place on Tuesday 14th October at the Leicester Tigers rugby stadium, Aylestone Road. The event is being organised by local charity the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust (JHMT) in conjunction with the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.
SADS stands for sudden arrhythmic death syndrome. It is part of a group of subtle heart diseases where a person goes into a sudden cardiac arrest despite the individual not suffering from any disease affecting the heart. It is estimated that SADS claims the lives of 12 teenagers and young adults, aged 12-35, every week in the UK. Some conditions causing SADS can affect entire families.
The conference starts at 10am with an address by Martin Johnson, ex-rugby international player and Patron of the charity, and features a range of speakers, including Professor Charles Deakin, professor of resuscitation and pre-hospital emergency medicine at the University of Southampton NHS Trust, who will talk about how good the UK is at detecting SADS and reacting to cardiac arrest compared with other countries.
Workshops will cover topics such as recognising patterns in ECGs, the role of pre-hospital ambulance staff and setting up diagnostic services for suspected patients or bereaved families.
Steve Humphries, chairman of the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust, said: “JHMT has taken great strides forward in such a short space of time since the loss of our beloved son, Joe, to SADS in 2012.
“We’re lifting the lid on these heart diseases and we are encouraged that key medical practitioners are taking steps to tackle this silent killer. The annual SADS Awareness Conference in Leicester gives them the perfect platform to do so.”
Dr Ffion Davies, consultant in A&E at Leicester’s Hospitals, said: “It’s vital that we increase awareness of this condition and its warning signs amongst NHS staff. This conference will allow us to share key messages about SADS, and I’m pleased to give it my full support.”
Online bookings are now open. The registration fee for the event is £40 for nurses, technicians and paramedics, and £70 for doctors. To book a place, please apply online at http://www.jhmt.org.uk
For all enquiries, please contact Vicky Wills, fundraising and events co-ordinator, on vickywills.jhmt@hotmail.co.uk
