Larksfield Surgery Medical Partnership
Goodness Gracious – Great Wall of China!!!
North Herts women aiming to walk the Great Wall of China and raise more than £ 10,000 for Alzheimer’ s Society
North Herts locals Sue Hutchinson and Lissa McGown have taken up the challenge of walking the Great Wall of China to raise money for Alzheimer’ s Society and will also be trying to raise further funds with a number of local events in the run-up to their trek. Together they are TEAM TREKSPIRATION!!
Sue Hutchinson, 46 and Lissa McGown, 38 are hoping to raise more than £ 10,000 by taking part in a six day trek of the Great Wall of China in October 2016 covering up to 70 kilometres. They will be flying out to Beijing on 15th October 2016.
The two friends are also arranging a charity dinner and dance at Letchworth’ s Broadway Hotel on Saturday 3rd September where there will also be plenty of raffle prizes and other activities. Tickets are priced at £ 35 per person.
The first fund raising event is a 2 hour‘ Clubberciseathon’ which will take place at Fairfield Community Hall on Saturday 9th April at 10.30 am. Spaces for this event are filling up fast and are priced at £ 10 per person.
They hope to also hold a quiz night and hopefully other events before the trek.
According to Alzheimer’ s Society, there are more than 850,000 people in the UK living with a form of dementia and in less than 10 years, that will rise to one million people.
Susan said:“ I decided to take part in this challenge for Alzheimer’ s Society because so many people are affected by this crippling disease, including the loved ones of many of my close friends. This disease takes away the lives of its sufferers while they are still living and is so sad and devastating for those who love them. This will be a tough challenge for me, but it’ s nothing compared to what those with
Larksfield Surgery Medical Partnership
My health, my choices
Our health is something we have limited control over; we are subject to the influences of age, genetics and environment. We can do something about our life style to improve our lot, but any health related choices we can make, enable us to feel more in control of our health, rather than it controlling us. Below are some of the areas you do have choices about.
Firstly, when you join the surgery, for administrative purposes, you are allocated a named doctor. However, if you prefer to see somebody different, the practice will try to enable you see the doctor of your choice( but, you can only see a particular doctor if there is an appointment available).
If you have a medical problem and feel that you need to see a specialist, you need to see your GP first. It will only be on the basis of a clinical decision that you will be referred to a consultant or other professional. This also applies to asking for specific tests. Some tests may give false positives or negatives, and so need to be discussed with the patient first to put any potential results into perspective. However there are more options available to the patient with regard to whom they see and where, as well as where to choose to go for treatment should it be necessary. These days most referrals are made through the e-referral system, previously known as‘ choose and book’. Once you have your referral, you can choose yourself if you have access to the Internet, if not the doctor will do it for you. You will be offered at least three choices of who to see and where to go for treatment. Sometimes the same clinician can be seen at more than one hospital.
Many patients require blood tests, this may be a single test, or for some conditions, frequent routine testing. There is choice over where you go for these tests also, so please ask. Larksfield has a visiting phlebotomist every Friday and there is a walk in clinic dementia are going through every day.”
“ Throughout these activities, it’ s great to know I will be raising funds to help support people to live well with dementia today and fund research to find a cure for the future. This will also be my first trip to China, so this is going to be a massive life-changing experience for me too, in more ways than one.”
Jeremy Hughes, chief executive at Alzheimer’ s Society, said:“ We are delighted that Susan and Lissa are giving their time to support Alzheimer’ s Society. This year alone, 225,000 people will develop dementia, that’ s one person every three minutes. As a charity, we rely on the generosity of individuals like Susan and Lissa to help us continue our vital work. We hope people will back them in their fundraising efforts so that Alzheimer’ s Society can continue leading the fight against dementia.”
To sponsor Susan or Lissa please visit: https:// www. justgiving. com / Sue-Hutch / https:// www. justgiving. com / Lissa-Mcgown /
If you are interested in helping with one of their events or donating raffle prizes or company sponsors ships please contact: Suehutch68 @ yahoo. co. uk lissamcgown @ hotmail. com
every day at the Lister hospital. The Park Drive Health Centre in Baldock( next to Tesco) hold a clinic for practice use on Wednesday afternoons and Nevells Road surgery in Letchworth is also available for routine blood tests such as Diabetes or Warfarin anticoagulation checks. Again, please check with the practice to choose which venue is best for you.
With regard to collecting your medication, there is also choice available. If you live within the practice’ s designated“ dispensing area”( Henlow and parts of Arlesey) medication prescribed by your GP will be available from the Practice dispensary; but most prescriptions are filled by independent pharmacies. Many local ones offer a free regular delivery service( if needed). As long as a pharmacy has EPS( Electronic prescription service) you can request your prescription from them. This is a huge advantage as you can choose to collect your medication at whichever pharmacy is nearest your home or even your work. It doesn’ t matter how far away it is, as it is dealt with electronically. If needed, because you have difficulty dispensing your medication, or are inclined to be a little forgetful, you can request your pills are dispensed by the pharmacy into a dosette box. This is a tray with four compartments for each day of the week. Your pills are dispensed into a separate compartment, according to what time of day you need to take them.
If you take more than two types of medication on a regular basis, and particularly if one of them is for a cardiac or respiratory condition, you can ask to have a medication review with a pharmacist. This is usually offered annually and is a confidential service where you can ask questions about dosage, side effects and interactions of the medication you have been prescribed. If you pay for your prescriptions and have at least one item every month, you will find it cheaper to purchase a pre-payment certificate from www. nhsbsa. nhs. uk.
Finally, if you are unsure of anything, do ask your medical practitioner, remember, your health, your choices.
www. facebook. com / groups / onthebutton / | # infoonthebutton | on the button issue 48 August 2016
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