Tag Archives: health
Eastenders bad boy runs in Marathon to raise awareness of dementia
Eastenders actor raises awareness of dementia by completing the London Marathon
Date of article: 24-Apr-13
Article By: Laura McCardle, News Editor
Eastenders bad boy Aykut Hilmi raised awareness of dementia when he ran the Virgin London Marathon in aid of the Alzheimer’s Society on Sunday.
It was the fifth marathon for the actor, who has also appeared in films Mamma Mia, The Bourne Ultimatum and Nine.
Mr Hilmi completed the 26.2-mile challenge to support his father, Ali, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2005.
His training took a blow when a back problem returned but he still managed to complete the race and crossed the finish line after four hours and forty minutes.
After the marathon, Mr Hilmi said: “I wasn’t able to train as planned so the race was a challenge. The only thing that kept me going was remembering I was doing it for my dad – because of his dementia my dad doesn’t even recognise me when he is watching me on TV or in a film.
“Running for my family and for the Alzheimer’s Society, who provide such great support to people affected by the condition, spurred me on to the finish line.”
Liz Monks, director of fundraising at the charity, said: “We’re so grateful to Aykut for taking on the challenge of the London Marathon in support of the Alzheimer’s Society.
Peer support for service users like Chill4us is for Carers
Why providers should invest in peer support for service users
A group of charitable providers have set up an independent organisation to provide peer support to service users. This approach can help improve service quality, efficiency and flexibility, say Bernd Sass and Sue Taylor.
Providers have long been told of the need to personalise their services and use any such redesign as an opportunity to involve and empower people with support needs. At the same time ‘lived experience’ has been seen as the answer to many problems in access to services and in achieving lasting and positive health and independent living outcomes, not to mention productivity gains. Yet little concrete action has followed from either providers or commissioners to bring the multiple positive effects of peer support to fruition.
Now a consortium of charities in the North East has set up an independent user-led organisation for disabled people in order to change this. Peer Support North East has been established as a community interest company by Age UK, Alzheimer’s Society, Your Voice Counts, Mental Health Matters and Sight Service Gateshead.
It now has 20 mentors who are supporting 350 of their peers a month, with disabled and older people supporting each other across age ranges and impairment groups, cutting across the boundaries between services.
