A large gathering descended upon the Bloomfield House Hotel in Mullingar at the start of January to partake in the local authority’s Healthy Westmeath Consultation Day.
Annette Barr Jordan, Age Friendly Programme Manager, Westmeath County Council, commenced proceedings by extending a very warm welcome to the room. Participants were also offered a brief introduction as to the aims for the day and for round four under the Healthy Ireland Fund 2023-2025.
Pat Gallagher, Chief Executive of Westmeath County Council, thanked the wide range of representatives from local organisations and community groups across Westmeath for their attendance. He praised the great work done in the previous round three, and described the vision of a Healthy Westmeath as one where ‘everyone can enjoy physical and mental health and wellbeing to their full potential, where wellbeing is valued and supported at every level of society, and is everyone’s responsibility’. He concluded by outlining the goals for the Healthy Ireland Fund under round four of the programme.
Healthy Westmeath Coordinator, Sarah McManus, presented the findings from a recent Healthy Westmeath survey, where key stakeholders, individuals and organisations were asked to identify the health risks, health priorities and associated target groups across County Westmeath. The output of the survey, and the expert report from the consultation day, will form the basis of the Healthy Ireland Fund Local Strategy 2023-2025.
Dr Diane Cooper, Clinical Exercise Physiologist (EduFIT ) facilitated the consultation and began by presenting a summary of the Health Atlas data for County Westmeath and its predictions going forward based on current trends and behaviours. The interactive event culminated in representatives sharing their expertise and knowledge on initiatives and actions they would like to see rolled out to make County Westmeath healthier. It was also stressed that measurement of the effectiveness of each scheme and target would be vital in order to track changes effectively and efficiently.
There is now an opportunity for organisations to propose actions through an application form based on two outcome areas:
Increase in the percentage of children and adults meeting physical activity guidelines
Mental Health
In addition, they will also be asked how they wish to measure these actions across the roll out of the programmes. Participants described the day as hugely enjoyable and informative, with the strong focus on health and wellbeing especially welcome.
If you have any queries or wish to propose any action based on the two outcome areas, please email Healthy Westmeath Coordinator Sarah McManus on [email protected]
