Since it’s inception in 1985, public support has been outstanding and several million euro has been raised to help improve cardiac care in the West of Ireland.
Our Mission is to reduce the impact of heart disease & stroke on families living in the West of Ireland.
Our Aim is to play a leading role in ensuring that the people of the West of Ireland receive the highest attainable level of cardiovascular healthcare, to the best international standards.
Croí pursues this aim by supporting and developing initiatives across all areas of cardiac care, including in-hospital patient care, interventional cardiology, heart failure and other sub-specialities, cardiac surgery, patient care in the community, family support, disease prevention, cardiovascular research and community & professional education.
Our current focus is very much community based, where are contributing to the fight against heart disease through innovative approaches to education, heart health promotion, lifestyle & behaviour change, research and the development of cardiac services and facilities.

The Story of Croí

Croi has been to the fore in the fight against Heart Disease & Stroke in Galway and the west of Ireland since 1985. In the past 27 years, Croi has worked tirelessly, and financed its work through an active fundraising programme, all with the aim of, reducing the impact of heart disease & stroke on families in the west.
Croi is funded entirely through its fundraising campaigns, and is dependent on the ongoing support of people in the community to continue its quest for improved services & facilities and delivery of preventative measures for people who are at risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. In response to the current challenges in fundraising, the charity is beginning to employ a social enterprise model to fund some of its programmes into the future, whereby a recommended contribution may be suggested to those availing of certain services which are being offered on a not-for-profit basis.

Some of the milestones in the Croí story so far....

• 1985 Croi Foundation established to lead a major public campaign to advance the case for specialist cardiac services and facilities for the west of Ireland, based at University Hospital Galway
• 1987 Opening of the first Cardiac Diagnostic Angiography Unit in the region, funded by Croi
• 1993 Croí funds Ireland’s fist coronary care ambulance
• 1995 Commenced support for cardiac services at Mayo General and Roscommon Hospitals
• 1998 First Croi Nurse appointed to provide patient and family support and commence the development of community prevention and rehabilitation initiatives
• 1999 Supported establishment of first Chest Pain Clinic in the west at UHG
• 2004 ‘Croi Heart Smart’ community-based risk factor screening programme launched
• 2006 Launch of ‘Croi Centre for Life-Saving Training’ providing CPR and AED training throughout the west
• 2007 First open-heart procedures performed in the West’s new Cardiothoracic Surgical Unit at UHG. Croí campaigned for the facility to be established in the west of Ireland and pledged €1m to the capital costs.
• 2008 Plans approved for the Croí ‘Heart & Stroke Centre’, Ireland’s first dedicated community heart health & wellness centre
• 2009 Launch of ‘Croí MyAction’, Irelands’ first cardiovascular risk, lifestyle and behaviour change programme targeting those at greatest risk of Heart Attack, Stroke & Diabetes.
• 2012 Croí opens €3.7 million state-of-the-art ‘Heart & Stroke Centre, at Croí House, Moyola Lane, Newcastle, Galway; bringing all of its programmes under the one roof, on land donated by Galway City Council. The project has been entirely funded as an independent development by Croí from the proceeds of its fundraising programme and without any government funding (with the exception of a €60k grant from the national lottery).