Our Founder’s Story

Joan Palmer founded The Heart Support Organisation in memory of her late husband, John, who passed from heart disease in 1983. Determined to bring good from his passing, Joan began volunteering with the British Heart Foundation, eventually establishing the Thanet branch to address urgent cardiac needs in her community.

In 1983 there were no trained paramedics or defibrillators on Kent ambulances and because he was deeply concerned bout transporting heart patients without the necessary equipment and training a local ambulance driver called Frank stocks had trained privately and qualified as a paramedic.

After meeting Frank and hearing his story Joan produced a variety show which raised enough to purchase the first ambulance defibrillator in Kent and enabled Frank to become the first practising paramedic in the county. After this the Kent ambulance chief at last made the decision to train more paramedics and equip all Kent ambulances with defibrillators.

Joan’s Journey with Heart Health

In 2003 Joan moved to Spain with her new partner and lived there until 2018. They moved back to the UK in 2018 and not long after returning Joan faced her own serious heart challenges when it was discovered that her aorta was so seriously enlarged both it and her aortic valve had to be replaced with prosthetics. In spite of being 85 she made a remarkable recovery and is now leading an almost normal life.

It is Joan’s belief that bad experiences should be utilised, not wasted, so it was her own experience of serious heart disease and that of her late husband which inspired her idea for the Heart Support Organisation.