Know Your Heart: A Local Response to a National Crisis
- Chloe Hanan
- 59 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Each year in the UK, 23,000 women die from heart attacks. Even more alarming, women are 53% more likely to be misdiagnosed when experiencing one.
This isn’t just a healthcare gap. It’s a matter of life and death. That’s why Know Your Heart was launched.
A collaboration between Parish Nursing Ministries UK and C3 Collaborating for Health, this campaign places parish nurses at the heart of communities in Dundee, Felixstowe, and North Tyneside, with one clear goal: to help women recognise the signs of heart problems, seek help early, and take charge of their own heart health.
Real Nurses in Real Communities
What makes this initiative powerful is its deeply local nature. These aren’t external experts dropping in. They are nurses who already live and work in the communities they serve, reaching women who are often overlooked—women in prison, in recovery, in poverty, or in isolation.
Lorna Bellamy is one of them. Based in Felixstowe, she works with Walton Parish Nursing and leads a team offering health checks and nutrition coaching in churches, pop-up shops, and housing complexes. “It’s about catching the little things,” she says, referring to the early symptoms that can escalate if ignored.
In Dundee, Kirsty Nelson sees her work as relational first and medical second. “You’ve got to meet people where they’re at,” she says. She does just that, supporting women in recovery and those transitioning out of prison through the Dundee Recovery Roadmap.
Jackie Lincoln, based in North Tyneside, believes in slowing things down. “We give people time,” she explains. Her work focuses on asylum seekers and fishing families, providing the kind of care that listens before it treats.
From Webinars to Real-World Impact
Since June, more than 100 parish nurses have joined specialist webinars on topics like Women and Heart Attacks, Hormones and Heart Disease, and Women and Risk Factors. These sessions were led by experts from C3 and tailored specifically to the challenges women face when it comes to heart health.
Now, the focus has shifted to local action. Nurses in the pilot regions are engaging directly with women where they already are—in churches, community centres, support groups, and housing estates. This approach removes barriers and creates a space where women can talk openly about their health without judgement or fear.
A Community-Based Model for Change
Know Your Heart is more than a health education project. It’s a new model for prevention. One that meets people in everyday spaces, offers compassionate support, and tackles the quiet inequalities that cost lives.
Heart health starts long before a hospital visit. It begins in the conversations women have with someone they trust. And for many, that someone is a parish nurse.
If you’d like to get involved or learn more contact: