Health visitor Laura Lumsden takes the reins at the north-east Health Hut initiative
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North-east nurse and health visitor, Laura Lumsden, is set to take over the reins of the Health Hut at the Thainstone Centre, Inverurie this Friday, April 19. Laura, who is also a health visitor and comes from a farm near Turriff, is taking over from nurse Irene Scott after the successful completion of a trial of the initiative by Scottish agricultural charity, RSABI, and ANM Group.
The Health Hut initiative brings health and wellbeing expertise to markets and other events in the farming community at a time and place convenient to them, in an environment where they feel comfortable. RSABI also hopes to encourage farmers, and others in Scottish agriculture, to think how they can improve their health and provide them with an opportunity to discuss any mental or physical health concerns they might have.
Since August last year Health Huts have been held at many of the main sales at Thainstone as well as the Royal Northern Agricultural Society Spring Show. In total around 400 blood pressures have been taken as well as around 300 cholesterol and blood sugar tests. In addition, a range of advice on wellbeing has been provided and farmers have been encouraged to seek further professional advice where necessary.
Welcoming Laura to the Health Hut team, Carol McLaren, RSABI Chief Executive, said: “Particularly at this time of year it is too easy for farmers to neglect their own health and ignore early warning signs of something which could be serious. When you factor in long working hours, tiredness, and isolation it is too easy to not get around to making a medical appointment. In reality, the sooner they take action, the better the chances are of being able to improve things and we have been encouraged by the farmers who have taken steps to improve their health after taking some advice from our Health Hut team.”
Grant Rogerson, Chief Executive of ANM Group, said “We are delighted to see this initiative with RSABI move to a new stage with Laura stepping up to take over as Health Hut nurse. Our thanks to Irene for getting the project off to such a strong start – we are looking forward to helping more customers in the months to come.”
Laura said she is very much looking forward to working with RSABI on the Health Hut initiative saying she sees the initiative as “a real force for change and good in the farming community.Farmers give so much to their communities but unfortunately, they don’t tend to take the best care of themselves – the farm takes priority. My dad is an example of this. He was diagnosed with high blood pressure which then led to health complications. He didn’t go to the health centre but if there had been something like a Health Hut back then, I think he might have gone there to get checked out and it could have been picked up earlier,” said Laura.
The benefits the Health Hut brings are huge, says Laura, who has been a nurse since 2012 and has a wide range of experience in encouraging people to improve their health and wellbeing.
She is looking forward to attending many local shows with ANM Group through the summer and is enthusiastic about the emotional wellbeing benefits of the initiative too.
“Being able to talk is so important and the Health Hut can really help with that if people are worried about something. Just a five-minute chat to offload can do the world of good, especially in a tough spring like this year. My message when farmers see the Health Hut is to come and say hello and have a chat and a look at the information we are sharing and the preventative steps we are promoting.”
The Health Hut will be present at Thainstone on Friday 19th April and no appointment is needed. During the coming weeks RSABI will be announcing the next phase of the project with a range of new Health Huts at marts set to appear across the country.
RSABI offers free practical, financial, and emotional support including counselling services, delivered quickly after receiving the initial enquiry. Its free confidential support service is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year, by calling 0808 1234 555 (calls won’t show up on phone bills) or through a confidential webchat service, available on RSABI’s website.
