Aortic Dissection charity founder to be honoured at the Palace of Westminster

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01 July 2022 (Last updated: 1 Jul 2022 14:10)

PRESS RELEASE

Catherine Fowler, from Worthing, West Sussex is one of only 25 individuals to be recognised at the Palace of Westminster with the prestigious British Citizen Award (BCA) in recognition of their extraordinary endeavours. The British Citizen Award in partnership with One Stop, is now in its eighth year and recognises exceptional individuals who positively impact their communities, charities, and individual cause.

Catherine will be honoured on 7^th July 2022 with The British Citizen Award for Services to Healthcare at the Palace of Westminster and will receive the coveted Medal of Honour.  As a legacy of her achievements, Catherine will be invited to use the post-nominals, BCAh.

Following the death of her father, Tim Fleming, who died of an aortic dissection in 2015, Catherine has been a relentless campaigner to improve the diagnosis and treatment for patients with aortic dissection.  Starting just as a family petition, Catherine co-created a national campaign in 2017 to drive change, improve diagnostic rates and save lives by increasing aortic dissection awareness within emergency medicine across the UK and Ireland.

Recognising that many patients presenting with aortic dissection still resulted in fatal outcomes, Catherine broadened the reach and scope to include improving the consistency of treatment across the whole patient pathway and in 2020 The Aortic Dissection Charitable Trust (TADCT) was established as a registered charity. 

Catherine is passionate about driving change and improvement in the diagnosis, equality of care and treatment for AD patients. She works with those responsible for healthcare policy in the UK and Ireland, to ensure a consistency in the provision of care and specialised follow-up for survivors and to be able to access clinical genetics for relatives. An innovative and passionate speaker, through sharing her own experience, Catherine has delivered educational events to over 2,000 healthcare professionals in the last 12 months. 

Through Catherine’s drive and determination, TADCT is now providing funding for studies for medical research projects into the detection, prevention, treatment, and cure for aortic dissection. Catherine is the founder, Chair and one of the three trustees of the charity and dedicates all her time on a voluntary basis.  Beyond her voluntary work for TADCT, Catherine is the patient and public voice representative on the NHS England’s Cardiac Clinical Reference Group, The Cardiac Pathways Improvement Programme, and the Clinical Policy Unit’s Cardiac Programme.

“This year’s medalists have reminded us of how many amazing people are supporting our communities, especially during these challenging times. At One Stop we serve many communities across the country, and we know how important voluntary work is to support those in need. We're proud to be partnering with the BCA again and to play a small part in helping each medallist to be recognised. Our congratulations go to all honourees”, said Jonny McQuarrie, from BCA partner One Stop.

The Medal presentation will be hosted by TV news presenter Naga Munchetty, and attended by BCA Patron Dame Mary Perkins, Founder of Specsavers, and The Rt Hon, Lord Dholakia. The British Citizen Award was established in 2015 to recognise exceptional individuals who work tirelessly and selflessly to make a positive impact on their communities and society. The BCA recognises true community heroes who would otherwise likely be overlooked.

Dubbed ‘The People’s Honours’, each medalist has a day to remember befitting their achievements. At the Palace of Westminster medals will be presented by Senior Representatives from official partner One Stop, Places for People, Specsavers, Objective HR and Experian, who all support this unique programme. Following this, medalists are treated to an Open Top Lap of Honour tour around Central London, before attending a reception at Church House.

The British Citizen Award is widely viewed as the nation’s way of recognising extraordinary, everyday people for exceptional endeavor and are truly representative of today’s multicultural Britain.

Date of issue: 13^th June 2022

 

For more information, please contact press@britishcitizenawards.co.uk or call 0203 002 7764.

Notes to Editors

The British Citizen Award recognises individuals that positively impact others and highlights the positive
aspects of multi-cultural communities, workplaces, community groups and charities throughout the UK. It is accessible to all and serves to celebrate the good things that make Britain great. 

There is no fee for making a nomination. Nominees who are granted a BCA will be invited to attend the
Presentation Day at the Palace of Westminster. Presentations are held twice annually in January and July.

The full list of categories for the British Citizen Awards are:

BCAc for Service to Community
BCAi for Service to Industry
BCAa for Service to Arts
BCAe for Services to Education
BCAh for services to Healthcare
BCAb for Service to Business
BCAv for Volunteering & Charitable Giving
BCAo for International Achievement

The full list of supporters include:

One Stop

Specsavers

Places for People

Objective HR

Big Bus London

Experian

Tigerbond

 

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