Health & Wellbeing

Like many of your readers, I’ve had close family and friends affected by breast cancer. That is why I’m encouraging everyone to take a step forward for women with breast cancer this summer and sign up to a Pink Ribbonwalk to raise vital funds for leading charity Breast Cancer Care.

Clarke Willmott LLP, which has offices in Birmingham, has become a formal corporate supporter of the Encephalitis Society, which raises awareness of the condition. Whilst Alzheimer’s and meningitis justifiably receive significant amounts of media attention, encephalitis is an illness much less in the public spot light. With up to 6,000 cases of encephalitis in the UK each year and hundreds of thousands more worldwide, the lack of public awareness of the condition is perhaps surprising.

More than just a fad diet, eating gluten free is in fact vital to individuals suffering from a condition called coeliac disease. A lifelong autoimmune disease in which the small intestine reacts with hypersensitivity to gluten, this reaction leads to difficulty in digesting food. According to Coeliac.org.uk, this disease is affecting approximately 1 in 100 people with over 80% of this number remaining undiagnosed.

People across Wolverhampton are being encouraged to don Denim for Dementia and raise vital funds for the Alzheimer's Society. Schools, workplaces and families are being urged to wear items of denim during this year's Dementia Awareness Week, which runs from 15-21 May, 2016. The City of Wolverhampton Council is among those taking part, and will be asking staff to don denim on Wednesday 18 May in return for a donation to the Wolverhampton branch of the charity.

QEHB Charity will hold its third annual free Community Fun Day on Sunday 29 May, in celebration of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces. The day will be returning to the fantastic hosts of Warwickshire County Cricket Club, based at Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Birmingham.  It is set to be a huge event, with exciting fairground rides, food and craft stalls, a spectacular parachute performance from the Red Devils, a challenging military assault course, a vintage car display, and a T20 cricket match between the tri-service military cricket team and the Warwickshire Legends.

People are being encouraged to become a Dementia Friend as Wolverhampton prepares to mark Dementia Awareness Week, which runs from Sunday 15 May to Saturday 21 May, 2016. The Dementia Friends programme, run by the Alzheimer’s Society, is the biggest ever initiative to alter people’s perceptions of dementia. It aims to get people change the way they think, talk and act about the condition by learning more dementia and the small ways they can help someone living with it.

Death is often a taboo subject but for the first time a group of local citizens, community organisations, undertakers, doctors and hospices has joined forces to raise awareness about the importance of talking about dying, death and bereavement. Under the name BrumYODO (giving a local spin to the national Dying Matters coalition strapline ‘You only die once’) the community collective aims to positively change attitudes and behaviours around talking about and planning for death, and the need for good end of life care for all.

With local and national elections just around the corner, physiotherapists have a ‘doorstep challenge’ for candidates seeking their vote. Candidates who unsuspectingly knock on the door of a physiotherapist will be asked to commit, if elected, to campaign for changes which are key to delivering better access to physiotherapy in their local area.

A groundbreaking partnership launched to help Birmingham's growing army of carers has won national recognition at the Third Sector 2016 Business Charity Awards. Forward Carers was commended for the work of Birmingham Carers Hub - an innovative service which offers thousands of family carers access to free support, emergency aid, respite breaks, essential training and wellbeing events.

Victoria Rawnsley from Great Barr is on her third visit to John Taylor Hospice after meeting the In-Patient Unit team for the first time in January. The 45-year-old had been feeling really low and wasn’t sure what to expect. By the time she went home, Victoria said her mood had lifted considerably and she felt more confident.

Wolverhampton will be marking Dementia Awareness Week with events and activities for people with dementia and their carers – from information and advice sessions to a charity football match at Molineux Stadium. The Alzheimer's Society is staging Dementia Awareness Week from Sunday 15 May to Saturday 21 May, 2016.

New research reveals that motorists who need glasses or contact lenses but don’t wear them whilst driving, increase their chance of an accident four-fold. One in six drivers have had an accident in the past two years but this increases to 67 per cent for those who need glasses or contacts but don’t always wear them.

The Department of Health and NHS England are starting to make progress with the actions needed to implement access and waiting time standards for people with mental health conditions, but much remains to be done, according to the National Audit Office. The report from the spending watchdog is the first in a planned programme of work on mental health.

A life-saving Birmingham organisation – born out of NHS cuts during its last re-organisation – has been recognised in the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise for its excellence in innovation. The Perinatal Institute, members of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, was founded by Professor Jason Gardosi in 2013 and has received the coveted award for developing a safer method of monitoring the growth of babies during pregnancy.