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A major conference has heard how two pioneering health schemes are transforming the lives of hundreds of people in Fermanagh.
The Oak Healthy Living Centre, which is based in Roslea and covers Erne East, and the ARC Health Living Centre in Irvinestown secured grants totalling £1,214,775 from the Big Lottery Fund's Healthy Living Centre programme to tackle health inequalities in Fermanagh.
The ARC HLC secured a grant of £334,775 from the Fund. It has provided services to over 50,000 people in the Fermanagh area and has become known as a 'service delivery hub'.
Jenny Irvine, its Manager said: "The project has delivered a range of services that respond to public health priorities, promote and improve health and general well being. ARC Healthy Living Centre's contribution in the reduction of health inequalities has been a significant success and we continue in our role to make a very real difference to the lives of people living in rural areas."
Meanwhile, the OAK Healthy Living Centre, which was created with a grant of £880,000 from Big Lottery Fund, has provided vital health services for nearly 28,000 people who live in rurally isolated areas of Fermanagh.
The C entre addresses the problems of disadvantage which the remoteness of its Erne East catchment area causes. It runs a wide range of activities at 11 community centres, some in the most remote locations.
In an area where participants are up to 15 miles from their local gym, over 1,350 people have participated in dance activities. Halls that were once dormant for much of the year have been brought to life. The Centre targets the elderly, those with physical and learning disabilities and those with mental health problems, all of whom have benefited.
Michael Mowan, the Manager of the Oak Healthy Living Centre, stated: "An important aspect of our programme has been the ability to involve considerable numbers of people in activities in local settings.
"In addition to the original health programme, the Healthy Living Centre has also developed other successful initiatives in childcare, first responders, day-care and community transport. All this activity has helped empower the local community and played a role in addressing rural isolation."
The recent Belfast conference, 'Healthy Living Centres' heard how these two local projects, along with 17 similar schemes across Northern Ireland, were improving people's health by supplying a wide range of services as well involving people who are often excluded from opportunities for better health.
Danny Power, the Chairman of the Healthy Living Centre Regional Alliance, said the concept for Healthy Living Centres was that they should be used as a method of including local people in health and wellbeing programmes which allowed them to ultimately take responsibility for their own health.
" HLCs", he stated, "have proved to be successful since their establishment and have given many people in the community the vital lifeline they need at a very important time in their life."
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