Livewires Northern Ireland Patient Support Group

Summer Meeting 2005

A very successful summer event in Belfast

Over 120 Members and friends attended the I.C.D. Livewires annual summer event held at The Ramada Hotel in Belfast on Tuesday 21st June 2005.

The event was hosted by I.C.D. manufacturer BIOTRONIK, whose headquarters are in Germany.

Collette Anderson from the Royal Victoria Hospital welcomed everyone. After thanking Biotronik for funding the cost of the evening, she introduced Patrick Lee the representative of the company. Patrick gave a very interesting presentation about the Company, including a video showing how the devices are made and emphasising the high quality standards which have to be maintained. Patrick and his colleague then answered questions from the audience on the future development of ICD's and how patients would benefit.

Collette then explained that, in past years, the programme for the evening had been organised by RVH Staff. However, with the formation of the Livewires Patient Support Group now organised by Patients themselves, she was pleased to hand the programme over to the Chairman of the group, Errol Hutchinson.

Errol gave an introductory talk outlining the new way that the Livewires Group is organised - he said that Patients were very grateful for all the support and help given by RVH staff - indeed they had kept the organisation over many years and there was now an opportunity to build on what they had achieved for the future.

John Robinson, a Steering Committee member (and Editor of the Livewires Newsletter) gave a presentation entitled "Where on earth are we". This showed the distribution of Patients over the North of Ireland. It was very interesting to note that there were a number of areas where there appeared to be a concentration of I.C.D. Patients with the highest number being in the Greater Belfast Area. The details of the presentation may be viewed here.

At this stage of the evening it was felt that we needed to start moving about so who better to get us to do this than Marlene who, every year, shows us how even a little chair exercise can be of help. As usual she took us through many physical exercises to the accompaniment of suitable strong beat music. It was clear that for a lot of people this was the first time they had attempted such movements since they were at the event last year!

Those who attend this event are always interested to hear the experiences of others who have I.C.D.'s fitted. Errol interviewed a number of people including Bob Ingram from Belfast who was the third Patient in N.Ireland to have an I.C.D. fitted way back in 1991. Adrian Kirk from Newtownards was next to tell us about his experiences since having his I.C.D. fitted in 2002. John Hazelton also gave interesting details of his experience.

The Chairman then outlined the reasons why Patients should consider joining the Livewires Group. Applications for the new Membership year commencing June 2005 were now being received and already well over 50 people had already joined.

At this point the Errol introduced the nine people who were being nominated to serve on the Committee for the year from June 2005 to June 2006. These were:
Roberta Buick - Moria
Seamus Curley - L'Derry
Raymond Davison - Portadown
John Hazelton - Richhill
Errol Hutchinson - Ballymena
Lynda Matthews - Belfast
John Robinson - Comber
Pearl Swain - Lisburn and
Eithne Gallagher from Belfast (who was unable to attend).

Approval was sought from all those present for their appointment and by a show of hands the Committee was approved. There were no votes against the appointments.

At the end of the programme a panel, consisting of Dr. Wilson, Dr. Roberts, Lynda Burgess, Collette Anderson (all from RVH) and Patrick Lee from Biotronik answered questions from the audience. A number of interesting subjects were raised. It was agreed that the Livewires committee would arrange to meet with The DVLNI in Coleraine to discuss problems which Patients were experiencing with Licence restrictions. It was also agreed that contact would be made with the City Hospital, Belfast to see if their I.C.D. Patients would be interested in joining the Group.

After the panel discussion, Errol Hutchinson thanks all who had taken part in the programme. He also thanked the Patients for coming to the event. A very enjoyable Buffet was then served during which the prize-winners of the Raffle were drawn. The Raffle had raised over £300 which would go towards the Group's administration costs.

This event was a great success and it is hoped that even more members will be able to attend in future years.