My Working DayBernard Twomey, community health worker with HSE South, aims to improve the health and lifestyle of Cork's northside communities
I am one of four community health workers working on the north side of Cork city in the Health Action Zone (HAZ) areas of Knocknaheeney, Churchfield, Mayfield and The Glen.
The former Southern Health Board set up HAZ as a pilot project in July 2003 as a response to the RAPID process, but it has since been evaluated and streamlined.
The HAZ model is a method of strategically developing the delivery of health services in a targeted area. It aims to improve the health and lifestyle of a community, through a series of health-focused initiatives that build on existing services and facilities.
I work 35 hours a week, but how this is managed varies depending on what's happening. Much of my work, including heart and lifestyle health checks, family fun days and special events, takes place in the evening and weekends.
One of our key roles is in increasing access to existing health services for the communities we work with, and identifying any gaps in service. We do this by developing strong links with other departments within the HSE South.
We organise various health-related events that are locally based and availed of by members of the community. For example, The Glen HAZ offers free health checks which are delivered by our colleagues in cardiovascular and area-based public health nursing, and asthma awareness and training is provided by community physiotherapists and the Irish Asthma Society.
HAZ receives support from the numerous HSE South heads of discipline which is central to our success to date and will be crucial for ongoing and future developments. We have equally engaged with NGOs, local and national organisations in proactively supporting each other in our health-related activity.
No day is typical in the sense of routine, it differs daily, monthly and yearly. A key factor in attracting me to this role was the expectation that most of my time would be spent meeting people locally.
Fine days can find me in the local park chatting to walkers, runners, joggers and dog walkers. This helps to engage people in the wider health debate as they relate experiences, issues and health-related concerns. Other members of the team use similar local focal points as part of their work such as bingo halls and community and youth cafes. It's an important part of our work, but done in a very relaxed and informal way.
As a team, we meet once a month to update each other on work in progress and identify areas where we can support each other. The RAPID areas that each of us work in have, over the past 20 years, been researched in depth. The social detriments of health have affected all of the HAZ areas.
What has been demonstrated over the past three years is the benefits to a community of having a community health worker working alongside existing community resources.