The Gibraltar Cardiac Association, (GCA) as it is known today was officially registered as a local charity in November 2016 thanks to its then Chairperson Mr Troy Jeffries.
However the idea of the association goes back many years to the late 90’s when many cardiac sufferers and their families felt forgotten about and claimed not to be getting the support from the health service they so much required. For this reason a group of cardiac patients who regretfully are no longer with us today, the late Lionel Perez, the late Charles Head, the late William Finlayson, the late Louis Monteverde with the help of CNS Gerry Fortuna who now works at the Lionel Perez Cardiac Rehabilitation Centre created the Cardiac Rehabilitation And Group Support. (CRAGS)
Together the group met regularly and served as a pressure group resulting in obtaining much better benefits and conditions for patients and their families when attending tertiary hospitals for treatments and surgeries.
However CRAGS never registered as a charity and with time its committee members passed away and sadly the group fizzled out.
Today the association is made up of a committee of 12 people. Not all are cardiac sufferers themselves but are related to people who have had cardiological problems. Our aims continue to be the same.
We are committed to creating public awareness on the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle with a balanced diet and regular exercise. We are here to ensure cardiac sufferers are not forgotten about and get the support they require. We hold events to fund raise so that we can continue to invest in AEDs , new training material ,new equipment for the Rehab Centre and our long term goal of having a new centre specifically for Cardiac patients.
Although we are a very young charity, we are confident that with hard work and the support from our community we will achieve our aims so that future generations may benefit.
