The Government Plan for Living with COVID-19 - Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021, highlights the important role that individual and community resilience will play in contributing to our ongoing response to the present pandemic.
The ‘Keep Well’ campaign builds on the ‘In This Together’ campaign that happened earlier this year and aims to support people and communities in being resilient through minding their physical and mental health and wellbeing over the coming months.
The ‘Keep Well’ campaign is aimed at showing people of all ages how we can mind our own physical and mental health and wellbeing by adding healthy and helpful habits to our daily and weekly routines. It will provide guidelines, information, and tips on things that will help us keep well through the coming months.
At the heart of the campaign is helping people, individuals and communities, to keep up their resilience and wellbeing through an especially challenging winter and through to spring. People will be encouraged to plan some ‘self-care’ every day or week to get them through the winter and will be supported with information and resources to help them to do so
Westmeath County Council, together with its partner organisations on the Community Response Forum, strongly supports individual and community wellbeing through its amenities, services, staff, agency relationships and community supports and this has never been more important than now.
The local authority acknowledges the profound impact which the outbreak of Covid-19 continues to have on all and encourages everyone to engage in Westmeath’s ‘Keep Well’ Campaign.
The campaign is focussed on five themes, namely, Keeping Active, Staying Connected, Switching Off and Being Creative, Eating Well, and Minding your Mood.
Westmeath County Council, through the established Community Forum will co-ordinate the local response to local needs, delivering wellbeing programmes and initiatives locally.
Westmeath’s ‘Keep Well’ Campaign Initiatives
•Keeping Active - Westmeath Sports Partnership have organised the following initiatives - Men on the Move, Online Pilates, Your Personal Best for men over 45, Home Fitness Workouts for adults with disabilities, and Family Relays. Tutors are delivering programmes in Schools in accordance with the Covid guidance.
•Staying Connected - Community Development have issued a leaflet drop and fridge magnets to households in Westmeath providing the Community Call contact details and helpline number. In addition, an Age Friendly Radio Programme airs every Sunday morning on Midlands 103. This is a Tri-County (Laois, Offaly & Westmeath ) initiative. A fortnightly newsletter setting out Westmeath’s ‘Keep Well’ initiatives, activities, competitions etc. will be made available on our social media channels by following the links below.
•Switching Off and Being Creative - The Library Service have the following initiatives: Westmeath Chats, Creative Club, Creative Bursts, Rewarding Reads and Right to Read programmes, and Online Music Workshops. Our Library Service will of course continue its ever-creative initiatives across the five themes of the ‘Keep Well’ programme.
•Eating Well - Westmeath have organised to deliver Christmas Hampers to the elderly and Healthy Eating programmes online.
•Minding your Mood - A TikTok competition has been organised with Midland Youth Services for youths and adults along with online events replacing planning gatherings ie. Song circles.
Further details on all Westmeath County Council ‘Keep Well’ Campaign activities and initiatives will continue to be made available on the local authoriity’s social media channels.
