Chest and Heart Stroke Scotland visited us at The SMiSA Stadium last week to receive the latest batch of Help a Buddie match tickets for Saturday's cinch Premiership fixture against Motherwell.
We talked to Chris Docherty, Community Engagement Co-ordinator at Chest and Heart Stroke Scotland and had an in-depth discussion about the history of the charity, the programmes they run and their plans for the future.
Chris had this to say about the ticket donations:
Being gifted these tickets allows us to offer our service users a game day experience with their peers and carers/family support.
"Sport and especially football is a great way to have fun, vent frustrations and join in the experience of being in a crowd.
"It’s a great mental health meter top up and a chance for our service users to have a great day out!"
About Chest and Heart Stroke Scotland
Chest and Heart Stroke Scotland is the nation’s largest health charity. It works to help people with chest, heart and stroke conditions live their life to the fullest by providing vital services to support people and their families who are affected by these conditions, no matter the severity.
Founded in 1899 as the National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis or (NAPT) for short, the charity was known for its contribution to the fight against TB, a huge threat to people’s lives in the last century. For fifty years the charity raised public health campaigns, developed sanatoria, clinics and supported individual patients and their families.
Chris told stmirren.com: "CHSS has changed to meet the need of our community, matching their needs, listening to their feedback and working in co-production with them to form, adapt and continue to review our offerings."
Over time the charity has adapted around people’s needs, incorporating the most prevalent conditions affecting the nation.
With heart disease, stroke and chronic respiratory illness becoming a bigger issue, the focus of the charity changed to keep up with the major changes in Scotland’s health problems.
In 1991 the charity changed its name to what we know it as today, Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland (CHSS).
What Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland do
CHSS run multiple services to make sure no one has to recover from any of these conditions alone. They operate an advice line which is completely confidential, organise community support services as well as peer support groups and provide health information for those in need. They also provide one-to-one support, tailored to the needs of each person, and by supporting people as they return home from hospital, they make sure everyone in Scotland gets the care and help they need, where and when they need it.
He encouraged anyone who might be on the fence about contacting the charity to pop in and see them.
The best way to see if we can be of any assistance to someone is really by getting in touch," Chris said.
"Whilst we don’t have every service that someone is needing, we do pride ourselves on being a very proactive sign posting organisation, with connections within a network of nationwide communities. If we can’t help you, there’s a good chance that we know someone who can.”
Chris told us about CHSS’s new Health Defence programme that aims at being there for people before they’ve had potential life changing events and catching symptoms early to try and prevent them from happening at all.
Through our Health Defence project, we actively promote an understanding of people’s own physical and mental health.
"We offer health checks (including blood pressure monitoring and cholesterol) as well as free supported health walks and physical activity sessions. All our services are free and open to everyone.
We finished by talking about Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland’s goals for 2023 and Chris had this to say:
We want to both continue with our current range of community support, but also to reach out to more community partners, expand the reach of our services and continue to have a positive impact on the lives of as many individuals and groups as we can."
To find out more about Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland please visit their website by clicking HERE.
About Help a Buddie
Help a Buddie is our brand-new initiative where St Mirren supporters have the chance to purchase and donate a match ticket for those less fortunate.
The Help a Buddie scheme will run for the entirety of the 2022/23 season and will continue to help benefit local community groups/organisations and those less fortunate supporters.
Click HERE to donate a Help a Buddie ticket.
