George McGowan focused on reducing health inequalities as pioneering Derry healthy living centres unite as Health for Life

George McGowan, Project Director, said the amalgamation of the Old Library Trust and Bogside and Brandywell Health Forum as Health for Life will ensure vital health and well-being programmes are sustained.

“We are bringing two really strong staff teams together, two organisations with a history steeped in providing for this local community and our focus is exactly that, providing a vast array of health and well-being programmes that are going to support this community well into the future,” Mr. McGowan told the ‘Journal’ as the merger was officially launched this week.

For over 25 years the OLT and B&BHF have been providing a range of services in Creggan, the Bogside and Brandywell, so coalescing under a united brand made sense, explained Mr. McGowan.

“We have always worked together anyway. We had formed a relationship whereby we decided one organisation would maybe deliver on a particular area of work and the other organisation concentrate on another.

“Given the volatile nature of the funding environment within the community and voluntary sector we felt the time was right to formalise that partnership and pursue an official and legal merger,” he said.

About two years ago both boards put the process in motion. Now the relationship has been cemented the teams are now working together under the Health for Life moniker.

"We will be bringing together the broad range of programmes that both organisations do, whether that be programmes and activities, whether its HR, admin, finance, marketing and promotion.

"Both organisations are doing really good work. What we intend to do is take the best, what is really working in particular areas, and make that even better, even stronger.

“We have a core staff team who have a lot of skills and a lot of expertise. They have trained in a whole range of different things and they are going to be critical to the delivery of this new organisation because ultimately it is about service provision into the heart of this area for the people who need it most.”

Health for Life’s main focus will remain its central mission of tackling health inequalities.

Mr. McGowan explained that at the old OLT on Central Drive, it will be very much business as usual in terms of pursuing five strategic priorities.

One of these is the provision of family support services.

“Families can be referred into us at any crisis point in their lives and can come and avail of support. We will signpost them and provide whatever is needed.

"With the cost of living and all the stresses around finances, it has put a strain on people's mental health and well-being, so we are doing a lot of that,” Mr. McGowan told us.

The promotion of healthy living through good food, exercise, diet and nutrition programmes is another key plank of its work.

"That's important, obviously, to allow people to maintain healthy, long and fruitful lives. So we do nutrition programmes with schools, with families, cooking demonstrations and cooking masterclasses and exercise classes,” he explained.

The Creggan hub has always focused on the well-being of older people and dementia support. This will continue into the future, said Mr. McGowan. “Every day there is something on for an older person. We provide a specific, specialist support to people living with dementia in that early stage and for their families and their carers.”

The management of long-term conditions – something that affects a large proportion of local people – is another strategic priority.

“A third of the population of this area are living with a combination of one or more long term health conditions and they need support so we have staff trained up to be able to do that.”

And the final strand is promoting ‘positive mental well-being’ and supporting ‘people if they are facing addiction whether that be smoking, drinking, gambling and so on’.

Mr. McGowan said the reduction of health inequalities in areas with high levels of deprivation such as Creggan, the Bogside and the Brandywell is the ultimate goal.

"We did a recent bit of work with the Health Minister Mike Nesbitt on health inequalities. It is nothing new but the Minister has highlighted the issue and acknowledged areas like this, North Belfast and other places need additional support and need a focused, targeted piece of work because people are worse off than in other areas in the North.

"Our ultimate focus is to help to address those health inequalities and we strongly advocate on behalf of people about that.

"There is no reason why people in these areas can't get the best. Why do we have to settle for second best? So we are always concentrating on advocacy and trying to draw down funding and support for services for people that really, really need it.”

Mr. McGowan said Health for Life will deliver a wide range of community-based services in its locality.

“People want their health and well-being provision closer to their home and in their community

“We are doing quite a bit of work with the Trust and the Public Health Agency and others around that,” he said.

Health for Life is keen to work with the Health Minister on his Neighbourhood Model of Health and Wellbeing Framework, part of his department’s ‘shift left’ policy. This aims to have more people access preventative health and well-being programmes and care in their own communities rather than in hospitals.

"What they are trying to do now, in line with all the GP Federations, is develop, an integrated model of care by having all the right people around the table.

“For the first time they are talking about a community anchor organisation having a lead role in that. That's really important. The community has to be at the centre of all these discussions.”