Warm welcome for Athlone Healthy Communities initiative
An innovative new programme which aims to deliver increased health and wellbeing services to a number of areas in Athlone was given a warm welcome by the Athlone area representatives on Westmeath County Council this week.
The programme, called Healthy Communities, was jointly launched in October by Ministers Stephen Donnelly and Frank Feighan, and will see €13 million being spent in 19 community areas across Ireland.
Westmeath is to benefit from €330,000 in funding for a number of projects aimed at improving the life expectancy of residents living in communities which are already part of the RAPID programme (Revitalising Areas by Planning, Investment and Development).
Among the parts of Athlone which are due to be included in the Healthy Communities Initiative are Willow Park; Monksland; Blackberry Lane; Battery Heights and Sarsfield Square.
In a detailed presentation to the December meeting of Westmeath County Council on Monday afternoon, Director of Services, Pat Murtagh, said the programme would deliver parenting classes, smoking cessation clinics, nutrition and cookery classes and a social prescribing programme which will provide “a link worker” to help people to access interventions and referrals to community-based services.
Cllr Aengus O’Rourke described the Healthy Communities programme as “a really great scheme which gets to the heart of communities” but he expressed reservations about the timeframe for the delivery of the programme in the first quarter of 2022 and felt it was “too short.”
Council Chairman Cllr Frankie Keena also praised the programme and said it was “a marvellous initiative” which would make a big difference to the lives of the local communities in the targeted areas. “I give it all my blessings,” he added.
Pat Murtagh agreed that the timeframe was short but he pointed out that it was “not a rigid timeframe” and he said he would have “no problem” reverting to the Department of Health to seek an extension.
He praised the role of his council colleague, Annette Barr-Jordan, who he said was “closely involved” in all aspects of the Healthy Communities initiative, and he said “substantial funding” would be delivered into county Westmeath in early 2022 as part of the programme.
During his presentation to the council meeting, Mr. Murtagh said the Department of Health has estimated that tackling health inequality in disadvantaged communities “could help avoid 5,400 premature deaths” each year.