A week of free nutritional advice and health checks supports Bristol community

Company news

Mar 04, 2014

A week of advice on nutrition and hydration will also help to support charities at home and abroad at Emerson Green NHS Treatment Centre from Monday 17th March until Friday 21st March.

National Nutrition and Hydration Week will focus on providing vital advice and guidance on creating a good, well balanced diet at home as well as preventing debilitating dehydration.

Each day at the Care UK centre at The Brooms will see a special event designed to give information to the public. There will also be specialised information available from the centre’s medical professionals through webinars (online seminars) and workshops.

Ward manager Olwyn Dawkins, who is co-ordinating the event, said: “Good nutrition is vital at any age and we will have lots of information about how to eat a healthy diet without breaking the bank. We will also have information for older people who may need to think more about how they get their key nutrients as their appetites become smaller.”

On Monday staff will be helping out in the ward area, dispensing nutritional ideas along with the meals to patients. On H20 Tuesday, hydration will be the theme of the day, looking at the importance of drinking enough water, and offering the opportunity to support Water Aid, an international charity which brings clean water to communities across the world, and international development charity Oxfam.

Olwyn said: “If a patient is not hydrated before or after an operation, their healing can be impaired. Lack of water can also cause urinary tract infections, headaches, constipation and confusion.

“Many older people avoid drinking water as they do not want to get up in the night to go to the toilet but, for optimal health, we should all be drinking a litre and a half a day, regardless of our age.”

On Wednesday visitors and team members will be taking part in a worldwide afternoon tea party with sandwiches, scones, jam, cream and fancy cakes all available for a donation. A member of staff will be the hostess for each table, waiting on invited guests. Prizes will be awarded for the best dressed table and best afternoon tea.

Throughout the week there will be a wide range of healthy breakfasts available for a donation to the charities and there will be a health check corner where visitors can get dietary advice along with checks on their height, weight, body-mass index and blood pressure.

The centre will also be taking donations of food to support the work of the Bristol Food Bank. Olwyn said: “People are struggling and here at the centre we have a deep commitment to keeping the people in the area fit and well. Nutrition is a vital part of wellbeing. We hope that, by the end of our information week, we will have collected enough food to keep local families well - and well fed - for quite some time.”