Cardiac department donations

The cardiology outpatients department at Guy's hospital has been the grateful recipient of three new portable ECG event recorders.

Funds for the equipment were donated in memory of Mr Robert Johnson who had a human valve replacement at Guy's in 1965, a mechanical valve replacement in 1979, and in later years a pacemaker.

Mr Johnson's son and daughter raised around £2,000 from generous friends, family and doctors specifically for equipment that would help patients manage heart conditions on a daily basis and save lives.

The bleeper-sized units are used by patients to record cardiac events; when a patient experiences a problem they press the monitor to their chest and record the rhythm of their heart. This recording can then either be brought into the hospital for assessment or more conveniently relayed down the telephone. The units provide an immediate means of recording events that may have passed by the time a patient reaches hospital for assessment.

Patricia Hillier - Mr Johnson's daughter - her husband and aunt visited the cardiac department to see a demonstration of the units and to learn more about how they would benefit patients.

Mrs Hillier said: "Guy's was so good to my father; if it wasn't for them I would not have had him for as long as he lived. Buying the ECG machines is a way of saying thank you. My father would have wanted the money to go to Guy's, and in particular to benefit Graham Jackson's patients. Another reason I came to visit was because my father was a founding father of the Rotary Club of Coulsdon and I wanted to see the practical reality of their donations. I hope that in future people will be more aware of what kind of real changes their donation can make."

To make a donation or find out how your legacy could help, please use the secure donation form, or contact the Fundraising Team on Tel: 020 7188 7744, e-mail: Fundraising Team.