On the 7/10/17 Dolgellau Hospital Out Patient staff, police staff, firemen and local business representatives are holding a sponsored walk from Dolgellau to Barmouth. The Dolgellau branch of Barclays Bank has kindly agreed to match any donations up to £1,000.

The Out Patient Department of Dolgellau Hospital are working to encourage good health and wellbeing in the community, recently by raising awareness of men’s health. Men suffer inequalities in health, dying younger than women, earlier from heart disease, with poorer outcomes for other diseases and are three times more likely to take their own life.

The best way to raise awareness is to make information available whenever and wherever it is needed. We work closely with the Orchid Men’s Health charity which provides information on male cancers, particularly testicular and prostate. Steven Evans-Jones is the Orchid North Wales Ambassador, covering a large area to give presentations. The charity would like to train more volunteers to reach out to more men and to do that they need to raise funds.

The staff also work closely with the Farming Community Network which is an organisation that supports farmers mental health. They provide a helpline for farmers who are experiencing distress for whatever reason. Volunteers are available to provide practical support for as long as it is required and again, more funding will allow them to train more volunteers.

Both organisations would also like to provide more written information in Welsh and your donations can help us do this.

One of our aims is to make the helpline cards available for farmers, wherever they work, study or socialise. A network of PCSOs, the Rural Crime and the Firearms departments are helping us to do this.
However, more needs to be done to give men the information & support to improve their own health. Your donations will help us do this by providing funding for more volunteers & bilingual educational materials.

Thank you.