Tim Pickstone

People in Bury are being urged to ‘rethink your drink’ during Alcohol Awareness Week, which begins on Monday 19 October.

Events will be taking place throughout the week, but on in the Millgate Shopping Centre in Bury on Saturday 24 October, members of the public can get involved in an exercise bike challenge to find out exactly how much exercise they need to take to burn off the calories in an alcoholic drink.

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Please find below the latest information from NHS Bury about the National Pandemic Flu Service:
As you will be aware, important changes have been announced to the way in which the NHS is managing the growing swine flu pandemic in England, this sees the launch of The National Pandemic Flu Service.

The National Pandemic Flu Service is a self-care service that will asses a patient’s symptoms and, if required, provide an authorisation number which can be used to collect antiviral medication from a local collection point.

The service can be accessed online at https://www.pandemicflu.direct.gov.uk/ and for those who do not have internet access, the same service can be accessed by telephone on 0800 1 513 100 (Minicom 0800 1 513 200).

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Prestwich Local Area Partnership have launched this “Be Active in Prestwich” pocket sized map.

The map shows promotes walking, cylcing and jogging in Prestwich, with suggested cycling routes from Rhodes to the bottom of the Clough, public footpaths, ideas for health walks and heritage walks.

The map can be picked up from the Library, or you can download a copy here.

The Council has issued a statement in response to this weeks announcement on Swine Flu.

Full details are here.

The latest information from NHS Bury on Swine Flu is available here.

Prestwich is part of the ‘LOVE FOOD HATE WASTE’ campaign in Greater Manchester launched this week. The aim is to raise awareness about the need for us all to reduce the amount of food waste we throw away.

Reducing food waste is a major issue and not just about good food going to waste; wasting food costs the average family £420 a year and has serious environmental implications too.
The launch will see posters, leaflets and flyers being distributed across the Borough. There are also radio adverts planned to go out across the local radio stations in the northwest, as well as banners on bus shelters, on buses, and billboards.

More information is available from the Love Food Hate Waste Website here.

Residents might be interested in this open day for the Healthlands Village Day Centre in Prestwich.

Really good campaign from the NHS about awareness about Strokes. I would really encourage people to look at this - some simple signs we can all be aware of that could save lives.

The NHS Website is here

A special “Awarm” Training Session will be held at 5.30 on Tue 13 January 2009 at Butterstile Primary School - Children’s Centre.

As the eyes and ears of Prestwich community you may have access to vulnerable people living in cold, damp unhealthy homes? If so this training is for you!

The new Energy Support Officer for Bury Council and part of my remit is to implement the Affordable Warmth Strategy action plan which aims to reduce fuel poverty, this is where a household needs to spend more than 10% of its income on fuel & power. In 2005 it was estimated that over 10255 households in Bury were in fuel poverty. Due to recent price rises this figure is likely to have dramatically increased.

AWARM (Affordable Warmth Access Referral Mechanism) training can give you the expertise to recognise potential fuel poverty within households that you visit & enable you to make a simple referral to provide help to improve the health, living conditions & quality of life of the householder. The following services may be available for the householder from this referral:

- Grant for central heating, loft Insulation and cavity wall insulation
- Benefit entitlement checks
- Debt advice
- Home fire safety check including free smoke alarms

Improved home insulation & heating can reduce the incidence of associated health problems that are exacerbated by living in cold conditions, such as asthma, arthritis & cardiovascular problems & will help to eliminate excess winter deaths. In Bury, in the winter of 2002-2003, there were 80 excess winter deaths!

We do not want residents living in Prestwich to suffer from not being able to afford heating so if you can attend this session it would be useful. More information from Carran O’Grady

One of the things I do apart from being a Councillor is serve on the Board of our local hospital Trust Pennine Acute, one of my roles there is to serve on the charitable (”endowment”) funds committee.

Pennine Acute’s Charity has today launched a “60 for 60 campaign” to raise money and celebrate the 60th anniversary of the NHS. Business leaders, community organisations and schools from across the north east of Greater Manchester are being invited to put on their thinking hats to raise 60p, £6 or £60 for four local hospitals as part of the NHS 60th anniversary celebrations.

A ‘60 for 60’ fundraising campaign is being launched by the Pennine Acute Hospitals Charity, which raises funds for North Manchester General Hospital, The Royal Oldham Hospital, Fairfield General Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary and the acute services at Birch Hill Hospital.

Jan Bolton, fundraising manager, said: “We’d like people – or the organisations which they are part of – to raise either 60p, £6 (which is 10p a total of 60 times over) or £60 for our charity. Those funds can be earmarked for specific hospitals in the Trust, and we promise that all donations will all help make a difference whatever the total is! If any big company has 60 employees who want to raise £60 each then obviously that’s very welcome too! And anyone working for a big business should remember to ask if their employers do match-funding, as it is now part of many corporate and social responsibility policies.

“The NHS anniversary is on 5 July, but people shouldn’t feel tied to that date in any way. Fundraising donations for the campaign are welcome either before or after that – we’ll be marking the anniversary with our “60 for 60” campaign all through the year until December 2008.

Donations to The Pennine Acute Hospitals Charity and other related charities can also be received at any of the hospitals’ cashiers’ office or online at www.pat.nhs.uk and click on the fundraising icon. More information on 60 for 60 or fundraising/donations in general is available from Jan Bolton, Charitable Fundraising Manager on 0161 908 4497 or email jan.bolton@pat.nhs.uk

Pennine Acute Hospitals charity raises money for a variety of charitable causes in the four hospitals including better patient and staff facilities and medical research.

Tim