Every year in Ireland almost 9,000 people die from heart disease and stroke and a further hundreds of thousands are living with a heart condition or the life-long effects of a stroke.
The Irish Heart Foundation is a community of people who fight to protect and care for every heart affected by heart disease or stroke in Ireland and support those living with these life-changing conditions.
Volunteers are at the heart of what we do and we couldn’t do it without your support.
At the Irish Heart Foundation we offer a range of support services to help improve the quality of life and well-being of people and their carers after a heart event or stroke.
From simply phoning someone for a chat to providing vital peer support or driving a vulnerable stroke patient to their support group, your act of kindness can make a real difference.
We are always looking for volunteers to help us with our patient support services.
“ I find ringing members weekly for a social chat so enjoyable I really look forward to it, it’s one small way to give back but it is hugely rewarding”
Anne Battle – Roscommon , Community Group and Befriending Volunteer Roscommon
Volunteer roles
Listed below are a variety of volunteer roles we are currently recruiting for.
Patient Support Telephone Volunteers
Stroke connect service telephone volunteer: This role involves working as part of the experienced stroke connect team to help members and their carers to live well after stroke, you will be allocated a small caseload making health and well-being calls weekly over a number of weeks, you will be supported by your assigned patient support coordinator and the stroke connect coordinator. We would need you to commit to giving up to 4 hours per week and to attend an online monthly check in meeting with the programme lead.
Let’s Talk Telephone Peer Volunteer: This role involves a person who has lived experience of heart disease or stroke or have you cared for someone living with cardiovascular disease that would ring a member to share their lived experience and help our members on their recovery journey, in this role you will be trained and fully supported by our Let’s Talk programme lead, you will have a small case load of calls to make and we will try match volunteers to members that are most suited to help both the volunteers and members really get benefit from the calls.
Heart Telephone Volunteer: This role involves a volunteer phoning a member of our heart support network to inform them of the information and support services available through the Irish Heart Foundation, you will be assigned a caseload from your heart programme lead who will also support you at present this role is based in our Rathmines office.
Patient Support E-Volunteer for our online supports
Patient support E-Volunteer moderation volunteer: There is two areas you can volunteer in this moderating our private Facebook groups for our members role online with our social or information sessions.
Private Facebook Support Groups: This role involves you assisting with the moderation of our private Facebook support groups either during the week Monday to Friday 9-4pm or over the weekend, Saturday or Sunday during the hours of 10-6pm on a rota basis, you will be supported by the programme lead, and a team of E-Volunteer supervisors, you will get full training with an emphasis on how to escalate a concern, you will be part of an E-Volunteer moderation team. We would need you to commit to moderation shifts for up to 4 hours weekly or bi weekly.
Online: This role involves you assisting our patient services team with moderation of the online support sessions mainly via Zoom. We would need you to commit to either a weekly or monthly online zoom session that may last up to two hours.
Community Supports
Community Group Facilitator Volunteer: The Community Group Facilitator Volunteer will organise the running of the monthly group under the supervision of the PSS Coordinator. They will oversee the running of the in-person groups and coordinator closely with the Community Group Volunteers and drivers. They will keep record of all attendance to the groups, send reminders of sessions, help arrange guest speakers ensure it is a mix of social and prevention talks, arrange activities, summers and Christmas outings with guidance and support of the Stroke Coordinator. They will ensure to keep members data safe and confidential. They will ensure to follow all policy and procedures regarding any accident or emergency in the group and will ensure to report and record the incident.
Community Group Volunteer: This role involves assisting with our in-person support groups in the community, you will be supported by our Patient Support Services Coordinators. This role would involves engaging with our members and encouraging them and their carers on the recovery journey. Our community volunteers are the face of the Irish Heart Foundation at a community level and may also assist by representing the Irish Heart Foundation with cheques collections, school presentations and IHF campaigns when needed.
Community Driver Volunteer: This involves collecting members and driving them to their support groups, collecting them afterwards and bringing them home. Community, you will be supported by the Patient Support Services Coordinator.
Peer Facilitator Volunteer: The role of the peer support facilitator is to oversee the organisation and promotion of the meet-ups and act as a point of contact. These meet-ups take place in a more social setting like a library or local café. The peer facilitator can deliver these groups in person or online or both.
In our Irish Heart Foundation office in Rathmines
Patient Support Administrator: This role entails where our administration volunteer will come into the Irish Heart Foundation head office in Rathmines to help with Patient Service administrative work/data input, telephone calls and special projects you will be supported by the programme lead of the area you are assisting with.
Patient Advocacy and Patient Panel Volunteers
Irish Heart Foundation Champion: A Heart, Stroke or Carer champion who wants to give back and help advocate for the needs of others through our work. This will include attending conferences, joining focus groups, assisting with media coverage or helping with national campaigns and advocating at local level to TDs etc. Volunteers will be assisted and supported by our Advocacy Department.
Patient Panel Volunteer: The Patient Panel role aims to assist stroke or heart survivors with having their voices heard and engaging in difficult conversations about their experiences during their recovery journey. The panel will involve meetings to discuss current issues and challenges presented to stroke or heart survivors and the importance of raising awareness. This will be done through open communication and discussions to understand concerns and the challenges faced through service delivery involving the IHF and its advocacy work on behalf of Stroke and Heart Survivors in healthcare, legislation & Policies, and other initiatives. As well as helping raise awareness about the Irish Heart Foundation’s Advocacy efforts, we hope to hear about local/regional patient issues that you feel are affecting stroke or heart patients in your area to assess the possibility of supporting these issues at an organisational level.
“ I enjoy advocating for young stroke survivors, having our voices heard and helping to drive change for the better to live well after stroke”
Tammy Tallon, Young Stroke Survivor Group Dublin, Irish Heart Foundation Volunteer Champion
Additional information on IHF volunteer requirements:
Vetting volunteer requirements
Be over the age of 18
Submit a completed Irish Heart Foundation Application Form
Complete a telephone interview
Successfully complete a Garda vetting check
Provide two written or verbal references
Mandatory Training includes
Induction (IHF overview, Volunteer Role, Communication skills, Boundaries, Escalations)
GDPR Information Governance
Children at risk of abuse (HseLand)
Adults at rick of abuse Training (HseLand)
Other Training that maybe required for specific roles
CPR / Hands for Life Training
Patient Handling/Manual Handling in person
Manual Handling online module – (HSELand for volunteer drivers)
Health & Safety / Risk Assessments
Infectious Control
Let’s talk about Suicide Training
Specific Training re Volunteer Role (Telephone Befriender, E-Volunteer, Community Volunteer etc)
IT Training/Reporting with Programme Lead
This list is not exhaustive and can change and develop on service requirement.
Benefits of Volunteering with the Irish Heart Foundation:
Full training provided & ongoing support and guidance.
Development of skill set.
References provided upon completion of required period of service.
Experience of working with a national charity.
Employee Assist Programme (EAP) for you and your family.
Make a valuable contribution to heart patients and stroke survivors recovery journey
Corporate giving days
Irish Heart Foundation Volunteer Recruitment Process
or fill in the Volunteer Expression of Interest form below
If you require any further help completing this form, please email ihfvolunteer@irishheart.ie and one of the volunteer programme team will come back to you as soon as possible.
*Note: Garda Vetting and reference checks are a requirement for all volunteer roles within our organisation
