Health & Wellbeing

With coughs typically peaking the week after Christmas, Dr Sarah Jarvis offers her top tips to avoid spreading bugs and to limit your chance of catching a cough this festive season. Dr Sarah Jarvis says “Most people tend to think that the cold weather increases your chance of getting sick during the winter, however there are plenty of germs around at all times of year. Though temperatures may not have dropped to below freezing just yet, it’s certainly cold enough for us to have the central heating on – and the dry environment this creates can increase the spread of viruses.

Sandwell residents are being challenged to have a break from the booze and stop drinking alcohol during Dry January. Adopting a healthier lifestyle, saving money and losing weight are just three of the benefits of taking part in the Alcohol Concern and Public Health England-backed campaign. The drive encourages people to give their body a break from drinking for a month and the Healthy Sandwell team is urging residents to bid the booze goodbye in January.

The Oral Health Foundation is backing the use of children’s storybooks with dental narratives following a new study which has shown they can be a highly effective way of helping prepare children with autism for a visit to the dentist. The research, published in Special Care in Dentistry, found that almost two thirds (64%) of caregivers felt that dental stories were a useful tool for both themselves and their child in preparing them for a visit to the dentist.

A nationwide campaign to help parents spot the symptoms of sepsis to protect young children and saves lives has been launched today by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. The campaign is principally aimed at parents and carers of young children aged 0-4 and will include a new film featuring mother and campaigner Melissa Mead, who lost her baby son William to sepsis in December 2014. The UK Sepsis Trust estimates that there are more than 120,000 cases of sepsis and around 37,000 deaths each year in England.

New research by Alzheimer’s Society has uncovered that over half of people affected by dementia (51%) find Christmas to be the most isolating time of the year, with many stating they are dreading the festivities. 54% of those surveyed said they see their friends and family less often over the Christmas period than they did before their dementia diagnosis.

Who is your Heart Hero? The medical research charity is encouraging locals to open their heart and nominate the people they believe deserve a Heart Hero Award from the British Heart Foundation. The charity’s Heart Hero Awards recognise and celebrate the exceptional contribution of individuals and groups who are fighting for every heartbeat, such as heart patients, fundraisers, campaigners, scientists and health professionals.

Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice is calling for walkers from across Birmingham to join in with the annual Dorridge & Knowle Lions Festive Walk which takes place on Tuesday 27^th December at Baddesley Clinton National Trust House. Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice has been chosen as one of 3 charities to benefit from proceeds raised by this event and other activities throughout 2017. 

VENCLYXTO (venetoclax) is the first B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2) inhibitor to be granted a licence in the UK and works differently to all other licensed therapies for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL)

Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice is calling for participants to join in with the festivities in its annual Christmas fun run.  Sprinting into its third year, the Jingle Bell Jog returns to Kings Heath park on Sunday December 4. Included in the registration fee, all joggers will receive a free Santa suit and bushy white beard to don while they complete the 2km route. At the finish line, they will be greeted with a medal as well as a festive mince pie to get them into the Christmas spirit.

Window to the Womb, specialists in private prenatal baby scanning is delighted to announce the opening of its latest studio in Birmingham. The studio, which uses the latest ultrasound technology, provides families with a real time first glimpse of their unborn child in 3D and moving four dimensional images (4D) delivered by highly qualified sonographers.

A retired schoolteacher from Solihull has teamed up with Birmingham Conservatoire, as they join the race for the Christmas number one, while highlighting the particular struggles faced by those affected by dementia over the Festive period. Birmingham-born Alan Stott has written big band hit ‘What Are We Gonna Do For Christmas?’ with an arrangement by Birmingham Conservatoire fourth year BMus Jazz student, Josh Tagg. Jazz students from across all years of study also perform on the track.

A school in Stourbridge has purchased a defibrillator to help keep their students and teachers alive and kicking. Ridgewood High School in Wollaston bought a defibrillator after learning about the benefits of the device from a member of their Parent Teacher Association who is a former member of WMAS. After getting advice from the Trust about the defibrillators, the school purchased a life-saving device from Physio Control.

An Alzheimer’s Society investigation into homecare has exposed a vicious cycle of intolerable stress placed on people with dementia, their families and carers. The findings reveal a shocking lack of dementia training has resulted in poor quality homecare that is leaving too many people with the condition spending the day in soiled clothing, or going without food or water. Many also end up in costly hospital or care home admissions when they could have stayed at home, where they want to be, for longer.

Local celebrity mum, Danielle Lloyd has shown her support for Birmingham Children’s Hospital’s festive jumper day on Friday 16 December by pulling on its charity pullover. The annual day, this year known as Star Jumper Day, will raise money for the charity’s £3.65 million Star Appeal to build the UK’s first Rare Diseases Centre for children.

QEHB Charity is once again aiming to bring festive cheer to patients and staff at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham throughout Christmas. Over the festive period approximately 100,000 patients will visit QEHB, meaning the ‘season to be jolly’ will be business as usual at the city’s biggest hospital, but they want to provide chocolate hampers for patients and staff to share, Christmas trees for every floor of the hospital, decorations for the wards, gifts for children and young people with cancer, and free parking and TV for patients and visitors on Christmas Day. But they can’t do it without you!