Healthy ageing focus of expo
West Wimmera Health Service is gearing up for a Happy Healthy Ageing Expo to celebrate and educate elderly people.
The service has organised a three-part online expo in response to the COVID-19 pandemic reducing preventative-health appointments.
Community health executive director Alex Hall said she was excited about the upcoming expo.
“COVID restrictions have really challenged the community health team and we have been exploring innovative ways to ensure our communities still have access to key health information,” she said.
“Our format is three days, over three months, where our highly experienced allied health and nursing professionals will present three key topics: Get Checked, Live Healthy and Be Prepared.”
The first of the series is from 10am to 2pm tomorrow and will feature the ‘get checked’ theme.
Focusing on identifying health issues early and preventing them in the first place, keynote speaker Dr Sean Macdermott will share his experience of finding cancer early.
People will also be able to learn more about – • Health screenings from community health nurses. • Diabetes management, education and prevention. • Prostate cancer detection, care and support from a specialist prostate cancer nurse. • Dental care and regular checks. • Footwear support and balance. • Falls prevention.
Acting chief executive Darren Welsh said an online presentation would be a new format for the service and it enabled the organisation to provide important health messages to communities in the comfort of their own homes.
“The continued and varying restrictions have limited our capabilities to have hundreds of people together, so we hope the community will embrace this new online expo format,” he said.
“The service is committed to sharing these important health messages to support a happy, healthy ageing life.”
People can register for any or all of the expo days online via Eventbrite by following link https://bit.ly/3z9tbom or calling Alana on 5391 4314 for help to register or to find out more information.