Project tells people:  Health is your business

The Health is your Business project aims to improve community health by visiting people at their places of work and leisure.

Karen Davies has been in position since Sept 2007 as a Community Health Improvement Nurse and has been working across the Coastal Strip of West Sussex, to help people with busy lifestyles to take their health seriously.

Her work includes delivering personal health checks to members of the public, as well as health promotion and educational activities, with the aim of improving people’s health via the workplace and other communal settings.

Karen said: “This is an innovative project that challenges the boundaries of where initial health care advice and screening is provided, yet fitting within busy lives.

“Working people spend the greater part of their lives at work, so the workplace is a good and currently under-utilised location to influence the adoption of healthy lifestyles. Men are less likely to visit their GP surgeries, reducing the chance of prevention and early detection of conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.

She added: “The project is called ‘Health is Your Business’. Not only do we all have responsibility for looking after our own health but workplaces should also take a keen interest, as their employees are vital for their success and poor health can seriously affect this. I intend to get out there and help people, employers included, to know how best to help themselves.

“The UK has one of the highest rates of death from heart disease in the world - one British adult dies from the disease every three minutes - and stroke is the country's third biggest killer, claiming 70,000 lives each year. High blood pressure or blood cholesterol increases risks but without any early warning symptoms.

“It is therefore important that people have access to someone who can inform them if they are susceptible to any of these conditions and advise them on how to manage their individual risks. That is where I come in.”

A large part of Karen’s role involves carrying out personal health reviews, which will include checks on blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, body fat percentage, and lung function. She also helps people to undertake lifestyle assessments, and advise on how to live a healthier life.

Karen said: “This project offers a different setting for these assessments and my role will be to support and encourage workplaces to participate in health promoting initiatives, such as activity challenges, smoking cessation and opportunities for staff to learn together.” 

The role of Workplace and Community Health Improvement Nurse has been facilitated by West Sussex County Council, and is also supported by Adur District Council, Arun District Council and the PCT.