|
Berwick Area Heart Support Group
June 2007 newsletter
Next meeting June 6th at the day Hospital, Berwick Infirmary AGM from 6.30 then normal meeting 7.00 pm – 9.00pm Guest speaker: Jenny Garland.
Will give a talk and demonstration on Reflexology
******
FIVE YEARS:
LOOKING FORWARD TO OUR JUNE AGM
Phil writes:
We have come some way from our BEGINNING in 2002. Congratulations all round, and thanks to Dr Higham, cardiologist who is our Honorary President and who has backed us all the way. The Group owes a lot to our own combined efforts but on your behalf I would like to add a special personal thanks to Terry. Without him the Group would not have worked and you would not be reading this Newsletter.
Dr Higham was going to come to this June's AGM but he regrets he cannot, because he is on-call that week. That's the nature of the job. One of his colleagues was going to come in his stead, but is called away to Italy; again the increasingly international nature of the job. (You may remember that Dr Higham was in Germany for his introduction to the highly technical new CAT scans).
I thought you would be interested in the short summary of an American statement on cardiac rehabilitation (see below). This is a measure of the international recognition given to patient participation in regaining and keeping our health. Thinking about our own cardiac rehab, we can note the support that Berwick has gained this last 5 years. Mandy and the Swan Centre rehabilitation is a real life-line. Smoking cessation intervention and support is available. Mike Lavender (Director of NHS Trust Public Health) support for smoking cessation and now blood pressure reduction are worth another mention. As a Group we have received special help from Graeme Gillespie, clinical psychologist, and his section on relaxation and coping is linked to our website and is one of the most popular 'visits' out of the hundred thousand visits made to the site every year. (Terry gets deserved congratulation again for his construction and maintenance of the site.)
As a Group we find ourselves linked to many health professionals and the wider community, walking for health initiatives and so on. A feature of our meetings has also been the contribution of friendly 'body-mind' integration - call it 'psychosocial support' or whatever magic you like - by several therapists, mostly friends of our Michael R. We are looking forward to Jenny & Reflexology at our AGM (we keep the business part of AGM short), so LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU AGAIN WEDNESDAY EVENING AS USUAL!
Abstract--The American Heart Association and the American Associationof Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation recognize thatall cardiac rehabilitation/secondary prevention programs shouldcontain specific core components that aim to optimize cardiovascularrisk reduction, foster healthy behaviors and compliance to thesebehaviors, reduce disability, and promote an active lifestylefor patients with cardiovascular disease. This update to theprevious statement presents current information on the evaluation,interventions, and expected outcomes in each of the core componentsof cardiac rehabilitation/secondary prevention programs, inagreement with the 2006 update of the American Heart Association/AmericanCollege of Cardiology Secondary Prevention Guidelines, includingbaseline patient assessment, nutritional counseling, risk factormanagement (lipids, blood pressure, weight, diabetes mellitus,and smoking), psychosocial interventions, and physical activitycounseling and exercise training.
Phil
*****
Monthly meeting report
Our speaker at the meeting on 2nd. May was Dawn Scott, a Public Health Nurse Consultant with Northumberland Care Trust, who gave a talk on Childhood Obesity.
( It’s been a very long time since I saw my childhood, but right up until I got married I was lean as a whippet. I thought I would put that in just in case those who know me now might think I’ve always been this size. I blame marriage not E numbers. Wally )
(whilst reading the first line I began to wonder what he hadn’t seen for a long time, could it have been his knees? feet,? or maybe something else, his toes!!!!! Terry)
There has now been a multi agency group set up to try and halt the year on year rise in obesity rates in schoolchildren under 11 years, by 2010. This includes Dept. of Health, Dept. of Education, and Dept. of Educational Skills, Dept. of Culture, Media and Sport.
Overweight and obese are both clinical conditions based on a individual’s Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI is measured by dividing body weight in kilos by the square of the height in metres. Overweight is 25kg/m2, Obese is 30 kg/m2.
The original figures they worked with were based on health survey figures from data obtained between 1995 and 2005, and show the percentage of obese children in England as:-
1995 9.9%
1996 10.6%
1997 10.9%
1998 11.6%
2000 13.4%
2001 13.1%
2002 15.5%
2003 13.7%
2005 14.3%
Northumberland has selected two specific age groups to monitor. These are Reception class in First Schools (4 to 5 year olds), and First Year (Year 6) in Middle Schools (10 to 11 year olds). In 2006 a survey was sent to every school. After parental permission was obtained each child in the above age groups was weighed and measured. There are a total of 6740 children in these groups, and for one reason or another, the details of 5655 were obtained (83.9%). Total number of children in both groups recorded as obese was 736, which is 13.02% (Reception 9.3%) and (Year 6, 16.6%)
Broken down even further 14.8% of all boys (436) were classed a obese, 9.6% (136) in reception, and 19.8% (300) Year 6.The girls faired a little better 11% obese, 9.1% (126) in reception, and 13.1% (174) in year 6.
Where does Berwick feature in all this? Not as bad as some but not as good as some others.
This graph is for overweight children in both groups. It did not reproduce as well as I hoped, but the lighter columns refer to First Schools, the dark ones Middle Schools. The large arrows above indicate Berwick’s Schools. Totals in each group are added together as a cluster. Totals for First Schools are 8.7%, whilst the Middle Schools is 11.1%
This graph is for obesity levels. Again the arrows above indicate Berwick’s Schools. First Schools 10.5% and Middle Schools 17.5%
As you may have guessed Dawn did have a slide show as a basis of her talk. The slide she used headed Northumberland Child hood Obesity Pathway to intervention and care is quite complicated so hopefully it will reproduce slightly larger on the next page, and is readable, and self explanatory
 |
As individuals there is a lot we can do, especially with our own grandchildren if you get roped in for childminding duties. Dawn suggested, getting them involved with the preparation of vegetables for a meal, if not the cooking, or at least explaining where a lot of our veggies come from, because many of them just don’t know, they know they come from the supermarket, but not how they got there, any thing that lets them know there is an alternative to ready made processed food. Another suggestion was to try and get them interested in the garden. If you grow your own, try and get the kids to help, or if possible give them a little bit of garden they are responsible for. Try and create an alternative to the computer or TV. The list is endless, but it gets them to eat less fat, sugar or salt, or anything that gets them a bit more active, must be for the better.
Wally’s Yarn
Last month my wife and I went to Ireland for a break, Whist there I heard this story on the radio, its religious so I hope no one is offended.
A new young Curate was sent to a parish to help out an elderly Vicar with his duties.
To break him in slowly the old Vicar suggested that the Curate spent some time making house calls. As there was only a push bike for transport it would give him a chance to find his way around and for the parishioners to meet him.
After a few days he returned to the Vicarage to tell the old Vicar that whilst he was on his calls someone had stolen the bike.
The Vicar told him not to worry about it, and suggested that the Curate took the sermon the following Sunday. He explained that if he used the 10 commandments as his text, when he got to “Thou shall not steal” if he looked around the congregation he would see the guilty face of the person that had stolen the bike. The Curate agreed and suggested that he took the whole Service and the old Vicar could have a lie in. Both men agreed.
Over lunch, after the Service when the Curate got back to the vicarage, the old Vicar asked how the Service had gone, and the Curate said that he was quite satisfied, and was not aware of any mistakes. The Vicar asked if he had pinpointed the person responsible for stealing his bike. The Curate had to confess that he didn’t get that far, he had only got to “Thou shall not commit adultery” when he suddenly remembered where he had left it.
“There was one mistake you made” said the Vicar. “Apparently when you related the parable about the feeding of the five thousand you got a little mixed up.
Apparently you said Jesus fed 4 people with 5000 loves and 4000 fishes”. He continued by saying that the lady that had rang him to point out the error, hadn’t realise the mistake herself until her grandson who was with her had pulled at her sleeve and had said “That’s not hard, anyone can feed 4 people with all that bread and all those fishes” The Curate accepted that he was in the wrong and promised to put it right the next week.
At the service the following week he repeated the parable correctly, and when meeting the congregation after, the woman identified herself. She thanked the Curate for putting things right. Her Grandson piped up and said,” It’s still not much of a miracle though” The Curate queried why he thought that, and asked how the lad thought he could feed a multitude with 5 loves and 4 fishes”.
“Easy” said the lad, “Give them last weeks leftovers”
|
