Health improvement

The cardiology department at the Friarage Hospital is hosting an event as part of this year’s heart rhythm week. The event will take place in the hub at the hospital between Monday 3 and Friday 7 June 2013, and will join hundreds of others across the country celebrating heart rhythm week and promoting this year’s theme ‘know the difference, make a difference’. To raise awareness the cardiology department and resuscitation team will be demonstrating basic life support (CPR) and automated cardiac defibrillators in the hub on Tuesday 4 June in the morning and Thursday 6 June in the afternoon.

Following on from the success of the monthly men’s health service ‘Waist removal’ in Middlesbrough, the same free service is now available in Redcar twice a month. The new free men’s health service will take place on the second and fourth Thursdays of every month, beginning on 13 June, at the Fire Escape, Redcar Fire Station, Trunk Road, Redcar from 5pm to 8pm and is open to all males aged 18 and over.

A free football tournament is being held at Goals Soccer Centre in Middlesbrough to mark the end of what hopes to be a very successful Men’s Health Week.The tournament, on Sunday 16 June, is open to workforce teams who are focussed on improving men’s health. As well as the competition there will also be stalls there promoting health initiatives and services specifically designed for men.

Smokers across Teesside are being encouraged to swap fags for swag and consider the financial benefits of quitting this No Smoking Day. Nearly one in six UK adults smoke but figures show around two thirds of them actually want to quit.

Dave Speight is a busy man. He is sales director, who works long hours, many of them on the road, and only visits his GP when he knows he’s ‘unwell’. But Dave received ‘a wake-up call’ after the company arranged a free healthy heart check run by the local NHS cardiovascular screening service.

After Jill Gristwood suffered a heart attack, her husband Tim raised funds for the ward she was treated on and backs the Healthy Heart Check campaign. The cardiovascular screening programme is inviting employers across the Teesside area to engage in setting up a workplace ‘Healthy Heart’ screening event for their employees.

South Tees health improvement team has joined forces with the Middlesbrough Cycle Centre to offer someone a cycle and cycling equipment prize.

Stop smoking teams are taking to the streets to urge smokers across Teesside to join the tens of thousands of people taking part in the nation’s biggest ever stop smoking drive.

Stoptober is a national campaign from the Department of Health which encourages smokers to make a quit attempt during the month of October.

Following the fantastic successes for Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics, do you feel motivated to do more exercise and loose a few pounds on the way to a healthier lifestyle?

You do? Then you might want to take advantage of a free weekly drop-in service in the Trinity Centre, North Ormesby, hosted by the health improvement team at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Improving the health and well-being of employees in the workplace is the ongoing key aim of a local scheme – how healthy is your business?

An NHS health specialist is allocated to local organisations to discuss plans for wellbeing at work following significant evidence which shows engaging in workplace health activities has benefits for both employer and employee.