Moston Health Forum

What is it?

It’s a community driven initiative, which involves local people getting together with appropriate officers from the city council, and other appropriate organisations, to discuss issues which affect the health of residents who live in the Moston Ward.

What Does it Do?

• Explores what affects our health, both good and bad
  
  
• Tries to bring about changes which influence good health
  
  
• Covers health of all ages

The group sits down and discusses the needs of the community. It then takes actions, aimed at improving the health and well being of the community.

What Sorts of Things Do You Discuss?

Services which Support

Young Families

There is no Sure Start in the New Moston area (Moston is covered by the Moston Children’s Centre). This leaves lots of children and parents in New Moston, who do not get support or services, which they desperately need.

The Beehive on Broadhurst Park is going to be redesigned to become a small Children’s Centre, but it is still a distance from some homes in New Moston. The forum is exploring ways of offering a satellite service in the area if buildings could be found.

Feeling Good About Ourselves

One thing we do discuss regularly is how feeling good about ourselves is a key ingredient to good health! To this end ZEST has secured funding to deliver a 12 week ‘Love Yourself’ Course. This course was successfully delivered in higher Moston earlier this year. Although some of the focus is based upon weight management, the main thrust is about accepting what you are, enabling individuals to use information to take small changes which will lead to a healthier lifestyle! Pamper sessions were an integral part of the course and residents of New Moston are looking forward to the course which is due to start in the New Year 2008.

Some of Discussions Focus Upon

How Best We Can:

• Promote healthy living as a way to good health!
  
  
• Help people to feel better about themselves.
  
  
• Get important information to the people who need it most, people like you and me who live in our communities, often unaware of information\services which could potentially, improve our lives!
  
  
• Encourage organisations like the Primary Care Trust to deliver locally services which have been identified by the community.
  
  
• Improve Mens’ Health – by encouraging them to go for regular check-ups etc.
  
  
• Improve the quality of life of our older residents.

What Actions Have You Taken as a Result of These Discussions?

So far the forum has only met 3 times, and is very much in the development stage. However, even so, we feel we have made a real difference in some neighbourhoods: In particular:

• In May of this year NEPHRA Residents Association opened its Organic Allotment. The allotment provides opportunities for local residents to get involved with the sewing, planting and harvesting of vegetables. This is a way of taking gentle exercise [often without realising it], as well as meeting other people and having some fun! There’s a further benefit to the community, as produce from the allotment is used at NEPHRA’s over 50’s Luncheon Club.
  
  
• The allotment also provides opportunities for local people to drop in often just to sit and have a chat or just enjoy the surroundings. This kind of simple activity is also important to our health, and is particularly important for those people in our community who live alone.
  
  
• Every summer, ZEST raises the awareness and importance of leading healthier lifestyles by organising and delivering a two week programme full of events which are delivered right across the ward. This is aimed at getting active, as well as taking time to relax and pamper ourselves!

This year was, as always, a huge success with lots of special activities for everyone. You could have:

• Enjoyed a free swim
  
  
• Relaxed with an aromatherapy session
  
  
• Taken part in a Tai Chi session
  
  
• Eaten Saucy Soup & learnt to do the Salsa
  
  
• Had your feet pampered
  
  
• Sampled 6 (free) delicious healthy foods of the world dishes.

And much, much more…..there were fun packed events at Moston & New Moston Libraries, the Family Fitness Centre and Broadway Swimming Baths. The grand finale was a Bikers event in Bogart Hole Clough. Here children and young people were able to enjoy a range of activities and events which included - having their bike fixed for free, bike races, face painting, and even free fruit!

NEPHRA with the support of ZEST and a grant from the Local Network Fund organised two weeks of full of activities to meet the needs of New Moston children and young people. This fun packed event saw children developing a range of skills whilst having fun. The children Fresh fruit twice a day - provided by Zest and they also made Smoothies, healthy wraps & Healthy pizzas. Children also joined in a range of physical activities\games, and each day they also made a craft item to take home!

Some of the healthy outcomes of the Fun Weeks were:

• The children were entertained and gained new skills, this made them happy, and this ensured parents felt less stressed, so they too were happy
  
  
• Children had plenty of exercise, even mums and grans who joined in the egg & spoon and sack races burnt off some of those extra calories!
  
  
• Children also learnt about healthy foods and surprised us all by choosing to put shredded lettuce, tomatoes peppers and grated carrots, on the food they were preparing! This really amazed parents especially when they ate every morsel
  
  
• During morning and afternoon sessions children enjoyed fresh fruit which was provided by ZEST. Parents were very much surprised at the amount of fruit their child could eat, especially as they often refuse to eat fruit at home
  
  
• Parents gained some new ideas as to how to involve children in food preparation, which is aimed at getting children to choose a healthy option.

What Are Your Plans For The Future?

• We need to continue building on the existing membership of the forum, and encourage membership from residents in both Moston & New Moston. It’s equally important to ensure officers from departments in the City Council, [who have a vested interest in promoting good health], as well as senior representatives from the Primary Care Trust and SureStart, attend
  
  
• We need to finalise the structure of the forum, adopt our constitution and open a bank account
  
  
• We need to organise a planning day where we will set the agenda for the year’s work. This is particularly important as, whatever priorities the Moston Health Forum adopts, will influence the priorities Zest’s work in the area. These priorities would also feed through the Council structure as part of the Ward Co-ordination Service Committees, via the Health Sub Group in Moston.
  
  
• We need to build in evaluation processes to our work, so that in a year’s time on second planning day, we can measure our effectiveness.
  
  How Can I Get Involved?

   

  Its simple just give Shirley a ring on 0161 655 7882. Or email s.mccardle@manchester.gov.uk No experience is required, and you’ll be assured of a very warm welcome.

  Get Manchester Moving

This exciting initiative does what it says on the box - it gets us off our bottoms and moving! Its funded by the Football Foundation, and supported by Manchester City Football Club’s registered charity City in the Community, Manchester City Council and Manchester Public Health Development Service.