Call 7 days a week for free advice

0808 303 7503*

Yorkshire scheme helps older people become more active

13th December 2018

Yorkshire Coast Radio has recently released an article suggesting that people who are at risk of falls, trips and slips are often susceptible to loss of confidence, loneliness, and pressure related injuries and infections.

North Yorkshire Country Council’s public health team have introduced a £300,000 scheme to encourage these people to become more active. The programme called Strong and Steady was piloted earlier this year in the hope to reduce the risk of falls, loneliness and improve mental wellbeing among the over 65’s.

The project, which is delivered by North Yorkshire sport and Age UK has already established 13 commissioned specialist classes across the UK and is on a mission to help make existing classes more accessible.

Not only supplying vital information about being active, but the classes will also provide vital facts about eating healthy, keeping warm during the winter and exercises to help prevent falls in the future.

County Councillor Caroline Dickinson, the Executive Member for Public Health, told Yorkshire Coast Radio:

“Falling can have far-reaching consequences, so it’s good news that the Strong and Steady programme is now being offered to people across North Yorkshire. Encouraging older people to be physically active has been shown to improve their independence and mental wellbeing as well as their physical health.”

As mobility decreases and the use of stair lifts is introduced, the amount of exercise people get tends to dwindle, something that this scheme is looking to help with. As well as using aids in the home to reduce the risk of accidents, an increase of exercise within these groups should help to lower the number even further.

These new schemes can be found at the following locations:

  • Settle
  • Northallerton
  • Thirsk
  • Harrogate town centre
  • Knaresborough
  • Ripon
  • Catterick
  • Leyburn
  • Malton
  • Filey
  • Scarborough
  • Shelby Town
  • Elmet

This news article is from Handicare UK. Articles that appear on this website are for information purposes only.