The Lake Foundation is pleased to announce that we have a new corporate partner. Evolution Media Lab has selected The Lake Foundation as its charity of the year and will be donating 10% of its profit to our organisation.
We would like to say a big thank to Evolution Media Lab for their support and look forward to working with them in the coming year.
Friday 20th March is International Day of Happiness, a day that focuses on getting everyone to consider what we need to do to be genuinely happy and thus improve our mental wellbeing and live a fulfilling life.
The Lake Foundation believes this is an extremely important day which should be a time to reflect on the positive in a very negative climate. We need to make it a priority to improve our mental wellbeing by finding a way and a reason to be happy. Research has shown that happiness and health are connected with happiness having a positive effect on our health. Additionally people with a positive (happy) outlook on life have a better outcome when ill. So, there are health benefits to being happy.
What can we do to live a happier life? Based on research, Action for Happiness has put together ten things we can all do to live a happier and more fulfilling life and this is summarised in the diagram below.
This International Day of Happiness let’s commit to living a happy life by attempting follow these ten tips. A great way to start this is by getting involved in the #GlobalHappyParty. The UN Foundation and Pharrell Williams are inviting everyone to their Happy Party. We’ve taken part and you can too! Let’s get the whole world dancing for a happy planet!
We are absolutely delighted to be featured in the debut edition of AFRO RETRO magazine, which was officially published on 14th March 2015.
AFRO RETRO magazine aims to celebrate Afro-Caribbean and African culture with a view to enlightening future generations about the richness of African culture and history. The magazine focuses primarily on showcasing black history, Afrocentric businesses and African writers, fashion designers and chefs.
We are honoured to be featured in the first edition of this excellent magazine and would like to thank the editors for giving us this opportunity to raise awareness of our work.
You can read the first edition of below.
The Lake Foundation is happy to hear that Public Health England has published its new framework to build mental health skills in a range of professions working with children and adults in all areas of life including work settings.
With mental health conditions being a particular challenge for the black community we hope that this framework will go some way towards addressing some of the inequalities that exist in the mental health field where the black community are more likely to be diagnosed with a mental health condition and less likely to report being satisfied with the care that they receive.
Public Health England’s framework aims to promote good mental health, prevent mental illness and suicide and improve the quality of life of people living with mental illness.
We look forward to the framework’s implementation and hope that this will truly make a difference in our community.
For more information you can download a copy of the executive summary of the framework below or visit Public Health England’swebsite
On Saturday, we attended the Croydon Tabernacle Women’s Breakfast to deliver presentations on both breast cancer and fibroids. This was a lovely event that brought together the women of Croydon Tabernacle to discuss important health issues over a delicious breakfast.
We were given a one hour slot to discuss two important health conditions. We started with breast cancer and gave attendees some background discussing what is cancer, what happens in breast cancer, the different types of breast cancer, stages, diagnosis, treatment, risk factors and current statistics. Once we had set the scene with a bit of background we then provided attendees with information on what they can do to prevent breast cancer or ensure an early diagnosis. Here we focused on three areas, understanding the signs and symptoms, taking part in breast cancer screening and adopting a healthy lifestyle. We finished the breast cancer session with a lively Q&A and then moved on to fibroids.
Wonderful programme. Very educational, informative and interesting. I learnt a lot – Bosola
For our fibroids session we covered what are fibroids, the types of fibroids, causes, risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, facts and figures and prevention. It was stressed that fibroids are not usually life-threatening but can be very painful and affect fertility. We discussed the importance of understanding the risk factors and symptoms and that if they have symptoms they should visit their doctor. Information was also given on the lifestyle changes that women can make to reduce their risk of developing fibroids – being more active and eating a healthy diet. Furthermore we noted that fibroids are more common in black women and when black women develop fibroids they tend to be more aggressive, bigger, multiple and develop at a younger age than their white counterparts.
We finished off our presentation by stressing that if women are diagnosed with fibroids they should ensure they have enough information to make an informed decision about how they’d like to manage and treat their fibroids. Women were advised to speak to a gynaecologist who specialises in fibroids to get the best possible advice.
After our session, Pastor Yinka Ayeni gave an excellent, inspiring presentation on self-esteem.
We thoroughly enjoyed this event and would like to thank Croydon Tabernacle for inviting us to attend and for their very warm welcome.
March is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month in the UK giving us the perfect opportunity to focus some attention on a disease that gets very little attention. In this week’s blog we would like to share the key things that you need to know about ovarian cancer.
Ovarian Cancer is the 5th most common cancer in the UK with 7,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Unfortunately it is the biggest gynaecological killer with just under 4,300 women dying from ovarian cancer each year. Survival rates are pretty poor with only 43% of women surviving beyond 5 years of their diagnosis compared to 85% of breast cancer patients. There are many reasons why survival rates are so much lower than breast cancer. It is a complex cancer which is extremely hard to diagnosis because the symptoms are vague and non-specific with over 50% of patients in the UK being diagnosed at a late stage making treatment challenging.
We can improve these bleak statistics by empowering women with the information that they need to take quick action. Increased awareness leads to early diagnosis and early diagnosis saves lives; over 90% of women diagnosed early will survive beyond 5 years compared to only 4-19% diagnosed at a late stage.
Being aware of the symptoms and acting quickly if you think you have them is thus very important.
There are four main symptoms of ovarian cancer and they are
· Persistent pelvic/tummy pain
· Persistent bloating
· Difficulty eating
· Needing to urinate more frequently
If you have any of these symptoms for more than 12 days per month, then visit your GP. It’s a good idea to make a diary of your symptoms in the days and weeks leading up to your appointment so you can have a really good discussion with your GP. The charity Ovarian Cancer Action provides an easy to use symptoms diary. Download this, complete it and take it with you to your appointment.
It’s also important to be aware of what increases your risk of developing ovarian cancer. The two main factors that increase a person’s risk of developing ovarian cancer are: age and family history.
Age: As we get older our risk of developing ovarian cancer increases. The majority of ovarian cancers (80%) occur in women who are aged 50 and over. If you are in this age group it’s important that you are aware of the symptoms and visit your doctor promptly if you have any concerns.
Family History/Genetics: 10-20% of ovarian cancers are hereditary. If you have two or more family members who have been affected by breast and/or ovarian cancer then you might be at a higher risk of developing ovarian cancer.
If you have a family history of ovarian cancer, visit your doctor to discuss your risk and for more information about hereditary cancer please read our recent blog post.
Between the 2nd and 13th of March 2015, UK Active, Public Health England (PHE), the County Sports Partnership Network (CSP Network) and the Local Government Association (LGA) will deliver the second round of the Moving More Living More Physical Activity Fora.
Physical inactivity is the fourth largest cause of disease and disability in the UK and action is required by a collaboration of partners at a national and local level in order to address the problem and create a more active nation.
The Moving More, Living More regional physical activity fora were established to provide national insight into what can be done to tackle physical inactivity from a national level, as well as fostering conversations and producing partnerships at a local level to make an impact on local outcomes.
The second round of Moving More, Living More regional fora will present the most recent developments in the national movement for a more active England and develop tangible actions that will make a difference at a local level.
The events will move the local agenda for physical activity forward and drive down into the details of how we can begin to tackle inactivity and create happier, healthier societies.
They will explore the evidence behind physical activity interventions from across the country – as well as giving a more localised focus to individual initiatives – and begin to assess the next steps for how local partners can work together collaboratively to combat physical inactivity.
Events news you:
Taunton: Monday 2nd March
Somerset County Cricket Club,
The County Ground,
Taunton,
Somerset,
TA1 1JT
South East Region: Wednesday 4th March
Etc venues (The Hatton),
51-53 Hatton Garden,
London,
EC1N 8HN
London: Friday 6th March
The Grange St Pauls,
10 Godliman Street,
London,
EC4V 5AJ
Blackpool: Wednesday 11th March
Winter Gardens
97 Church Street,
Blackpool,
Lancashire,
FY1 1HL
Birmingham: Friday 13th March
The Studio,
7 Cannon Street,
Birmingham,
B2 5EP
For more information and to book a place please visit UK Active’s website. The Lake Foundation will be attending and we hope to see you there!
Wednesday was our last session of AfroFit for the season. We had a great six sessions and now it’s off to evaluate it and see how we can make it bigger and better for, hopefully, the summer season.
Wednesday’s session was great fun and our instructor Eunice focused mainly on muscle toning. After our warm-up Eunice brought out some resistance bands which we made use of for a series of strength training exercises. Resistance bands are not something that I have used before when exercising and it was a great addition to the workout. This very simple piece of equipment was very versatile and allowed us to perform a variety of exercises that worked our entire body. They are in effect a simple and cheap way to strength train without going to the gym or using weights
Our series of exercises included band squats, band lunges, leg lifts, biceps curls and much much more. This was a painful yet effective workout.
After the core part of the workout we cooled down and then went on to my favourite part, relaxation. Lovely!
We’ll be back with AfroFit later in the year and would like to say a big thank you to everyone who attended and a very big thank you to Eunice Adu-Appiah for leading a great set of sessions.
See you next time!
On Saturday 21st February we continued with our work to raise awareness of prostate cancer amongst black men in Croydon by organising an Understanding Prostate Cancer session at the Pneuma Christian Centre.
Like our previous sessions at Trinity Baptist Church and Croydon Tabernacle this was a collaboration between The Lake Foundation, Prostate Cancer UK and Eunice Adu-Appiah as part of our drive to reach as many black men as possible with the key messages about prostate cancer and prostate conditions.
Our prostate cancer awareness session formed part of the Pneuma Christian Centre’s Men’s Week Conference with the theme being: Empowerment for a Healthy Life based on the bible scripture Isaiah 40:28-3.1
The workshop began with a welcome and introduction by Abi Begho of The Lake Foundation followed by an excellent, informative presentation by Georgina Graham from Prostate Cancer UK. Georgina’s presentation covered what every man should know about prostate cancer and prostate conditions. She explained the three main prostate conditions that affect men, which are an enlarged prostate, prostatitis and prostate cancer and that all of these conditions have similar symptoms such as:
It was stressed that if men experience any of these symptoms they shouldn’t panic as it could be due prostatitis or enlarged prostate, but they must visit their doctor to rule out prostate cancer.
Georgina also covered the risk factors for prostate cancer which are: age (prostate cancer is more common in men who are over the age of 50); ethnicity (black men are twice as likely as white men to develop prostate cancer); and family history (men with father or a brother with prostate cancer are 2.5 times more likely to develop prostate cancer compared to men who don’t have a family history).
Georgina finished off her presentation by letting attendees know that they have the right to have a PSA test if they are 50 or over and that it is particularly important for black men to be more vigilant and visit their GP if they have any concerns whatsoever.
Georgina’s presentation was followed by a Q&A where we discussed prostate cancer treatments, the digital rectal examination, how often the PSA test should be conducted and what causes prostate cancer.
After a quick refreshment break we heard from Eunice Adu-Appiah who spoke about exercise, diet and prostate cancer prevention.
Eunice explained that several research studies have shown that men who regularly exercise were at a lower risk of developing prostate cancer and hence men can take some control over their health and reduce their risk of developing prostate cancer and other diseases by simply being more active. We learnt that regular exercise means taking part in 150 minutes of exercise a week and that this should be both cardiovascular and muscle strengthening exercises. Eunice explained that whilst 150 minutes of exercise may sound like a lot this can easily be achieved by breaking these up into 10-15 minute slots throughout the day. For example we could do a few lunges and squats in the morning whilst brushing our teeth and preparing breakfast, then we could walk part of the way to work, take the stairs instead of the lift and go for a walk at lunch time. Before you know it we would have easily met the minimum requirement of 150 minutes of exercise per week.
Eunice then spoke about diet recommending that we avoid saturated fat, trans fat and red meat. Eunice ended by explaining that we don’t have to make drastic changes but changes to our lifestyle should be gradual with the ultimate goal being to adopt a healthy lifestyle where we are active, we eat a well-balanced diet and we factor in some time for relaxation too.
This was a really useful event with a lively, friendly and attentive audience. We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who attended, to Georgina Graham and Eunice Adu-Appiah for delivering really informative presentations and to Deacon Dele Ogunlaru and the leadership of the Pneuma Christian Centre for inviting us to host this session.
You can listen to an excerpt from Georgina’s presentation below.
Target Ovarian Cancer and the Penny Brohn Cancer Centre are pleased to announce their three day Living Well course. This course is aimed at women who have recently been diagnosed with ovarian cancer or have recurrent ovarian cance
r.
This is a free residential course that will cover:
g a way to bring manageable exercise into your lifeThis course will be held on Tuesday 28th April to Thursday 30th April 2015
