Healthy Islands- A series of Health and Wellbeing Events to improve knowledge of services available

Description

Under the Healthy Islands initiative a series of health and wellbeing events was held in April 2023 on the four offshore islands in County Galway i.e. the three Aran Islands (Inis Meain, Inis Mór and Inis Oírr) and Inisbofin. Healthy Islands was a coming together of statutory, community and voluntary organisations all with a unified aim to promote health and well-being, to improve communication and enhance people’s knowledge of services available to them. In total more than 200 people attended these events, and an average of 30 Blood Pressure Checks and 15 Hearing Tests were performed at each event.This initiative was co-coordinated by Healthy Galway and Gaway Rural Development’s Social Inclusion Community Activation Programme (SICAP). Other participating organisations included Galway County Council, Croí, the Heart & Stroke Charity, Healthy Ireland at Galway Library, Galway Sports Partnership, the Galway Public Participation Network (PPN), Age Friendly Homes, Sexual Health West, the Alzheimer’s Society of Ireland, Mental Health Ireland, Chime, Alone, the Irish Wheelchair Association, the HSE Health Promotion and Improvement unit, Jigsaw, Parkrun Ireland, West Be Well, Domestic Violence Response Galway and the local Public Health Nurse and Gardaí.
While much of the emphasis was on providing supports for older people, islanders across the life span were encouraged to attend. This was in keeping with the principle of encouraging intergenerational integration and wider collective awareness of health and wellbeing issues. All services were provided free of charge at the event. Refreshments were also available to encourage attendees to stay and chat with neighbours and friends.
As part of the events people could get blood pressure and hearing checks, receive nutritional advice and try new age friendly exercises. They could also engage with agencies face-to-face and access resources and leaflets around topics such as supporting people with Alzheimer’s, age-proofing homes, sexual and mental health and how to stop smoking. In order to support the continued development of age friendly community-based initiatives supports were also available for people involved in Local Community Groups. They could access advice in areas such setting up a befriending service, applying for funding to organise community-based activities and small-scale grants and how to join the PPN.

Aim of Initiative

The aim of the Healthy Island Events was to break down the barriers to services and information that islanders can face due to their remote location which had been highlighted through various consultations. It gave an opportunity for agencies to better communicate with the local people on the islands and to gain a better understanding of the needs and barriers to accessing services from their remote setting.
A key aim of the Healthy islands was to form new relationships and strengthen existing relationships with the people and local organisations to identify future projects to address the health and wellbeing needs of each individual island as all four islands have different needs and wants.

Who is it aimed at

Healthy Islands was predominantly aimed at the older population but we welcomed all ages as we felt it was important to involve the whole community as we have found that when working with the older population that this information can be extremely beneficial to all age groups as they can be looking after a parent, relation, a carer etc and these health and wellbeing events can be very beneficial to help them to better cater for the people they are linking in with and sharing the services and information amongst this cohort.

3 Steps critical to success

1. The first key step that was critical in the success of this initiative was securing the commitment of each of the islands’ comharchumann managers to support the delivery of these events. The comharchumann are the main community and economic development organisation for each of the islands and the managers play a vital role in coordinating the delivery of services as well as having strong connections with the people who live there. By working in partnership with these local organisations specific needs which could be addressed through the initiative were identified and local professionals such as community gardaí and Public Health Nurses could also be invited to attend. The managers also provided the project coordinators with local knowledge around, for example, the best travel routes and organised transport on the islands, both of which were vital to the successful running of the events.
2. A second key step was getting a broad range of services and organisations to agree to attend the events. This was vital as it allowed attendees to access supports and information in a number of areas so that a high number of needs could be met. Many islanders, particularly older people, feel neglected and forgotten by wider Irish society. Therefore, it was also important for the islanders that a large number of service providers attended as it demonstrated their willingness to work with them to improve their overall health and wellbeing.
3. As the main target group was older people who often have little access to social media another important step was to build awareness on the islands using more traditional forms of communication that would reach relevant groups. This included advertising the events by poster in local businesses and amenities as well as through the island WhatsApp group, an announcement at weekly mass and through word of mouth. This helped to maximise awareness and increase attendance levels at the events among this cohort.

3 Challenges in Planning / Delivery

1. A major challenge to the delivery of this initiative was around language. The three Aran Islands are Irish speaking with some older people rarely using English in their day-to-day lives. Therefore, it is important, where possible, to ensure that this is respected and placed at the centre of how services are delivered. Unfortunately, many of the services that agreed to participate in the initiative did not have any Irish speaking staff. Based on discussions with the comharchumann managers a pragmatic compromise had to be struck between the need to respect the Irish language and bringing in vital services-even where they could only deliver through English. Various mitigating steps were taken including ensuring that all advertisements were through Irish, a list of common Irish language greetings was distributed to all the services attending and, where possible, Irish speaking staff were specifically requested to attend the events.
2. Another challenge was the short-time span within which this initiative could be delivered. Selecting dates for carrying out these events was dependent on it being late enough in the year that the chances of the ferry/airplane being cancelled due to bad weather was reduced and also early enough so that they would be completed before the tourist season began. As a result, all four events had to take place in April, which increased logistical pressures and left little room for change should the weather have precluded travel on any one of the days.
3. The final challenge was coordinating the logistics of the events. With up to 15 organisations attending from off the island and with locally based services such as Public Health Nurses also participating this required a significant degree of coordination around ferry times, bringing equipment and materials to the islands and organising transport to and from the ferries on the islands themselves.

3 Outcomes / Benefits

1. One of the most significant outcomes of this initiative was that island dwellers across the life span were able to access a range of supports, information and services locally and build a better understanding of health and wellbeing initiatives that could be drawn on as needed. Due to their geographical isolation (for example, travelling from Inishbofin to Galway city involves a 90 minute car journey and more than 30 minutes on the ferry) and the small population, most organisations do not visit the islands. This leads to low levels of awareness of services and/or low levels of interaction between providers and islanders.
2. A second positive outcome of these events was that relationships were strengthened and/or formed between key stakeholders such as the comharchumann managers and Public Health Nurses on the islands and the organisations attending the events. These connections can act as the foundation of future collaborative projects between local stakeholders and organisations and agencies based elsewhere. For example, a Parkrun has just started on Inis Meáín with the aim of creating a regular healthy social outlet for the benefit of all on the island including older people. While the planning for this had begun prior to the event, by participating in this initiative the Parkrun coordinator was able to build deeper links with the community, which helped to ensure its successful start. As the service providers had to spend a lot of time together travelling to and from the events as well as during them stronger more collegial relationships were developed, which will enable them to work more closely together in future.
3. A key benefit of these events was that a range of organisations were able to improve their understanding of older islanders’ needs. As previously mentioned, most service providers do not visit the islands, which means that it is difficult for them to fully understand the constraints and challenges faced by people living there. The islands also have a unique culture and way of life, which impacts on how islanders engage with services. By travelling there, organisations now have a better understanding of these contexts, the needs and how these might be met.