At the beginning of January North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust (NCIC) launched a new campaign called #PassTheBaton that encourages members of the community to take part in an activity that improves their health.
We’ve seen some great examples of healthy activities, and would love to see even more people getting involved.
The campaign is being led by the Governors at NCIC, and as part of this the Governors are seeking to recruit more members of the public to find out more about the Trust.
Keith Amey, Deputy Lead Governor at NCIC said: “It’s great to see people being creative as they come up with ideas for healthy activities, and the campaign gives people the chance to show off what they’re doing, making it fun and encouraging others to join in.”
Some of the great examples we’ve seen include:
Line dancing: Alison from near Cockermouth wrote: ‘I’m doing #PassTheBaton for NCIC NHS Foundation Trust… For my healthy activity I’ve chosen line dancing because I believe dancing is good for keeping both physically and mentally fit. I’ve made loads of new friends and look forward to my class every week as we have lots of laughs!”
Yoga: As part of the challenge, a smoking cessation officer at NCIC said: “I'm taking part in a block of Yoga sessions during January & February at a new fitness centre in Carlisle!”
Learning a new language: Elizabeth from Carlisle wrote: “I’m going to learn to speak Spanish! I’ve always wanted to learn a new language, and I think it’s a very healthy activity as learning new skills keeps your brain active, improves self-esteem and is really good for your mental health!”
HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training): Jen from Appleby posted: “Committing to improve our health in 2020 #PassTheBaton… Tonight I got back to it with a HIIT class.”
parkrun: Julie and Dave from Carlisle were given a warm welcome back at their local parkrun and wrote: “Committing to improve our health in 2020 at parkrun #PassTheBaton… Delighted to be back struggling and spluttering my way around Carlisle parkrun. Missed parkrun chums.”
Keith added: “We’ve also seen the campaign helping to motivate people to pick up old challenges and goals that they had previously been working towards but for one reason or another stopped doing. For example, one person has started restarted their couch-to-5k running programme, and we’ve seen other people returning to parkrun on a Saturday morning.”
Taking part is simple and people can challenge their friends and family to join in too. All they have to do is follow these simple steps:
- become a member of NCIC Foundation Trust by visiting our webpage, here: http://bit.ly/34xmVrJ (note: if you work for NCIC you're already a member of the Trust and so can skip this step!)
- take part in a healthy activity
- post about it on Facebook or Twitter using the #PassTheBaton hashtag, and tag in friends or family members to pass it on
If people need some inspiration for healthy activities, there’s lots going on in the community that you can take part in, including:
- Cumbria Walking for health
- CADAS Carlisle Health Walk
- parkrun (take place in Carlisle, Penrith, Workington, Whitehaven, Whinlatter and Keswick)
- Games for wellbeing
You don’t have to run a marathon. Taking any small step towards improving your mind and body counts.
Being a member of the Trust is free and open to anyone in Cumbria aged 14 and over, and it’s up to you how much you’d like to be involved. As a member you’ll receive regular updates about the Trust, be invited to members-only events being planned for the year, have a say in how our services are run and developed, have access to special offers from high street shops where NHS discount can be applied, and be able to take part in other local health and wellbeing events like this.
Staff at NCIC are already members and so can skip that part of the challenge, but we’re encouraging them to ask friends and family members to sign up as part of the campaign.
You can get more information about the campaign on the NCIC website, here: https://www.ncic.nhs.uk/trust/how-we-are-run/be-involved/pass-the-baton
Keith said: “It shouldn’t just be about doing something in the New Year, and we’re hoping the campaign will inspire people to make new routines that they can keep going throughout the year.”
So, with this story we #PassTheBaton to you! You can keep the relay going by sharing the story and even doing your own activities to encourage people to take part in the challenge.