Over two hundred thousand spent on healthy initiatives in Offaly

€209,638 has been spent to date on delivering a number of health promotion projects in Offaly.

At the November meeting of Tullamore Municipal District, Dermot Egan, who works as the Healthy Ireland coordinator in Offaly gave a presentation on how the money has been spent.

Dermot said the projects are designed to create awareness of the importance of healthy living and disease prevention.

Among the many programmes which took place throughout the county was 'Invest in Yourself ' which was rolled out by Clara Family Resource Centre, in conjunction with ExWell Medical. The programme set out to reduce obesity through physical activity. It provided classes which were a combination of aerobic, resistance, core strength and balance exercise.

Another programme involved Offaly Traveller Movement's St Michael's Athletic Soccer team. This included football, health related talks and medical health supports. ''The lads won the division 3 cup in the second season. It was a huge boost for us and the guys as well.'' said Dermot.

'Cycling without Age'involved Healthy Offaly, Bord na Mona, and KDA (Kilcormac Development Association) This provided a bicycle storage shed and an online booking system for the use of a rickshaw bicycle.

'Active Aging for Kilcormac' was directed towards older adults. 15 adults took part in this and they engaged in boccia, shared yoga and the use of activation poles.

'Minding Me' was a 12 week obesity intervention measure for retirees. It was delivered by Offaly Library Service. This included talks on nutrition and exercise. It took place in January to June 2024.

One of the most innovative was an initiative which allows people to borrow activation poles from Edenderry library. People can use the facility the same way as they borrow books. Dermot Egan said it cost €405 for the poles which he felt was '' was excellent value for money.''

The initiatives were welcomed by local councillors.  More projects will come on stream in January.