Bookings to go live for heart screening event

BOOKINGS for heart screenings for people aged between 14 and 35 will go live tomorrow (Wednesday).

The screening event will take place at the Clickimin in Lerwick on 23 and 24 May.

Screenings for young people have taken place in Shetland over the last few years, with bookings regularly snapped up.

The events have been organised Shetland Heart Screening, whose committee features Siobhan Pirie, Fern Johnson and Andrea Laurenson.

The group formed a few years ago when Pirie’s husband John unexpectedly passed away in 2017 at the age of just 29 after suffering a cardiac arrest.

The screenings are undertaken by the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young.

Shetland Heart Screening relies on fundraising to be able to run the events, with the group saying that nearly £100,000 had been raised as of the end of January.

Bookings for the 2026 screenings will go live tomorrow at 4pm, with a link due to be published on the Shetland Heart Screening Facebook page.

The group says they are on track to have their 1,000th person screened at the upcoming event.

The committee continues to look ahead to support future screenings and are currently hosting a ‘Lucky Squares’ fundraiser, aiming to reach an overall milestone of £100,000 this year.

They also wished to thank everyone for the continued support over the years.

Siobhan Pirie added: “Our aim still remains the same as it was when this began, to do something positive in PJ’s memory.

“We still believe these screenings are very worthwhile and hope they remain to be supported as we continue to do our best to make them happen in Shetland.”