Health & Wellbeing

An Aircraft Engineer who served in the Royal Airforce during the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts will join over one thousand others and cycle 100 miles in one day at Velo Birmingham, in aid of patients at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. Jonathan Perks, a 42 year-old father of four, spent eight years as a Royal Airforce Engineer, where he was involved in preparing C130 Hercules – the workhorse of the RAF’s Air Transport, responsible for carrying troops, including flying those injured in conflict to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine is based – for medical evacuations during the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Birmingham-based researchers have enlisted the expertise of a Midlands Air Ambulance Charity (MAAC) HEMS paramedic to help carry out a ground breaking study. Jim Hancox has been drafted into a NIHR Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Centre (SRMRC) team which is investigating the effectiveness of giving patients blood products after a major injury before reaching hospital.

Sandwell’s social care boss has praised the round-the-clock efforts of health and council staff working hard to keep hospital beds available during the busy winter period. Councillor Ann Shackleton visited Sandwell Hospital in West Bromwich to see first-hand how older people are cared for, assessed and discharged. She toured the Older Persons’ Assessment Unit and also met the Joint Discharge Team, speaking to health and social care workers as well as a consultant and a patient.

Birmingham mother Jackie Watkins lived the first 25 years of her life not knowing why she was constantly ill. As a child and young woman she was repeatedly in and out of hospital with a variety of serious ailments which took their toll on both her and her family – but no-one could tell them why. Jackie, of Great Barr, was finally diagnosed with tuberous sclerosis - but not before her mother had a breakdown brought on by all the worry.

A Wednesbury dad whose daughter received major spinal surgery at Birmingham Children’s Hospital will be taking to the saddle this September for the hospital charity’s first-ever London to Paris cycling challenge. Matthew Vipond, father to 10-year-old Libby, is among 30 others who have already set the wheels in motion and registered to take part in this iconic 300-mile event taking place from Wednesday 6 to Sunday 10 September.

Work is well underway on a £2m state-of-the-art gym development on Newtown Middleway, off the Aston Expressway close to the Matalan / Dartmouth Circle roundabout. JD Gyms, part of JD Sports Fashion group, is transforming the 26,000sq ft. Alcora Building into a three floor fitness facility, due to open this March. Originally destined to be an office complex, JD Gyms obtained planning permission to give the building a new lease of life as a gym last Autumn.

A recruitment consultant from Birmingham is taking on the ultimate cycling challenge to raise money for patients at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) after her friend, Leanne Maxwell, died in 2015 following treatment for an aggressive brain tumour. Sarah Pugh, 26, has signed up to take on Velo Birmingham, a 100-mile, closed-road bike ride coming to the second city for the first time in September 2017.

Public Health chiefs in Wolverhampton are reminding unvaccinated first year university students to make sure they get immunised against meningococcal disease. The appeal comes as Public Health England (PHE) issues updated advice to universities on reducing the spread of this deadly infection, which causes meningitis and septicaemia, and comes after figures show that less than a third of all young people leaving school or college last summer had been immunised with the Men ACWY vaccine by the end of October.

University of Wolverhampton students and staff have signed up to a city-wide campaign to raise awareness of the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. Public Health England (PHE) leads the co-ordination of Antibiotic Awareness activities in England in collaboration with the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Department of Health.

According to vet and author of the book ‘Medical Marijuana & Your Pet,’ Doctor Robert Silver believes that hemp extracts could play a huge role in animal health and cost effective treatments of the future. Following months of consumer demand from pet owners, UK company LoveHemp has introduced a new pet variant of its popular hemp extract.  The key ingredient is Cannabidiol (also known as CBD), a naturally occurring extract produced from the cannabis plant.

More than 30 people a week are signing up for a service which helps them remain independent for longer. The City of Wolverhampton Council’s Telecare service supports people to live in their own homes by providing a range of assistive technology, from emergency alarms and fall detectors to smoke and flood sensors and automated pill dispensers. Last year, the council announced plans to give 3,000 additional customers the chance to use Telecare by 2019 – and already over 800 more packages have been installed in residents’ homes since April 2016.

With nearly two thirds of people making it their New Year’s resolution to get fit, residents in Wolverhampton are being offered a helping hand to improve their health and wellbeing in 2017. The City of Wolverhampton Council’s Healthy Lifestyles Team provides free support to people who want to become fitter and more active, lose weight, eat more healthily, stop smoking or drink less alcohol.

Public Health England’s new campaign is encouraging parents in the West Midlands region to ‘Be Food Smart’ and take control of their children’s diets. This follows findings that children consume half the daily recommended sugar intake before the morning school bell rings. Children in England consume more than 11g of sugar at breakfast time alone, almost 3 sugar cubes. The recommended daily maximum is no more than 5 cubes of sugar for 4- to 6-year-olds and no more than 6 cubes for 7- to 10-year-olds per day. 

Public Health England (PHE) has launched a campaign to highlight the damaging effect smoking has on the heart, as it is revealed that 45 people a day die of cardiovascular disease (CVD) caused by smoking – over 16,500 a year in England. In the West Midlands, nearly 16% of adults still smoke. CVD includes all diseases of the heart and circulation – including heart attacks and strokes. The disease is one of the main causes of death and disability in the country and quitting has been identified as the single best thing a smoker can do to protect their heart.

Public health chiefs are urging people to stay warm and stay well over the winter period to help prevent colds, flu or more serious health conditions. The chances of becoming ill due to winter-related illnesses are higher among people aged 65 and over or those with a disability or long term health condition such as heart, lung or kidney disease.

If you’re struggling to find the motivation to budge the extra Christmas bulge, the British Veterinary Association (BVA) is offering advice on how pet owners can get fit with their dog, after 62% of companion animal vets said pet obesity is one of their top concerns in a recent BVA survey. Now BVA is offering advice on how to avoid expanding waistlines for pets and owners with some top tips on how owners can combine caring for their dog with their own fitness campaign.