Free conference will focus on blood clots and their symptoms
A FREE conference on the effects of deep vein thrombosis, entitled ‘Let’s Talk Clots’ will take place at Clayton White’s Hotel this Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The event, which is organised by Thrombosis Ireland, is a patient and carer’s information and support meeting and will feature a number of speakers, discussing various different aspects of the condition.
The founder of the group, Ann Marie O’Neill, who is originally from Dublin but has a holiday home in Wexford, points out that of the 4,000 deaths from the condition every year, around 1,900 are preventable with a little knowledge.
Ms O’Neill herself suffered a pulmonary embolism 20 years ago. She was put on an anticoagulation drug for six months and discharged. Five years later, she suffered the same issue again and was told that she was lucky to be alive.
However, she said she had not known the signs or symptoms and felt she should have been told that immediate medical attention was needed in the event of having any such symptoms.
She said that the roll out of a new alert card would greatly help in terms of informing patients of the signs of a clot, as well as alerting hospital staff to the person having suffered the condition before.
Ms O’Neill encouraged people who had suffered a clot to ask for their alert card in the hospital as they are now available.
‘Thrombosis Ireland is a patient organisation that is trying to raise awarness of this condition. It’s an area we feel is neglected and people might be anxious about it but if they have the information then they don’t have to worry. It’s all about opening the conversation about it.’
She explained that the conference was the first one the group was holding in Wexford but other events had taken place around the country. She added that in other counties they had run education programmes in the hospital units but said that practice nurses in doctor surgeries in Wexford were able to deal with anti-coagulation which made a huge difference for people.
The morning will begin with registration and introduction by Ms O’Neill. Dr Fionnuala Ni Ainle, a consultant hematologist at the Mater Hospital will give a talk entitled ‘What are blood clots and how do they happen?’ and will take a question and answer section afterwards.
Dr Aidan Buckley, a consultant cardiologist in Wexford General Hospital will discuss ‘All about AFib’; Deirdre Lambert, senior pharmacis in Wexford General Hospital will talk about ‘Warfarin and the DOACs’ and, finally, Martin McGlynn and Caroline Golding Brady, counselling psychotherapists, will talk about managing health anxiety.
To register your attendance at the conference contact Ann Marie on 087 363 4828.