Newsletter 2 — February 2006
Dear members,
HeFSSA members responding to our first newsletter distributed by email (9th January 2006) who showed interest in the SA Heart Association’s ESC Guidelines Publication Project were invited to our first HeFSSA workshop at the beginning of February 2006 at Kloofzicht Lodge.
Members enjoy the sunshine while attending a HeFSSA workshop at Kloofzicht Lodge in February 2006. (enlarge image) 
The workshop was well attended and resulted in very fruitful discussions regarding the adaptations of the guidelines according to local practice.
The South African Heart Association has been recognised as an affiliate member of the European Society of Cardiology. One of the major benefits of this affiliation is that it allows SA Heart to use the guidelines of the ESC, provided that they are published unaltered, in their original form. The Executive Committee and the Ethics and Guidelines Standing Sub-committee will proceed with the publication of the heart failure ESC guidelines as supplements to the SA Heart Journal with the May 2006 issue.
The guidelines will be accompanied by comments towards certain aspects of the ESC guidelines made by the HeFSSA guideline working group.
At the workshop, we had the opportunity listening to excellent lectures by two international speakers, Prof A Mebazza (on the management of acute heart failure) and Prof Simon Stewart (on chronic heart failure management programmes), as well as national speakers Prof G Richards (haemodynamic monitoring in acute heart failure), Dr E Klug and Prof K Sliwa.
We are grateful for the support from Abbott Laboratory in organising the beautiful venue and inviting the speakers.
Our website www.hefssa.org is in preparation. We are inviting you to participate in this exciting project.
With best wishes
Eric Klug and Karen Sliwa
Interim Committee:
Prof Karen Sliwa - Chairperson
Dr Eric Klug - Secretary
Dr Olaf Forster - Treasurer
Dr Martin Sussman - Member
Kevin Francis - Member representing pharmaceutical industry
Craigh Smith - Member representing device industry