OK, so you’ve found this page, and one might assume you’ve been affected by a Sudden Cardiac Arrest, that you’re in the UK (or a UK expat), and you’re new to us.
Unfortunately, it’s a common misconception that a cardiac arrest is the same as a heart attack, but it isn’t, so you may want to just check out our page to help you understand the difference, although be aware a heart attack can trigger an SCA.
If you’re still reading, congratulations! We hope you’ll find what we have to offer useful.
Sudden Cardiac Arrest UK (SCA UK) started as a meeting in a pub in London in 2015, with people attending from far and wide. Soon after, an online presence was created so that survivors, their rescuers, friends, family, and medical professionals interested in this subject could interact with each other.
Facebook Group
The Facebook group was created in May 2015, and this is where the group began to grow and flourish. The group is very active and good for sharing stories, chatting, and getting support and help on SCA-related issues. We’ve had a couple of webinars given by a cardiologist, have surveys and polls to gauge member views and help people understand where they are in their recovery.
The group is private, which means only members of it can see any posts within it (unless they are already externally visible). We’d recommend you join us as this is where most interaction happens. We try to ensure that new members are in the right place by asking a couple of simple questions. If you request to join, please do make sure you answer them so that we know you are genuine (unfortunately we get quite a few bogus requests and from people not understanding fully what the group is about).
We try to attend to join requests within 24 hours, but please bear with us as we’re only volunteers! If accepted (most are!), you’ll probably get welcomed with a post. We suggest that new people introduce themselves and give a brief overview of their SCA story, this is not compulsory so don’t feel pressured to do it if you don’t feel able, but it helps other members to understand what perspective you are coming from. If you do an introductory post we’d recommend doing it as a new one rather than commenting on someone elses. Facebook is not perfect and unfortunately, comments often get hidden and so it would be a shame if you told us your story and we didn’t get to see it.
It’s also worth noting that most people in our group tend to use Facebook on mobile devices or tablets, and with their smaller screen sizes, shorter posts are generally easier to view.
If you have something longer to say or have something that you think would be of value to the wider world please feel to contact us about getting your writings on our blog.
Take time to scroll through some of the past posts to get a feel for the group and potentially answer some of your immediate questions.
The effects of an SCA can potentially be far-reaching, and so we are happy to receive questions and posts on all sorts of subjects, whether related to survivors, partners, or anyone else affected. If you see a related news story elsewhere, please also consider sharing it with the group.
We encourage you to give feedback on posts by commenting or using the Like button. It is sometimes hard to tell if anyone has seen a post, and a simple Like or comment can let the person who posted it know that it was worth the effort!
We are a friendly bunch and most generally understand what others are going through, but please try to be courteous and non-inflamatory. We don’t have any group rules as such, but if you think a post or comment is amiss please feel free to contact one of the groups moderators. Also please don’t direct/private message (messenger) someone you don’t know without notifying them first in a post or comment within the group.
Facebook Page
We also have a public Facebook page to advertise our group and publish relevant information and stories to the outside world. Private posts from the group are not posted here unless permission from the author is granted first.
We have an X/Twitter account, @WeAreSCAUK, and generally post similar content to the Facebook page. If you use Twitter, please follow us.
Website
Our website provides resources, information and a blog from our perspective. It’s a labour of love and is growing steadily, but it gives lots of helpful insight and practical advice e.g. driving, insurance, dental treatment, brain injuries, counselling, etc
Talking of meet up’s, we have an annual get together in London (South Bank) which has been in the first half of the year and later in the year (usually November) SADS UK have a conference which is targetted towards those affected by a sudden cardiac arrest.
It’s worth mentioning that SADS UK are a charity and are currently supporting us as we have a similar, but different goals and audience. They were set up to support those bereaved from a sudden arryhthmic death syndrome (SADS, a type of SCA generally occuring in people under 35), whereas we’re targetted at those that survive a sudden cardiac arrest. If you found our group because of a SADS bereavement you may find the SADS UK Facebook group a better fit.
It’s worth checking out (whether you’re a survivor or not) the survivor section as it has some interesting articles such as what it’s like in the early months, responses from a survivor survey and survivor stories.
The website also has a blog which gives space for longer pieces of writing or articles that may benefit the wider community. We’ve had some excellent entries including survivor stories. If you need inspiration have a look here for some ideas – we’re always looking for new authors so if you’d like to give it a go please do let us know.
Giving Back
If, in time, you find our group and website useful, we’d love some feedback and would appreciate a positive review on our Facebook page, a blog post, or just generally helping out in the group by answering other members’ questions.
October is Sudden Cardiac Awareness Month, and we’d love it if you could help spread the word by interacting (Like/Share/Comment) on any relevant posts we make (especially on our Facebook Page). We also have some special images that you can post or use on your Facebook profile, and you can get them from our awareness campaign page.
Currently, everything is run by volunteers and mostly funded privately, but we are starting to raise some funds in anticipation of becoming bigger. If you would like to help, you can find out more on our donation page.
If you have any special skills, such as web designer, graphic artist, or copywriter, that would be helpful in developing the website, we’d love to hear from you, too!
You can find other ways of giving back here.
We also have a leaflet that we would like to distribute to suitable sites. If you can help, please click here!