Communitydialogue

Working Lunch 18 Dec: Progress

Naim and I were really pleased with the turnout for our working lunch at Saint Peter's Health Centre this week.

12 guests attended, from a range of local community groups including SureStart, BuilD, Ansaar and the Pakistan Youth & Community Association. We had delicious healthy food to eat, lively discussion and I captured the key points of our 3 hour get- together using my new graphic recording skills. (The feedback to this was very encouraging, it went down a storm!).

Naim, our Community Health Development worker for Highfields said

I thought it went very well, the contribution from the attendees was very positive. The meeting opened up some very frank and interesting discussions on how we can address the issues around cook and eat and it was encouraging to see people taking ownership in wanting to take this initiative forward.

What next?

I will update all our Highfields contacts with the outcome of our working lunch, forward the graphicing images and set some objectives for January 2009; namely, for them to have a think about the enthusiastic volunteers in their respective communities that we can get involved in the project.

Working Lunch event

I have uploaded our invite to the Highfields Cook & Eat, Working Lunch event.  I thought this might be useful if you are arranging similar public events for your own projects.

Please note, this is NOT an open invitation!  As much as Naim and I would love to have you all over for lunch, we do have limited resources ;-)

View the invite here:  Download invite_textfinal.pdf

Cook & Eat: The Story So Far

We are making good progress with scoping the Highfields area, for our Cook & Eat project.  I thought it would be helpful to give an overview of our journey so far.

Where have we been?

In Highfields the health statistics and public feeling spoke for themselves and there was little question that our focus had to tackle the high rates of Diabetes and Heart Disease in the area.

Standard diet and nutrition advice hadn’t worked here in the past, because it didn’t fit with the recipes that people in Highfields like to cook and eat.  It was also felt that any solutions had to be sustainable by the community, funding could come and go but skills and aspirations would still be active.

Where are we now? 

Our community health development worker Naim Razak, has regular contact with local people and extensive knowledge of Highfields.  As a result, Naim is passionate that a ‘one size fits all’ approach is not suitable here, because of the complex mix of nationalities and cultures.

So, we have a strategy not dissimilar to Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food.  Our strategy is to educate local people about healthy cooking techniques and ingredients, and roll out this knowledge through our ‘community connectors’ in ways that respect culture, faith and lifestyle.

We realise the importance of selling the benefits of healthy cooking and eating to this community, and making positive change easy, accessible and useful for local people.

Where are we going?

It is just as important to scope our doctors and clinicians, as it is our communities.  What are their barriers?  What support do they need?  We will meet with the local dietetics service over the next week or so, to set the scene of Cook & Eat and talk through the above. 

Slightly further ahead, we have proposed a ‘working lunch’ meeting in December for around 20 people.  Delegates will include the key contacts for local organisations such as the Caribbean Centre and Shama Women’s Centre, as our ‘hooks’ into the community connectors.  Again, the meeting will set the scene of the Community Dialogue Programme, especially the idea of ‘co-designing’.  It will also introduce the staff from NHS Leics City  that are involved and set actions to move the cook and eat sessions forward.

Who else could be involved?

We agreed that it will be essential to involve local schools, and we had some great ideas about healthy recipe competitions as a fun, interactive way of raising awareness.  Naim already has many contacts in this area, as a result of a similar project that took place last year.  It would be brilliant to get families working together on this; children supporting and educating their parents and grandparents, and older family members sharing recipes.  We identified the ‘National Healthy School Standard’ as a possible incentive to get schools involved.  GPs and health workers will also be a vital cog in the wheel of change, providing support, advice and signposts to cook and eat activities and community support.

Leicester: Talk, learn and plan

Knowledge is power, as they say and that's where we are with the Saffron and Highfields Community Dialogue projects in Leicester.  We are in our scoping phase, getting to know Leicester people; what makes them tick?  What are their concerns?  How do they feel about healthcare in their area?  How can we best support them? 

Karen and Naim (our Community Health Development Workers) are rallying around, bringing residents, practitioners and NHS staff together, to talk, learn and plan.  How can we really begin to co-design healthcare solutions with the community for the community? 

In late summer, we joined the Saffron Summer Carnival to begin our research.  It was important to us to move away from questionnaires and form-filling, knowing that this in itself may create a barrier to sharing, for some people. We chose instead to create a 'roving reporter' vibe, with a small camera crew and myself and Alison as 'interviewers'.  This created a buzz, and a lot of interest from local people of all ages.

I was amazed at the openness and enthusiasm of Saffron people.  It occurred to me that most people are willing to talk, if we are willing to listen. 

The carnival was the perfect starting point to talk to residents and find out what was on their mind.  And, this is exactly what we discovered!  Mental Health challenges such as depression and anxiety seemed to underpin many of the residents concerns, and were also effecting matters indirectly with links to smoking, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy and Incapacity Benefit.  So now we are officially 'Keeping Saffron in Mind'.

The Highfields project

When Naim Razak talked about Highfields it became clear that there is no one health issue that transcends the others - they have high levels of most of the typical long term conditions and major health concerns. But when you look at Highfields' health issues and consider the incredible diversity within the area, it is clear that diet has an important role in determining their health.

Not only is this true, but the diversity of the people and of their diets, forces us to acknowledge that they have the dietary expertise that we need. They know the foods of their different cultures - what makes them well when they're ill, what to give a pregnant woman, what to eat for a lift or for a celebration - this is a great starting place for a dietary service that is sympathetic to their culture and which builds on where they are.

Naim is trying to gather a group of 5-10 people around him, people who know or care about local foods who will help us to develop ideas for a commissionable dietary service.

Highfields Patch Walk, 6 Aug 08

Naim Razak took Delia and I around the delightful Highfields area of Leicester; some areas are reminiscent of London's Hampstead and the wealth that used to be in this quarter of the city.

We visited a number of small, succesful and well-run neighbourhood centres, all catering for a well-defined segment of the community. I couldn't better Delia's notes on this, so here they are...

"Community spirit - it amazed me how there was a different community project around every corner! Rarely have I seen a community with so much going on in such a small geographical space. I was also struck by how keen everyone was to invite us in and show us round the various centres. I think this enthusiasm may have been for a number of different reasons. Firstly, because Naim is obviously well respected and trusted in the area. Secondly, because the high density of projects leads to competition for funding and recognition and most importantly because of the pride that people have for their community's achievements.

"The wide rage of innovative projects also stood out for me. Such as, the solar panels used to power a centre and raise money, and the sewing workshop that reflected the area's hosiery heritage.

"Politics - It seemed a shame that a community that is so united in many ways is also divided by politics, (local, religious and council.) Although many of the places we visited seemed to have an inclusive approach and would welcome most members of the community, they were very clearly aimed at specific groups and their seemed to be little communication between them.

"The park - It seemed a waste that the park in the heart of highfields was not being utilised by the community.

"Hostels - It was interesting that Naim described Highfields as getting bail hostels etc "dumped" on it. There did seem to be a high density of these in the area.

"Architecture - There were some beautiful buildings and you could certainly see why people would want to live in the area as although it is practically in the city centre, it didn't feel like a city centre. It reminded me of Hyde Park where I live in Leeds (but with fewer students!)

"Diversity - I think the primary school where the children speak more than 50 languages is a perfect example of what a diverse community Highfields is. It did strike me that most of the projects were aimed at a specific ethnic or religious group rather than Highfields as a whole. The positive effect of that seemed to be that the services and activities offered are designed by people who clearly understand the needs and wants of the people who use them and therefore they are popular and well attended. However, part of me wonders if there are sections of the community who have been overlooked or felt excluded by this?"