Foot care, fresh hair cuts and dental advice were just some of the fantastic services available at Coastline’s annual Health Day last week.
Hosted at Chi Winder, the event featured a range of NHS providers from 10am to 3pm, including Smile Together, Brooke, Alcohol Liaison Team and Healthy Cornwall.
Other services were also present, including Pentreath, which gives support and guidance to people across the county experiencing and recovering from mental ill health.
There are many development areas to improve mental wellbeing and Pentreath’s Recovery College offers short three-hour courses on anxiety, assertiveness, self-esteem, depression and mind-building.
Pentreath encourages people to open up and recognise what they need, and to receive support for that need. The charity has more than 2,000 referrals a year, with people forming friendship groups and sharing wisdom and knowledge.
Coastline’s Community Investment Team offers face to face support, visiting underprivileged areas.
One of the team’s volunteers is Denise, who has been giving up her time on a weekly basis since 2019.
Originally from the Midlands, where she worked with students who had been excluded from school, Denise encourages dozens of people to be active and find a life outside of Coastline. She runs six-week schemes with activities to cope with stress and boost self-esteem.
Denise has even helped one woman to come off heroin after years of addiction, holding weekly meetings to enable her to share progress and offer positive reinforcement.
“It’s one thing for people to make positive changes to their life, but it’s just as important that they have someone to share it with, otherwise they can feel unheard,” she said.
Another of the services on offer was Smarter Smiles, which is the outreach arm of Community Interest Company, Smile Together. Smarter Smiles offers urgent dental care and give advice and education including top tips on health and hygiene.
The Hepatitis C Trust’s mission is to eliminate the disease in the UK by 2030. Offering dry blood spot tests for Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B and HIV, a positive result triggers a 12-week course of medication and an end-of-treatment test.
One of the trust’s representatives, who had previously suffered from the disease, said: “I’ve been a fork lift operator, a self-employed window cleaner and a truck driver, but none of those jobs gave me the satisfaction that I have from helping people overcome Hepatitis.”
There can be very few symptoms with Hepatitis C, with many people experiencing no symptoms until significant liver damage has occurred. A key part of the trust’s role is to explain safe injecting practices if clients are going to continue to use drugs.
The trust provides education and support in community, prison and healthcare settings, giving every person at risk of hepatitis C in the UK the right to receive effective testing, treatment and care.
Foot health practitioner Claire Bradder provided treatment for corns, verrucas, cracked heels and also Trench foot, caused by prolonged exposure to cold, wet and unsanitary conditions. Much of her regular work is done in care homes and she has a long waiting list of clients.
Other services available on Health Day were hair cuts from Iconic Hair and Beauty, Cornwall Health for Homeless, providing a range of healthcare for people without homes; and Healthy Cornwall, which helps with elements such as weight management, stopping smoking and healthy eating.
Further email contacts and web links:
Cornwall Health for Homeless – cpn-tr.homeless-admin@nhs.net
Claire Bradder – cbradderfhp@gmail.com
Healthy Cornwall – www.healthycornwall.org.uk
Iconic Hair and Beauty – www.chaosgroupcornwall.co.uk/iconic-hair-beauty/