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PAUL Partnership, Limerick launches the Irish Cancer Society Fit for Work and Life programme evaluation report PAUL Partnership, Limerick launches the Irish Cancer Society Fit for Work and Life programme evaluation report

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PAUL Partnership Limerick launches the Irish Cancer Society Fit for Work and Life programme evaluation report 

Irish Cancer Society Fit for Work and Life with PAUL Partnership Limerick aims to build participants’ understanding of the importance of health and keeping well for their family and their working lives. Photo by Alan Place.

PAUL Partnership Limerick launches the Irish Cancer Society Fit for Work and Life programme evaluation report 

The Irish Cancer Society together with PAUL Partnership Limerick has launched its evaluation report on its health and wellbeing programme, Fit for Work and Life (FFWL). The report was produced for the Irish Cancer Society by the National Centre for Men’s Health, Carlow Institute of Technology.

The report found significant improvements in participants’ eating habits, levels of physical activity and attitudes to cancer screening.


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Joanne Vance, Community Programmes Manager with the Irish Cancer Society, said, “FFWL is a really important programme for the Society as it gets right into the heart of communities and empowers people to take control of their own health. 

“We know that health can be negatively impacted by socio-economic factors and that people in disadvantaged communities have higher rates of cancer and poorer chances of survival. This programme recognises those inequalities and works with community partners to improve participants’ access to services and supports,” she added.

Pictured at the Launch in the Moyross Community Centre Limerick were, Helen Fitzgerald, Paul Partnership and Joanne Vance, Irish Cancer Society. Photo by Alan Place.

Dr Noel Richardson, National Centre for Men’s Health, Carlow Institute of Technology, said, “The programme had a profound effect on participants’ health and wellbeing and created significant opportunities for partnership development and community capacity building that can form the bedrock for its future sustainability.  This evaluation provides a very strong case for scaling up the Fit for work and life programme.”

Helen Fitzgerald, PAUL Partnership, Limerick, said, “Fit for Work and Life has been delivered in Limerick in partnership with the Irish Cancer Society since 2016. Many people who are out of the workforce for a while lose their self-esteem and doing courses such as FFWL gives them the confidence to make positive changes in their lives and perhaps avail of other opportunities.”

Cllr Michael Sheahan, Mayor of the City and County of Limerick, said “By improving health outcomes and reducing health inequalities, the goals of the FFWL programme align well with those of Healthy Limerick and the Healthy Ireland Strategy. It is a good, practical example of how organisations can work together to implement national and regional policy at the community level.”

Fit for Work and Life is aimed at people who may be unemployed or on low incomes and are participating in employability, social inclusion and other community-based adult education programmes. The programme is supported by the Medtronic Foundation through the Community Foundation of Ireland which promotes health at the community level.

Fit for Work and Life

The Fit for Work & Life programme is a community health promotion and well-being programme working with regional and local community partners to encourage and support their participants to make healthy choices, facilitating people to be fit for both their work and personal life.

The programme is delivered by Community Facilitators who have been trained by the Irish Cancer Society and the Irish Institute of Training and Development, to a QQI level 6 standard.   

The purpose of the programme is to help participants to navigate their way through the many confusing and often conflicting messages about health and what it means to lead a healthy lifestyle. We aim to separate the facts from the fiction and provide good information on behaviours and issues that can influence our health, as well as helpful tips so that participants can decide how they can make the healthy choice the easy choice.

The Irish Cancer Society has designed an 8-12 week health and well-being programme based on the European Code against Cancer and the Ottawa Charter of Health Promotion. The purpose of the programme is to build participants’ understanding of the importance of health and keeping well for their family and their working lives. It gives information on how to spot cancer early by knowing what are the signs and symptoms of cancer.

 

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Richard is a presenter, producer, songwriter and actor. He was named the Limerick Person of the Year (2011) and won an online award at the Metro Éireann Media and Multicultural Awards (2011) for promoting multi-culturalism online. Richard says that the ilovelimerick.com concept is very much a community driven project that aims to document life in Limerick. So, that in 20 years time people can look back and remember the events that were making the headlines.