Tuar Ard Moate was the location on Friday last as Westmeath County Council Cathaoirleach, Cllr Liam McDaniel presented Sláintecare Healthy Communities Westmeath QQI Level 6 awards in Health Literacy to 15 newly qualified trainees.
The goal of the Sláintecare Healthy Communities Westmeath Programme is to improve the long term health and wellbeing of communities in the RAPID (Revitalising Areas by Planning, Investment and Development ) areas of Athlone and Mullingar.
The programme works in partnership with local communities to support and empower people to make healthier lifestyle choices to improve their overall physical and mental health and wellbeing.
The presentation of QQI Level 6 awards in Health Literacy to 15 trainees is the culmination of an identified need to support people to be better informed about their health. Personal health literacy is having the knowledge, motivation, and competencies to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information to make judgments and decisions in everyday life.
The Sláintecare Healthy Communities Westmeath Health Literacy programme ‘Well Westmeath’ seeks to improve health and wellbeing by organising and delivering two ‘Train the Trainer’ (QQI Level 6 ) courses for 15 people interested in helping to delivering Health Literacy in their respective RAPID communities. These courses have the potential to reduce health inequalities by supporting the most vulnerable of communities and arming them with the knowledge to support everything from health and wellbeing to increased financial capability, with an ambition to include numeracy and financial literacy into future programmes.
This project is a result of collaborative co-operation between RAPID area communities, Westmeath County Council, Youth Services, Athlone Family Resource Centre, Westmeath libraries and relevant community representatives.
Commending the project, Cllr Liam McDaniel stated that Westmeath County Council was to the forefront of developing and supporting communities for numerous years having the foresight to actively become one of the pilot areas for the Sláintecare Healthy Communities programme.
“The local authority has a central role to play in promoting and supporting the health and wellbeing of our local communities. We do this holistically through delivering the numerous functions of the local authority from the housing and footpaths to the initiatives under the community development team including Westmeath Sports Partnership, arts, community, and leisure centres to the provision of libraries, parks, greenways, blueways and public realm,” the Cathaoirleach said.
Sláintecare Healthy Communities Westmeath Local Development Officer, Ms Brigid Geoghegan, noted that the completion of the ‘Train the Trainer’ course will wholly benefit the participants.
“One of the key projects fully funded by Sláintecare Healthy Communities in 2023/24 is the QQI Level 6 Train the Trainer course in Health Literacy. Our key objectives are that people are more confident to ask questions, make sound health decisions, manage health conditions, and find their way around health services and resources. Put simply, people who are better informed about their health, live longer, healthier lives.
“This programme has already been a huge learning curve, and we plan on piloting it in a few areas. We will work and grow this programme, adapting it to the needs of the communities and support them to be the best that they can be,” Ms Geoghegan added.
