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Healthy Living Roadshows
Not everyone is fortunate enough to be treated in a specialist Spinal Injuries Centre. Some people have been paralysed for years but are unaware of new advances in treatments and long-term care. Having the right information and support equips spinal cord injured people to manage their disability better, and maintain good health.
Thanks to the support of Astra Tech Ltd (manufacturers of LoFric Catheters) and the Department of Health, this year we’ve taken our expertise all over the country through a series of four Healthy Living Roadshows, enabling over 250 spinal cord injured people to access vital information close to home.
During these information-packed days, healthcare professionals deliver interactive sessions on topics that are crucial for anyone with a spinal cord injury:
- Nutrition and diet
- Fitness and exercise
- Bowel and bladder management
- Skincare and pressure sore prevention
The Healthy Living Roadshows’ success has come from enabling people to communicate. Spinal cord injured people have valued the opportunity to ask healthcare specialists questions away from the hospital environment. Most of all, the roadshows have been a fantastic way for spinal cord injured people to share their own experiences, exchange ideas, and make new friends.
We’ve been able to meet key health professionals from Spinal Injuries Centres who treat spinal cord injured people on a daily basis. Solicitors specialising in personal injury claims have attended to gain a better understanding of the issues surrounding spinal cord injury and the needs of their clients. So many new and beneficial links have been made, strengthening the UK-wide network of people living with, or working with, spinal cord injury.
Astra Tech are continuing their support until 2007, which means we’ll be taking Healthy Living Roadshows to spinal cord injured people in the South East, South West, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire. We hope to expand the topics covered to include: complementary therapies, managing benefits and Direct Payments, and employment.
Case study – Mike’s story
Mike was an HGV driver and sustained a C3/4 spinal cord injury when he was injured in a road traffic accident in 1967.
"When I first heard about the roadshows, I couldn’t really see what benefit I’d get from going to one. I’d been injured for 38 years, and honestly didn’t think there was anything else I could learn about living with spinal cord injury.
Then I heard others talking about them, and suspected that I was missing out on something – so my wife Liz and I went to the roadshow in Gateshead. It was fantastic. It showed us that nothing stays the same – treatments, technology, catheters – everything changes over time. Receiving up-to-date information makes you aware of what’s available, and what might help you. And it’s a great opportunity to network with other people of all ages, backgrounds and levels of injury. You benefit as much from that as from the health information you’re given".
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