News

The SEC programme is for communities/areas of all sizes eg homeowners, sports clubs, community centres, local businesses and churches who have an interest in energy efficiency, renewables etc.

ORS and SEAI are organising a free online (ZOOM) webinar regarding SEAI’s Sustainable Energy Communities (SEC) programme – to inform communities how they can benefit from creating an ‘SEC’, This is taking place on Thursday next 9th July at 6pm. For anyone interested they need to register for the webinar by filling out the form at this link: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLScObKgEu8LBCmxWDR…/viewform

Stay Safe. Protect each other. Wear a face covering.
Everyone in Ireland has helped to reduce the spread of COVID-19. We have worked together in difficult circumstances to save many lives. Now that our services and communities are re-opening, we all want to stay safe and keep protecting each other from coronavirus. We do this by cleaning our hands, social distancing and covering sneezes and coughs.

We can also do this by wearing a face covering. Face coverings help prevent people who don’t know they have the virus from spreading it to others. They should be worn anywhere it’s difficult to stay 2m apart, like shops or public transport, or when visiting anyone who’s more at risk. This includes people aged over 70, or people who are medically vulnerable.
Wear a face covering to show your support for others, and to help in our fight against coronavirus.

 

You can download the poster on how to use face coverings here with a high resolution version available here.

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Visits to Residential Care Facilities During the COVID-19 Pandemic
You can find information from the HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) on visiting people who live in residential care facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic from 15 June 2020 here.

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Visitors at Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic
You can find information from the HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) on visitors at home here.

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Other Resources:

Wellbeing ‘In This Together’
The joint DOH, HSE campaign continues to give mental health and wellbeing advice across the country and local authorities, through Healthy Ireland, are also rolling it out on a regional basis.
New videos covering the following topics have been added here:

Positive Posture while working from home: Anna O’Brien, Senior Physiotherapist, HSE
Tips for quitting smoking: Miriam O’Shea, Smoking Cessation Officer, HSE

Family Carers Ireland
Family Carers Ireland is running a virtual Carers’ Coffee Club for family carers every Thursday from 11am to 11:30am where health and wellbeing experts offer support and advice and take questions via Facebook Live. There is no need to register and those wishing to join in should simply visit facebook.com/familycarers on Thursdays at 11am. All previous sessions can be viewed at facebook.com/familycarers/live. For more information on this initiative or for general support please contact the Freephone National Careline 1800 24 07 24.

Public Health Information:
As always, for the most up to date information and advice on Coronavirus, please click here.  

Please also check here for the most up to date partner resources for COVID-19.

 

Online Mental Health Supports

As part of their on-going collaboration with HSE Mental Health, Silvercloud Health has made four of their online mental health and wellbeing programs free to access for all health sector staff and volunteers. The four programs cover: Stress; Sleep; Resilience; and Challenging Times, and were developed in response to COVID-19. These programs, which are self-directed, feature evidence-based content in a series of modules that draw on well-established interventions such as cognitive behavioural therapy. The HSE and Silvercloud want to ensure that the wider health sector can avail of the programs.

 To find out more and to access the content, please visit the dedicated landing page and please remember to use the access code HSE2020. Further information on minding your mental health during Covid-19 can be found here.

 

#InThisTogether Wellbeing campaign
Thank you for all of the fantastic support for the #InThisTogether Wellbeing campaign, from the Department of Health and the HSE. This will continue to be on the airwaves in June.

The website is www.gov.ie/together and the hash tag is #InThisTogether. Partners are recommended to continue to share their wellbeing content under the hash tag #InThisTogether.

The radio adverts can be found here and include new ads which are being aired on national and local radio relating to:

1.       Social distancing and disability – keeping in mind people with disabilities, including the visually impaired

2.       Sleep – advice for people experiencing disturbed sleep at this time

3.       ‘Small Walk’ – advice for people who are worried about getting back out and about or may be feeling unsteady on their feet 

 

Family Carers Ireland – offering family carers free counselling sessions
As a carer, there are times when mental health and emotional well-being may be challenged due to a combination of the demands of a caring role, and the additional worries of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Family Carers Ireland offer help to family carers, as they believe no one should have to care alone. They have developed a free, short-term online and phone counselling service for family carers, and will connect carers with a qualified counsellor from a panel of approved professionals.
The service can be accessed through the website or through the National Freephone Careline on 1800 24 07 24.

 

COVID-19 Deaf and Hard of Hearing Communications Resources

For people who are deaf or hard of hearing, communicating in a health setting such as a busy clinic or ward situation can be difficult. The COVID-19 pandemic and the necessity for many healthcare staff to wear face masks have made communication even more difficult, especially for people who may rely on lip-reading.

The Irish Deaf Society and Chime, in partnership with the HSE, have prepared resources for use by Healthcare workers and people who are deaf or hard of hearing. These can be found here and include guidelines for staff, communication supports and videos in Irish Sign Language. 

 

Public Health Information:

As always, for the most up to date information and advice on Coronavirus, please go to: https://www2.hse.ie/coronavirus/ and https://www.hpsc.ie/a-z/respiratory/coronavirus/novelcoronavirus/

Stay Safe Posters and Banner

The new Stay Safe posters are currently available in English and in Irish. Translations into several languages will be coming soon.

 

The Stay Safe pop up banner image is available here.

 

Stay Safe Guidelines Posters

The new Stay Safe guidelines posters are available to download here, available in a number of formats in English and in Irish for specific settings including:

Stay safe when exercising outdoors

Stay safe at outdoor gatherings

Stay safe at home

Stay safe when shopping

Stay safe at work

Stay safe on public transport

Stay safe at indoor gatherings

 

Face Coverings

Starting this Monday (15^th June), there will be new radio adverts on air highlighting information on when and how we should use face coverings. There will also be information about face coverings on the HSE’s social media, and we would be grateful if you would re-share any social media content in the coming days and weeks.

 

You can find information on face coverings here.

 

You can download the poster on how to use face coverings here with a high resolution version available here.

 

Self-Isolation images

A number of self-isolation digital images are available under the ‘Social Media Graphics’ drop down menu available here.

 

Other Resources:

New Bereavement Support Line to Assist Staff and Public During the COVID-19 Pandemic

A new national freephone bereavement support line has been launched by the Irish Hospice Foundation in conjunction with the HSE. The national freephone service, 1800 80 70 77 is available Monday to Friday from 10am to 1pm.

The support line aims to provide a confidential space for people to speak about their experience or ask questions relating to bereavement.  Read more about the new Bereavement Support line here.

Callers will be listened to with compassion and be provided with emotional support and information on any practical issues that may be helpful.

 

Wellbeing ‘In This Together’
The joint DOH, HSE campaign continues to give mental health and wellbeing advice across the country, and local authorities through Healthy Ireland are also rolling it out on a regional basis.
New videos covering the following topics have been added here:

• Tips when visiting your GP, Dr John O’Brien, GP
• Tips for the traveller community, Patrick Reilly
• Staying safe in your home – Sgt Graham Kavanagh, An Garda Siochana
• Managing sleep difficulties, Daniel Flynn, HSE

 

HSE Launches Study to Investigate COVID-19 Infection in People Living in Ireland (SCOPI)

The HSE is issuing letters to more than 5,000 people inviting them to participate in the study to measure exposure to COVID-19 infection in the population using an antibody blood test. The presence of antibodies indicates that a person was infected with the COVID-19 virus. Initial results are expected in late August and will enable HPSC to estimate prevalence of infection of COVID-19 in the population across different age groups. A representative sample of people in both Dublin and Sligo will be invited to participate as it will be representative of the wider population, with higher and lower known levels of infection respectively. Those who consent to take part in the study will be asked to complete a short questionnaire and will provide a blood sample taken by a phlebotomist in a local HSE centre.

 

Government Roadmap

The Government’s roadmap for reopening society and business can be found here.

 

Public Health Information:

As always, for the most up to date information and advice on Coronavirus, please go to: https://www2.hse.ie/coronavirus/ and https://www.hpsc.ie/a-z/respiratory/coronavirus/novelcoronavirus/

Translated COVID-19 Resources
For those whose first language is neither English nor Irish, we have translated public health information into 24 other languages. These include Albanian, Arabic, Bulgarian, Simplified Chinese, Czech, Farsi, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Kurdish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Pashto, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Urdu and Yoruba. We are also working on developing resources in Somali and Eritrean.
The most up to date translated partner resources for COVID-19 can be found here.

Roma
Under the resources listed above you will also find a video for the Roma Community in Romanian. This video can also be found here.
There is a Roma specific resources page which includes easy read and image based communication documents and a translation of the Phase 1 government re-opening roadmap which can be found here.

Migrant Health
There is also a Migrant Health resources page, which includes videos in various languages and further specific translated resources.

Other Resources:
The Covid 19 World Service is a joint initiative of Nasc and Together Ireland. The Covid 19 World Service has video messages from doctors and other healthcare professionals in several languages for migrants living in Ireland.
Video 1: General advice on how to prevent the contraction and spread of the virus.
Video 2: Information on self-isolation, what to do if you test positive for Covid 19 or are a contact of someone who has.
These videos can be found here.

The Government’s ‘Community Call – Advice and Contact Information for Your County’ leaflet has been translated into 12 different languages and is available here.

Public Health Information:
As always, for the most up to date information and advice on Coronavirus, please go to: https://www2.hse.ie/coronavirus/ and https://www.hpsc.ie/a-z/respiratory/coronavirus/novelcoronavirus/

Hello again, we hope you enjoy this latest video from Mary Nevin, Community health worker with LCRL Primary Health Care Project for Travellers in Longford. Mary speaks about the importance of sticking with Government advice on social distancing and the correct use of face covering when in a public place where social distancing may be difficult. Please Remember the advice is still to only leave home for ESSENTIAL journeys.

#HOLDFIRM, #STAYSAFE

 

Please click on the link to get updated Cocooning Public Health Advice easy read guide, the most up to date HSE Approved Guidance for Disability Services as well as other resources and materials.

HoldFirm – the HSE’s new campaign
Thank you for all of the fantastic support for the HSE’s new campaign called HoldFirm, which launched on 9^th May 2020. The HoldFirm campaign takes inspiration from the words of President Michael D Higgins, written in his 1993 poem, Take Care. Acknowledging the public’s monumental efforts to keep frontline and essential workers safe by staying home, some frontline staff have joined together to give new meaning to President Higgins’ inspirational words, which can be viewed here. You can also view the HoldFirm TV ad here.

 There are now HoldFirm colouring sheets available in this drop down menu for both children and adults.

You can visit the #HoldFirm Twitter top activity to see how the campaign has been shared by so many of you .

Using our health service during COVID-19
This week saw some new communications for people who may be concerned about using health services, or are uncertain that they’re operating as normal.  Our health service is open for urgent care, and we have taken extra precautions to ensure patients are safe. We have a national and regional radio ad about using GP and Emergency services, and the National Cancer Control Programme shared two new videos about people who may have cancer signs , and people who are  attending for cancer treatment

 

Public Health Information:
For the most up to date information and advice on Coronavirus, please go to: https://www2.hse.ie/coronavirus/ and https://www.hpsc.ie/a-z/respiratory/coronavirus/novelcoronavirus/

For information on face coverings for public use, please see:
https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/coronavirus/face-masks-disposable-gloves.html

For Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) guidance please see:
https://www.hpsc.ie/a-z/respiratory/coronavirus/novelcoronavirus/guidance/infectionpreventionandcontrolguidance/ppe/

 

Other Resources:
The Government’s roadmap for reopening society and business can be found here.

Thank you to the staff of the Longford Leader for the lovely article on the work LCRL staff are doing during COVID-19