Community Senior Staff Nurse Gillian Fives, and Public Health Nurse Stephanie Cronin, were carrying out men’s health checks at Co-Op Superstores.
Health was on the menu in the local community last week as Mallow Health Week, organised by Mallow Community Health Project, took place. The week involved a number of talks, events and activities happening throughout the community, incorporating mental wellbeing, nutrition, community walks, local information and supports about what health supports are available locally. Events included a healthy smoothie-making workshop with Noreen Brennan of Le Cheile Family Resource Centre where participants were given the chance to taste a variety of healthy and delicious smoothies and given recipes and ideas to take away and make at home. Sheena Cadoo, Senior Occupational Therapist with the Crystal Project (supports for people living with dementia) gave a talk on looking after your brain health in Mallow Day Care Centre in the afternoon and participants were given tips and advice on how to keep their brain active and healthy going forward. Paul Birchall from Pi Cycles provided a workshop on bike skills for young people, in the Big Blue Cube.
Wednesday saw two events take place in Mallow Library. Lorraine O’Donnell Le Cheile FRC gave a talk on Indirect Dyslexia Learning, a computer course that runs twice weekly in Le Cheile FRC. This is specifically designed for primary school children who may be dyslexic or have reading and writing difficulties. Dr. Rosarie Crowley, Clinical Psychologist, followed by giving a talk on positive mental health and things we can do in our everyday lives to improve our mental health and wellbeing. Thursday was an opportunity for local agencies to network and share information about their services. There was local representation from Le Cheile FRC, Mallow Community Health Project, Anchor Treatment Centre, Crystal Project, Cloyne Diocesan Youth Services, Irish Wheelchair Association, Travellers of North Cork, Can Talk Cancer Support Group, Public Health Nurses, Bethany Bereavement, Reach Out.com, and Employability Cork. Two of the local national schools, Baltydaniel NS and Scoil Ghobnatan, were also in attendance with their student health promotion committee, and displayed some of the innovative health promotion work they have been doing in their schools.
The networking event also included two guest speakers, Eoin Coughlan of Cloyne Diocesan Youth Services who specialises in addiction treatment and has recently completed a post doctorate in U.C.C in emergency medicine and also Derek Chambers, Director of Programmes and Policy at ReachOut.com, which is an online support for young people experiencing mental health difficulties. Eoin and Derek discussed the benefits of community collaboration and in particular the recent collaboration of CDYS and ReachOut.com. Pauline O’Grady-Noonan, Health Worker with Travellers of North Cork, showed a fantastic recent DVD that was put together by TNC for Traveller Pride Week, displaying personal interviews, stories and songs from Traveller men and women about their culture, difficulties they face, and hopes for the future.
The final day of Health Week saw the launch of a leaflet for new parents which was put together by the Mallow Community Health Project. These leaflets will be available through the Public Health Nurses and will be distributed to new parents in the Mallow area. Senior physiotherapist Patricia Morrisroe was also in attendance on the day to give information to parents about developmental steps as their child progresses. The Can Talk Cancer Support Group also provided us with ‘Food is Fuel for Fitness’ by a local nutritionist who wowed the group with some tasty healthy snacks. Co-Op Superstores was the venue for men’s health checks, provided by Community Senior Staff Nurse Gillian Fives, and Public Health Nurses Stephanie Cronin and Geraldine O’Donovan. This was a great success with over 50 men availing of these free health checks.
Mallow Community Health Project would like to thank the following organisations for supporting Mallow Health Week, Cloyne Diocesan Youth Services, Crystal Project, TNC, Bethany Bereavement, Mallow Library, Dairygold Co-Op Superstores, Le Cheile FRC, HSE, Pi Cycles, Athletics4Fun, Mallow Swimming Pool, Kostal Electronics, Mallow Credit Union, Avondhu Blackwater, Can Talk Cancer Support Group, and Mallow Chamber. Martina Daly, Mallow Community Health Worker, can be contacted on 087-4335047