Health First Europe is comprised of patient organisations and believes that patients should be at the centre of all health policy in order to facilitate a better patient experience for every European citizen. HFE continuously works to ensure improved healthcare through innovative solutions so that is it the patient who benefits from all policy derived at the European level.
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A day in the life of ... a head of outreach for people with spinal cord injury
19 April 2013
Jackie Bailey, paralysed from the waist down after breaking her back aged 17, and her team of peer support officers work with healthcare staff to improve care for people with spinal cord injury. Jackie Bailey is head of outreach services for Spinal Injuries Association.
I'm up at 6am, and the first thing [...]
Author : Jackie Bailey
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The Week I Had HIV
05 April 2013
“You should go ahead and assume that you have HIV,” the doctor said.
It was just before 7 on a frigid January evening. I was alone in my apartment in Washington, D.C.; I hadn’t been expecting a call from the doctor. Several weeks earlier, I had come down with a fever [...]
Author : Mark Joseph Stern
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Patient Story: Bone Cancer
28 March 2013
At age 17, Craig King was an athletic honor student, playing both football and baseball at his South Carolina high school. At the beginning of his senior year, Craig noticed a lump on his leg and overlooked it as a sports injury. Although the lump grew as his senior year [...]
Author : Craig King
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Rural Stroke Victim Saved with TeleStroke Technology
05 October 2012
In the fall of 2010, Buck Garton's life nearly came to an end. He was experiencing stroke symptoms in a rural community in central Washington, hundreds of miles from the nearest stroke specialists. Luckily, Buck was taken to nearby Lake Chelan Community Hospital (LCCH), where he received a life-saving assessment [...]
Author : Buck Garton
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Novel treatment leads to liver transplant for bile duct cancer
22 August 2012
Doug Yaus had always been an energetic, healthy man. "At 43, I had never even broken a bone," he says.That was until April 1998 when he noticed in a mirror that the whites of his eyes looked yellow. "In just two days, my skin was jaundiced," says Doug. His family [...]
Author : Mayo Clinic
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What do engaged patients do?
13 August 2012
Desiree Basila was 52 when her stage zero breast cancer — also called ductal carcinoma in situ — was diagnosed. While her cancer was found very early, she was ultimately diagnosed with the disease in both breasts. In addition, it was found in several locations. For Basila, doctors said her [...]
Author : Eve Harris
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Living With Rheumatoid Arthritis
15 March 2012
Mrs. K.D. is a 43-year-old wife and mother of two children and suffers from severe rheumatoid arthritis. This is her story...
I have rheumatoid arthritis and would like to share with you the details of what a typical day is like for me from start to finish. This entry is not [...]
Author : Mrs. K.D.
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Live with Sinus Cancer - Lymphoma
11 July 2011
Even telling her story now still brings tears to my eyes, because Catherine was such a beautiful person. It has been more than 10 years now since she passed away from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, but the memory remains the same. And it did not start with that form of cancer either.
The [...]
Author : Catherine Bear's husband
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'A stroke changed my life overnight'
11 July 2011
Before June 17 2000, Jane Stokes CBE was a successful lawyer with a 25-year career in the civil service. She was highly driven and passionate, working up to 15 hours a day as a legal advisor in the Treasury Solicitor’s Department. That stopped suddenly one Monday morning. Jane, 52 at the time, was getting [...]
Author : Jane X.
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Dementia patient's hospital treatment 'degrading'
31 May 2011
A Scottish hospital has been severely criticised over the care of an 80-year-old woman with dementia.
The woman, known as Mrs V, has not been named to protect her family's identity.
Mrs V was admitted to a ward for the elderly at Ninewells in December 2008 after she developed a chest infection, [...]
Author : Mrs V.
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'Take every opportunity to vaccinate your child'
31 May 2011
Janine Dunbar tells how her son’s brush with meningitis has strengthened her views on immunization.
By the time Janine Dunbar’s five-month-old son Joseph was being examined in hospital, she knew something serious was wrong.
Janine had first noticed that her baby was not well when he awoke on a winter’s morning just [...]
Author : Janine Dunbar
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Dream holiday turns into a nightmare
24 March 2011
Have you ever had an unpleasant experience on vacation? Jean Schmit has a story to rival the worst holiday nightmare...
“The story started when I took my wife for a holiday in Limassol, Cyprus. It seemed like the ideal location: fine food, warm climate and friendly people.
“In fact, we had a [...]
Author : Jean Schmit
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‘Home in a day’ hip replacements
23 March 2011
Surgeons say a pioneering operation could allow patients to be able to go home the day after they have a hip replacement. Patients who have standard hip replacements have to stay in hospital for an average of eight days.
Developers of the new procedure say it could cut waiting lists and [...]
Author : Morgan Allen Moore
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I wasn’t going to let it pull me down
02 April 2009
It began in 1973. Diethelm Meuser had just turned 26 and was in the prime of life. But a strong persistent pain in his bladder began to disrupt his everyday life – he couldn’t fulfil his tasks as a business manager in the wood trade and all of his regular [...]
Author : Diethelm Meuser
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I can be on the stage again
30 May 2008
Mike had a chronic wound which refused to heal – with the help of a special bandage he can now live a normal life again
Mike Granowksi was always a person who enjoyed life. Mike has been a singer in several bands since the 60’s, and nine years ago he finally [...]
Author : Mike Granowki
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How it was ... When our Jenny got diabetes
15 November 2006
Our Jennifer was just seven when, nine years ago, she suddenly fell ill from diabetes type 1. It was in summer when our Jenny was examined and diagnosed by our GP. Previous to this, there had been some days when Jenny had suffered from nausea, headache and similar symptoms, but [...]
Author : Diana and Berthold Broll
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Diabetes never stopped me achieving what I wanted
15 November 2006
Lesley Molloy grew up in London and was first diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 13 at Barts Hospital. She had symptoms of weight loss and thirst. However her only concern at the time was "I won't be able to eat sweets." Social problems developed for Lesley though "I [...]
Author : Leslie Molloy
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I Awaken to Glory
18 September 2006
Distinguished delegates, look at me! I am nearly sixty years of age. I do not smoke, very rarely drink to excess, and have never attended a first class football game in my life. But I enjoy the fresh air, I sing in a choir and am happily married with two [...]
Author : John Hills
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