November 2006

This month I have been working alongside the Health of Men's Team, supporting them with the work that they do on "Anti bullying" in schools and on the screening program for young Asian people on awareness of diabetes.

The anti bullying work was about giving the school children information about why people become bullies and what to do if they are faced with a bullying situation. This work was done in a range of schools in West Yorkshire district and with different age groups.
Examples of the things that were done with them:
What should you do if your been bullied at school or elsewhere?
How does bullying change someone's life?
What are the laws relating to bullying and the different types of bullying that there are?
A quick quiz were given to the students on anti bullying and poems were read from those who had been bullied and who, tragically, are no longer with us.

The Asian diabetes screenings were held once a week in 3 different areas of Keighley. These were Highfield, Showfield and the neighbourhood of the Bangladeshi Community Association.
It was targeted at young people, as many of them are unaware of the health risk they face. Both myself and other Health Apprentice went to these areas to distribute information leaflets and made some appointments with people, so that they could undertake a check. It was a good turn out for each area and we had both men and women.
Many were really astounded about their present health condition and were very surprised about the affects this could have later in life for them. Most have decided to change their diet and exercise more to help them improve their current health. I got some good feed back from the people, who had attended the programme.