Health and care colleagues from across the Black Country took part in the first system-wide virtual Health and Wellbeing Week in May.
Hosted during Mental Health Awareness Week (15-19 May), the Black Country Health and Wellbeing Week included a range of virtual sessions for staff across the Black Country Integrated Care System (ICS) to attend and join in, covering a range of topics such as physical health, mental health and financial health.
Sessions were held throughout the week with key speakers including the Art of Brilliance with Darrell Woodman, A Kind Life with Tim Keogh, Sleep School with Dr Guy Meadows, Improving Mental Health Through Laughter with Shelia McMahon, Building Your Mental Fitness with Dr Alex George, sound healing meditation and a DJ set with Kishan Bodalia.
Shajeda Ahmed, Chief People Officer for the NHS Black Country, said: “Our first Black Country-wide Health and Wellbeing Week provided a fantastic array of learning opportunities to empower our people to prioritise looking after their own mental health and wellbeing.
“Across five days we had an impressive line-up of guest speakers as well as various virtual session including yoga and sport, mindfulness, interviews on the sofa with special guests, awareness sessions around nutrition, health screening, menopause and men’s health.
“Our healthcare system’s greatest asset is the people who deliver it, which is why the health and wellbeing of all our staff is of the upmost importance. We want the Black Country system to be a place where no one feels alone or isolated and to know there is always help and support to those how need it, so it was great to see so many people get involved throughout the week.”
As part of the week, the Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB) also held a special Health and Wellbeing Day on Thursday 18 May at the Wolverhampton Civic Centre.
Staff got the chance to take part in a range of interactive workshops including chair yoga, breathing techniques, a cost-of-living seminar by HSBC and a session by Kaleidoscope Group on the importance of self-care for mental wellbeing.
Sarah-Louise Walton, Specialist Medicines Pharmacy Technician at the Black Country ICB, is a Level 3 Yoga Instructor and led the chair yoga session. She said: “When most people first think of yoga, they think of someone bent in a pretzel-like, shape, with their feet behind their head. However, yoga can be practiced fully without ever leaving your seat, which can be especially useful for people who struggle with balance and/or mobility issues, suffer with any stiffness and pain, as well as those who work from home or at a desk for most of the day.
“Like other forms of exercise, seated yoga can help improve mood, confidence and relieve anxiety and depression. All you need is to sit comfortably and have a sturdy chair, and it can be done by people of all ages and fitness levels.
“By hosting the chair yoga session at the Health and Wellbeing Day I was hoping to help change people’s perspective of what yoga practice can be and it was great to see so many people get involved.”
Throughout the day, there were also stalls giving out information and advice to staff on a variety of health topics such as asthma, diabetes and cervical cancer.
The Children and Young People (CYP) Asthma Team had an information stall providing advice and guidance for those with asthma. The team provided demonstrations of inhaler technique and the use of a spacer device to help improve technique, as well as also checking staff members Fractional exhaled Nitric Oxide (FeNO) levels. Nitric Oxide is a biomarker for asthma and gives an indication of the level of inflammation in the airways.
Lisa Cummings, CYP Specialist Asthma Practitioner for the Black Country ICB, said: “The Health and Wellbeing Day was the perfect opportunity to work with our colleagues across the Black Country and highlight the importance of improving early and accurate asthma diagnoses.
“FeNO is one of the objective tests available to support a diagnosis alongside a good clinical history and it was brilliant that we got to demonstrate the effectiveness of the test to colleagues on the day. We actually signposted a symptomatic colleague to her GP as her clinical history and FeNO result on the day suggested that the probability of asthma was high.”
A number of local charities also joined us for the day, including Heads 4 Health, British Heart Foundation, Wolverhampton Ramblers and The Recovery College.
