Successful community health event at KYP

The event aimed to raise awareness of preventative health services available to the community and to encourage more people to make better use of them

Hundreds of local people had a health check-up at a specialised community event centred around raising awareness of preventative health services and encouraging more people to make better use of them.

Over 200 local people attended and were able to have health conversations, get their blood pressure checked, have their heart rate checked, have DNA testing for genetic conditions and take part in a health survey which aims to find out what the community knows about cholesterol and how to prevent it.

The event was hosted by the Kashmir Youth Project in partnership with Living Well Rochdale on Thursday 7 December.

The organisers were delighted with the response and wished to thank the many local organisations including; Rochdale Council’s Public Health team, MIND, Home Instead, RNIB, SpringHill Hospice, Healthwatch Rochdale, Your Trust, Rochdale AFC Community Trust, Your Village Pharmacy, Greater Manchester North Diabetic Eye Screening Programme, Petrus, North West Cancer Research, North West Genomic Medicine Service Alliance, Manchester Genes and Health, Answer Cancer, Covid and Flu Vaccines, Sahara Project – Alzheimer’s Society, NHS, Northern Care Alliance and Rochdale Women’s Welfare Association that came on the day and supported the organisers to make the event so successful.

Zulf Ahmed, chief executive of KYP, said: “Many people in Rochdale are not aware of the wide range of services available to them, particularly individuals with language or cultural barriers.

“Through this event, we have enabled them to access a range of services on their doorsteps to keep them well and to manage their health conditions. In fact, as a result of having their heart checked at the event, one person was referred for an urgent appointment, thus, potentially preventing further complications.”

Living Well said: “It was amazing to see so many people engaging at the event and a great opportunity to reconnect with partners. We were able to work alongside other professionals such as the NHS, complimenting each other’s service offer.”

The Mayor of Rochdale, Councillor Mike Holly, who came to the event to offer his support, added: "I passionately believe that we need to improve health inequalities, it’s fantastic to see what the community are doing to improve health."

KYP and Living Well plan to work together to organise more of these events in the future.