23 April 2021

23 April 2021

News

  • Welcome back Lauren
  • Trees planted
  • YHN community fund
  • Quitting for good: staying an ex smoker
  • Pregnant women now offered COVID-19 vaccination

Research & Reports

  • Better end of life report by Marie Curie
  • Debt Impact report by Citizen’s Advice

Opportunities for Action

  • Transport and social exclusion survey
  • The Secret life of a Hospital: Clinical Research in Newcastle During COVID-19

New on InformationNOW this week!

  • This week’s events & activities at a glance
  • Updated articles & organisations
  • National Glass Centre, Sunderland
  • InterpreterNOW

News

InformationNOW

Welcome back Lauren!

Lauren has re-joined the Prevention Information and Advice Team following maternity leave. She is picking up where she left off working with Kate to manage InformationNOW, Your Equipment Newcastle and the Care and Support for Adults pages on Newcastle City Council’s website.Lauren is working part time, Wednesday to Friday. You can contact Kate, Carol or Lauren about InformationNOW and any updates about your services or events on: [email protected]


Tree planting success

31,000 new trees have been planted in Newcastle in a single year. Should all of them grow to maturity that could see the city exceed its target to have a fifth of the city under canopy cover by 2050 by more than 80 percent.

Councillors on our Overview and Scrutiny Committee will next week hear how, in the tree planting season of 2019/20 data from Newcastle City Council, Urban Green Newcastle, Newcastle Great Park’s NGP Consortium, and planning applications, shows that numbers have shot up with 31,966 trees planted and 648 removed, meaning an overall potential gain of 31,318 trees.

InformationNOW has articles on: gardening and health


YHN Community Fund Launch – apply now

The YHN Community Fund (previously the Community Investment Fund) is back for another year.

The fund is open to voluntary and community sector organisations in Newcastle to bid for a share of £20,000 available across four rounds throughout the year, with the first round launching in April. Organisations can bid for grants of up to £4,000 per round.

They are looking for projects that will focus on:

  •       building stronger communities
  •       reducing social isolation and loneliness
  •       improving mental health and well-being
  •       tackling digital exclusion and digital poverty

Find out more information or email  Deadline for applications is Friday 30th April 2021.


Quitting for good: Staying an ex-smoker

Fresh is encouraging ex-smokers who quit during the Covid-19 pandemic to keep up their commitment and not start up again whilst socialising outdoors.

If you believe that cutting down or only “social smoking” avoids health risks, the truth is that smoking even just a few cigarettes a day significantly raises the risks of cancer and heart attack.

Ailsa Rutter OBE, Director of Fresh and Balance, said: “If you’ve quit smoking, the worst thing of all is to think you can have the odd cigarette which can undo the brilliant achievement of quitting and get you hooked again. Light smoking is still smoking and carries with it substantial risks. For many people the pandemic has been a wake-up call about health and thousands of people quit here in the North East.
InformationNOW has articles on: Giving up Smoking and 10 tips to good health


Pregnant women now offered COVID-19 vaccination

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised that pregnant women should be offered the COVID-19 vaccine at the same time as the rest of the population, based on their age and clinical risk group. Read the article in full on GOV.UK


Research & Reports

The Better End of Life Report 2021

Many people may think that Marie Curie supports people dying from cancer, but their support is far more wide-ranging.  Locally, Marie Curie North East has a bereavement service that has been broadened to support people who have experienced loss during the coronavirus pandemic.

Marie Curie looks at how Covid-19 has affected dying, death and bereavement and what we can learn from the pandemic for improving end of life experience in future.

  • many more people died this year than usual, with many experiencing tremendous hardships at the end of life.
  • the place where people died changed, with many more dying at home.
  • palliative and end of life care services have been a vital part of the pandemic emergency response, switching their services into delivery in community settings.
  • care was compromised by shortages of essential PPE, medicines and staff – these were made worse by hospices not being seen as ‘frontline NHS’.

Their work draws upon the NIHR funded CovPall data by Kings College on end of life during the pandemic.

InformationNOW has a section on End of Life and Marie Curie North East which also offers a Tyne and Wear helper/befriender service.


Citizen’s Advice New Debt Impact report

Citizen’s Advice has published its 20/21 report which shows the range and scope of their support across their regional sites.  Some of the findings include:

  •  49% of their debt clients had another issue that could have contributed to, or be exacerbated by, their debt situation
  •  More than 4 in 5 of the people we help say they experienced a life event or change in circumstance leading up to the
    problem that they came to see us about. This most often related to a change in finances (48%) or ill health (46%)
  • Common debt types include: council tax arrears, fuel debts, personal loan (unsecured), rent arrears and bank and building society overdrafts

Local organisations that can help: Citizens Advice Newcastle

InformationNOW has a series of articles on: benefits and money


Opportunities for Action

Transport and social exclusion online survey

Transport for the North (TfN) is conducting an online survey to gather local area insights from Councillors, Local Authority officers and voluntary sector organisations working with those affected by social exclusion.

This could include several neighbourhoods from within a single local authority area.
You can download a briefing note on the background to the survey..  Deadline: Thursday 29th April 2021.

InformationNOW has an article on public transport.


The Secret life of a Hospital: Clinical Research in Newcastle During COVID-19, 27 May, 2 – 4pm

International Clinical Trials Day is held in May. The day celebrates the anniversary of the first clinical trial by James Lind in 1747 into the causes of scurvy on board the HMS Salisbury.

Newcastle is home to a fantastic range of clinical research which is being delivered in our local Hospital and University facilities, so they are taking the opportunity to mark International Clinical Trials Day by hosting an online event and uncovering some of the fantastic research happening at the NIHR Newcastle Clinical Research Facility.  Researchers from the facilities will talk to you about the important clinical research taking place in Newcastle during the COVID-19 Pandemic both in the hospital and University facilities.

Other useful research contacts and opportunities to volunteer: CRN for North East and CumbriaDementia and neurodegenerative diseases network


New on InformationNOW this week

Online events & activities at a glance

Monday

  • Fusion at Home – Movement4Life
  • HowFit Today Online Exercise
  • Take Ten Minutes – Guided meditation at Tyne Riverside Country Park Newburn

Tuesday

  • Take Ten Minutes – Guided meditation at Iris Brickfield Park
  • Jesmond Community Orchard Ladybird Survey
  • Virtual Forest Bathing

Wednesday

  • Take Ten Minutes – Guided meditation at Armstrong Park
  • What to grow this month
  • Social outdoor activities

Thursday

  • 1:1 Guided and supported night time bike rides or walks
  • Couch to 5K
  • Radio Tyneside – Health, Wellbeing, Conversation and Music
  • Young carers online group

Friday

  • Friday Quiz with Anne at Silverline Memories
  • Ladies Only Gym
  • Signs of Spring

What’s new on InformationNOW this week

Articles Updated

10 Tips for good health

A joint statement from Islamic scholars on Muslim burials during the coronvirus pandemic

Accessible and Public Toilets

Organisations Updated

 

Last updated: April 27, 2021