By Claire Corrigan
THE staff of Mullingar Hospital will soon be getting their trainers in a move to get more active after launching a new map of routes they will be availing of at the Hospital on Tuesday afternoon.
Speaking to Topic Hospital Manager Shona Schneemann said the initiative is part of the national implementation plan for Healthy Ireland (HI) and that there are a number of key targets within the framework, physical activity being a key priority.
“Ireland East Hospital Group (IEHG) has launched their Healthy Ireland Implementation Plan 2016-2019 for the 11 hospitals in the group. Part of the plan is focusing on activity to improve the wealth and well-being of staff. We did a did a staff survey last year and 47 per cent of staff said that they would really like to look at doing something in physical activity and walking routes.
As a result of that, we launched Operation Transformation and had 81 staff involved in that and this is now a folllow 0n from that.”
In her address, Ms. Schneemann said that Slí na Sláinte, which means the “path to health”, was developed by the National Heart Foundation and that it is well documented that physical fitness is a major independent determinant of overall health and mortality.
“Physical activity has many health benefits and helps to address some major targets of the HI policy such as improving heart health, addressing obesity and diabetes risks. As well as that, it is proven to be extremely beneficial for mental health and well-being.”
There are nine walking routes chosen, all commencing at the hospital main entrance or the Castlepollard road entrance, with routes facilitating between 8 minutes to 45 minutes walks, which can be done during lunch breaks or before or after work.
Ms Schneemann said that the hospital had been working very hard implementing the national strategy and the Ireland East Hospital Group Healthy Ireland Strategy for the last number of months and there has been great staff engagement. “This is the next phase of the launch of the Slí na Sláinte walking routes. The survey demonstrated that staff wanted to look at physical activity and wanted to participate in walking groups. I think it’s great for our health and gives us a good break from our work and what are doing on a day to day in our very business environment.”
The route was officially launched by Tara Curran, Slí na Sláinte co-ordinator in the Irish Heart Foundation. “Slí na Sláinte is aimed to get people to walk more often. We have two map boards, one outside and one at Castlepollard road, which will detail each routes, the time it takes to walk them and the amount of steps taken for each walk. We all know that we should do 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity on five days of the week, but we also know that that can be quite difficult for people. We hope that with some of the shorter routes, that you can slot them in throughout the day.”
Ms. Curran said the health benefits of walking included a reduction in the risk of developing heart disease. “We all know that walking gives our heart, lungs and blood vessels a good work out which helps to reduce our risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke.”
