A week-long programme of health promotion seminars jointly co-ordinated by Waterford-based Ability Matters and the National Rehabilitation Hospital will be held in the city next week.
The programme will be officially launched by Minister of State Áine Brady at 10am on Monday morning next in Ability Matters’ office in the Cleaboy Business Park.
Each daily session will start with an introduction by a consultant/specialist who will present on the medical/psychological aspects of their topic.
Physiotherapists, occupational therapists, a social worker, a dietician, along with prosthetists and orthotists will provide information, as well as informal discussion and advice.
The purpose of the week-long series is to address one central theme: keeping active and enjoying life.
Doctor Andrew Hanrahan, a Consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine at the NRH, said that increasing diagnoses of diabetes and obesity over the next decade would ultimately lead to an increase in amputations.
“Having a service that is fit for purpose and able to respond to this need is a necessity and not a choice,” he said.
“The Amputee Rehabilitation Programme run by the National Rehabilitation Hospital and Ability Matters looks beyond the usual but important short-term economic arguments of cost efficiency.
“It focuses on getting people back or into desired, cherished and valued roles in Society which also has beneficial impacts on long-term costs as well as being something of inestimable value in and of itself.”
With this in mind, the week-long event will cover areas such as ‘Keeping Well’, ‘Ageing and General Health’, ‘Living with Diabetes’, ‘Living with Limb Loss’, ‘Life after Stroke’, and ‘Joint Pain and Arthritis’.
Each year, 10,000 people are admitted to Irish hospitals with acute stroke – 2,500 will die.
There are a further 30,000 people living with a residual disability due to stroke. Twenty per cent of those are unable to walk and approximately 50 per cent require help when it comes to daily living.
It’s also is estimated that 200,000 Irish people have impaired glucose tolerance (pre-diabetes). Some 40 per cent of ‘pre-diabetics’ will develop full diabetes over the next five years should they fail to make vital and necessary changes in lifestyle.
For further details, visit www.abilitymatters.ie
