Wednesday is ‘international self-care day’ and an event will be taking place in Douglas to mark it.
The Department of Health’s self care steering group, along with staff other care sectors, will be available to explain more about self care at The Strand Shopping Centre in Douglas between 10am and 4pm.
Cath Quilliam, director of community nursing, said: ‘Celebrating international self care day is an important way of raising awareness amongst the public, and helps the department to get the message out about the important role self care plays in wellbeing. The concepts of self care and ill-health prevention are fundamental to the department’s health strategy.’
The Health-e Directory has been developed as a ‘one stop shop’ for up-to-date help and advice about self care and keeping healthy in the Isle of Man.
A Department of Health spokesman: ‘The Health-e Directory is a partnership between government and the community, not focused on government provided health services, but on the diverse range of self care support available.
‘Self care refers to the actions individuals take for themselves and their families to stay healthy and to take care of minor and long term health conditions, based on their knowledge and the information available. This includes working in partnership with health and social care professionals as necessary.’
The spokesman said that self care practices ranged from brushing your teeth to learning to live with a long term health condition such as Parkinson’s disease.
Ann Corkill, senior nurse for self care, said: ‘We are bombarded with vast amounts of information and news articles on ‘healthy living’, telling us to stop smoking, cut down on fatty food and alcohol, maintain a healthy weight, reduce the amount of salt and sugar in our diet and increase our exercise.
‘It is far too easy to ignore these health warnings – that is until the inevitable happens – we develop a long term health condition such as diabetes, heart failure or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, it should be recognised that for many, their long term condition may not have a direct link to lifestyle choices.
‘For many of us we know what we need to do but actually doing it is difficult and we don’t always know where to go for help and support. Supporting people to self care brings many benefits, such as improving confidence, knowledge, skills and overall wellbeing.’
The department believes that around six out of 10 adults in the population report some form of long term health problem and by 2030 it is estimated that the incidence of long term health conditions is set to double.
These numbers are predicted to rise due to factors such as an aging population and what the department describes as ‘certain lifestyle choices’.