Health & Wellbeing

A pub is the latest location to house a defibrillator in a village in Solihull after a library installed a life-saving device recently.The Bulls Head in Barston is the first pub in the borough to have a life-saving piece of kit. The defibrillator was provided by West Midlands Ambulance Service who trained staff and locals in basic life support and how to use the device last month. In July, Meriden Library became the first location in the village to house a defibrillator.

WV Active Bilston – Bert Williams has put in place a revised studio pool timetable for public swimming while work is being done to repair the damaged ceiling in its main pool. Customers are also being urged to use the main pool at WV Active Central as an alternative. Specialist contractors are being brought in to repair damage to the ceiling of the main pool at WV Active Bilston - Bert Williams caused by a leak from the showers on the floor above.

Affecting much more than your weight and health, a growing understanding of how what you put into your body shows on your face is expanding the importance of digestive health. In the battle against bags, wrinkles and adult acne, Health and Fitness Travel, the leading experts in tailor-made healthy holidays worldwide, takes a look at the premature ageing effects of sugar, wine, dairy and gluten, and where to make diet changes at nutrition-friendly retreats around the world.

Eleven brave patients from Birmingham Children’s Hospital are the stars of a brand new city centre photography exhibition, intended to bolster the hospital’s fundraising efforts to build the UK’s first Rare Diseases Centre for children. The exhibition, titled Stars of Steelhouse Lane, will be in Victoria Square until Friday 30 September and stars the following patients, all of who are living with a rare or undiagnosed condition:

A disabled sports fan from the West Midlands has hit-out at unfit venues that force her to sit away from friends and family at live matches.  Harriet Butler, 24, took part in a UK-wide survey for Muscular Dystrophy UK Trailblazers – a 700 strong network of young disabled people. Ahead of this week’s Paralympics, the charity’s Move the goalposts report reveals a worrying picture of local disabled fans frustrated and isolated from the sports they love.

More than just a headache, migraine is a neurological condition with an enormous impact on all those affected, including their future potential. Of those respondents still at school, 50% said that their migraine attacks had prevented them from sitting an exam!

People are being encouraged to put their best foot forward, enjoy the late summer sunshine and improve their health and wellbeing by taking part in a national charity campaign. Cancer Research UK is encouraging people to Walk All Over Cancer by completing 10,000 steps per day through September – and raising vital funds for continuing research into a cure for the deadly condition.

National deafblind charity, Sense, is to host an accessible sports evening at the Queen Alexandra College in Birmingham for young people with sight and hearing impairment and those with complex needs on Thursday September 15^th. The event, which has been timed to coincide with the Paralympics, is free to attend and open to anyone aged 11-25 with a visual or hearing impairment.

A Birmingham woman is taking part in Alzheimer’s Society’s Memory Walk at Cannon Hill Park to remember her brother whom died this year. Maggie, 61, from Smith’s Wood, will be attending Cannon Hill Park’s Memory Walk on Sunday 11th September with her husband, son and five grandchildren. Over 3200 people have registered and the event promises to be the biggest ever in Birmingham.

On the recent International Overdose Awareness Day, leading drugs Charity Change, Grow, Live (CGL), wants to promote the message that death from overdose is preventable if antidote drug, naloxone is used within a short period following an overdose.  Naloxone, the leading antidote for any opiate overdose, works by temporarily blocking the effects of drug overdose and rapidly reversing a reduced breathing rate (known as respiratory depression) when caused by an opioid overdose.

Organisations in Wolverhampton will be seeking to break the taboo around mental health as the city marks World Suicide Prevention Day with a week-long programme of events. The City of Wolverhampton Council is organising a series of activities and are encouraging people to help raise awareness of the importance of good mental health and wellbeing – while also helping to tackle some of the stigma which surrounds the issue.

New research from Churchill Home Insurance reveals half of parents with children aged under 14 allows them to drink alcohol at home despite guidance from the Chief Medical Officer that they shouldn't do so until they're at least 15 years old and even then rarely and never more than once a week.  More than one in ten (11 per cent) parents with children aged five to seven  allows them to drink alcohol in the home, while some even let them drink every day. 

This September the Ramblers is getting the West Midlands on its feet with Walk About - its biggest ever free nationwide walking event, offering a walk to suit everyone. But people don’t have to wait to get started. This month (August) the Ramblers has launched a free online tracker that allows people to log their walking activity and make the most of everything the festival has to offer.

Synexus, the world's largest multinational company dedicated to the successful recruitment and running of clinical studies, is currently recruiting patients in the Midlands to assess a treatment that could help manage one of the UK’s most common respiratory diseases - Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

The Be Clear on Cancer roadshow, part of a new Public Health England campaign, will be visiting the Bullring in Birmingham on Wednesday 17 August and Thursday 18 August to raise awareness that a persistent cough, or getting out of breath doing everyday things, such as vacuuming or walking up a short flight of stairs, could be a sign of lung cancer or other lung disease. Breathlessness can also be a sign of heart disease.

BERKSWELL father of three Mark Fischer-Beards is taking on The Equinox 24 hour endurance race in a bid to raise funds for The Brain Tumour Charity following the death of his wife Laura Fischer-Beards. Laura was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour in October 2012 after suffering from persistent neck pain. Mark said: “We were shocked and found it difficult to come to terms with, our lives had changed immeasurably in that instant.”