The South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust held a Working Carers Health and Wellbeing Event, designed to support staff members who also provide care for a family member or friend outside of work.
The event aimed to encourage working carers to prioritise their own health and wellbeing by taking time out for themselves. Those who attended had access to a wide range of information stands from Carers NI, the Trust’s Staff Health & Wellbeing Team, the Nutrition & Dietetics Team and The Recovery College, among others, offering valuable resources and support.
A series of informative presentations were delivered throughout the morning, including Tracy O’Hara from the Dietetics Team on the importance of good nutrition, Alan Dagg, Recovery College Manager who shared tips on maintaining mental health and Aidan Burns, Staff Health and Wellbeing Co-Ordinator who provided an update on the Trust’s Livewell Health and Wellbeing website for staff.
Participants were also invited to engage in relaxing activities such as tai chi and enjoy complementary therapies, including foot, hand and back massages. Chest, Heart and Stroke were also on hand to offer blood pressure and atrial fibrillation checks.
Attending the event, Business Support Manager, Esther Bell who cares for a family member said “It was really good that the Carers Support Service within the Trust arranged this event today. I found it very useful and informative and I had the opportunity to have a nice massage which was lovely. Events like this make staff feel valued and they are very useful.”
South Eastern Trust, Carers Development Officer, Pamela Smyth who organised the event added, “Today is about looking after our working carers. Between the ages of 40 and 65 is the time in people’s lives when they become carers. So it is about making sure that our staff look after themselves and to remind them that it is important to look after their own health and wellbeing. They need to have that balance in their life to continue to care and to continue to feel healthy and well. If we feel that we are valued as carers and that we are being supported as carers, that goes a long way to being happy and content within the workplace.”
Speaking at the event, South Eastern Trust Assistant Director of Prevention & Population Health, Lynda Vladeanu, emphasised the importance of supporting working carers and stated, “I am very privileged to attend the event here in Ards Hospital today as I recently took over the management of the Carers Support Service. The work that they do is incredible to support not only our staff, but carers living and working in the community. This event for me has been inspiring. To see staff here who have taken time from either their caring role or from their work role, to come here today, is so important.
“Within the Trust we have a focus on staff health and wellbeing and for providing services through “Live Well” and other avenues to support our staff. This event offered staff the opportunity to come along and hear from various guest speakers, to be able to avail of health checks from aromatherapy and back massage and really to feel that the Trust values and appreciates the role that they play in their caring responsibility.
“It is also an opportunity for the Trust to say thank you to the numerous amount of carers we have and to ask those to come forward who are working within the South Eastern Trust to register with the Carer Support Service to avail of the support, information and counselling services that they can get to help them in their caring journey.”