Neighbourhood Heart Health Volunteer

The biggest health problem facing the population is not COVID- more people die early or find themselves disabled because of heart disease. Heart Disease (Heart Attacks and Strokes) can affect anyone and are affecting people at younger and younger ages. You can't 'catch' heart disease, you mainly bring it on yourself through your lifestyle. Too little exercise, too much unhealthy food, smoking and excessive drinking combine over time to seriously increase the likelihood of heart attacks and strokes. Led by Nottingham Trent University we are using tablet computers with a short but clever questionnaire which works out your risk of heart attack and stroke, and tells you where that risk comes from. We need people in the Crabtree area of Bulwell to train with us in how to use the tablet computers with friends, neighbours, family, and at community events to review people's heart health with them, and to explain the results of the questionnaire. The activity is based out of Crabtree Farm Community Centre where there are already exercise classes, healthy food cafe and other activities which can support healthy changes and healthier lifestyles. We need people who can commit to 2 or 3 hours a week for six months to work with us to find out how healthy the neigbourhood is so that we can design information and activities to help people get on top of their health again after COVID. We will form a small, informal working group of volunteers who, supported by the University, will gain skills and experience helping people to understand the links between their lifestyle and their long term health, and working with Crabtree Community Centre to design activities which will help people to make the small but important changes that could keep them healthy for the long term.