Heartfelt Success for Croí After Heartfest Charity Event in Galway City

By Lucy Kent

Croí Heartfest took place in Eyre square from 25 September to 27 September. The aim of the event is to spread awareness for cardiovascular disease and heart health. Residents of Galway were were invited to take advantage of the Croí Mobile Health Hub which offered free blood pressure, cholesterol and stethoscope checks throughout the event.

The Croí Mobile Health Hub is a first of its kind in Ireland. The health unit is custom built, multi-purpose and is the largest mobile stroke and heart disease detection unit in the country. Croí believes heart health often does not receive the priority it deserves. An important message from Croí is that “you are never too young, or too old to start thinking about your cardiovascular health.” 

Annie Costelloe, head of Patient Community Engagement of Croí, spoke about their annual celebration.

Heartfest started in Galway, but Croí hopes to see it grow to more locations across Ireland, meeting even more communities. Visitors enjoyed the event, many speaking about their reasons for getting checked being family history and a background of heart scares. Cardiovascular diseases remain the world’s biggest killer, responsible for over 20.5 million deaths each year.

At Heartfest, Croí and the National Institute of Prevention and Cardiovascular Health (NIPC) also launched the “Irish Hearts” research project, a national population study to gather information about heart health in Ireland. The Hub allowed members of the public to contribute to Heart and Stroke prevention research. The University of Galway is working in partnership with Croí and NIPC for this research. 

For more information, visit; https://croi.ie/.