LINk Christmas Event

The LINk’s Christmas meeting will take place 2-4pm on Tuesday 20^th December 2011 at Corpus Christi Community Centre.  

Come along for a mince pie and a cup of tea with LINk staff and members! 

There will be a few stalls giving information and advice on how to stay healthy and happy this Christmas.

Perfect way for children to seize the day

THE children of St Andrew's Hospice and their families forgot their worries when Santa Claus dropped in with a bag of presents at their annual Christmas party.

Held at Grimsby Golf Club, children who face a daily struggle were given a Christmas bash to remember with games, music, dancing and Disney.

CHRISTMAS CHEER: Youngsters and staff enjoy the St Andrew's Children's Hospice Christmas party held at Grimsby Golf Club. Pictures: Ray Corke

Haemophilia gene therapy shows early success

By James Gallagher Health reporter, BBC News 

Just one injection could be enough to mean people with haemophilia B no longer need medication, according to an early study in the UK and the US.

Six patients were given a virus that infects the body with the blueprints needed to produce blood-clotting proteins. Four of them could then stop taking their drugs.

Doctors said the gene therapy was "potentially life-changing".

Other researchers have described it as a "truly a landmark study."

Cig-nalling the start of a healthy alternative to smoking tobacco

SHOPS in Grimsby are among the first in the country to stock a new range of electronic cigarettes.

Vapestick e-cigarettes, described as the healthy alternative to smoking tobacco, have until now only been available in big cities such as London, Birmingham and Manchester.

'A credible alternative': Jaz Dhaliwal with the new Vapestick. Buy this photo at www.thisisphoto sales.co.uk/grimsby

But now, the product has been brought to North East Lincolnshire by local distributor Jaz Dhaliwal.

Depressed? Don't suffer in silence

MENTAL health professionals are urging people suffering with anxiety and depression to talk it out rather than suffer in silence.

Experts working in North East Lincolnshire want to highlight the fact that depression and anxiety problems are more prevalent than people might think and can affect any person at any time – and are more apparent in areas of social deprivation.

DON'T SUFFER ALONE: Ready to give you a warm welcome at Open Minds are co-ordinator Michelle Hardy (left) and service manager Kristina Fletcher. Buy this photo at www.thisis photosales .co.uk/grimsby or by contacting 08444 060910

 
One in four people suffer with a mental health problem and health professionals at Open Minds, an organisation working with people who have depression and anxiety, are keen to get people talking more openly.

It took them two hours to get me into hospital

EMERGENCY response times are always a talking point. After the Grimsby Telegraph printed a story about one father's experience of waiting one hour 19 minutes for an ambulance, others came forward to share their experiences. Reporter KATIE BLACKBURN talked to them.

AN IMMINGHAM couple's frightening ordeal came flooding back after reading an article in the Grimsby Telegraph.

BRINGING BACK MEMORIES: Pauline Plaskitt, of Immingham, who suffered a stroke in August last year and had to wait more than two hours to be taken to hospital by ambulance. Picture: Abby Ruston

For Malcolm Plaskitt, 63, and his wife Pauline, 64, memories from more than a year ago, when Pauline suffered a stroke at her home, were fresh in their minds after reading about delayed responses from the area's ambulance service.

Mr Plaskitt was shocked that someone else had suffered an experience similar to his when he complained to East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS).

Winter Planning Campaign

Did you know the North East Lincolnshire Winter Planning Campaign has a blog too? 

To keep up-to-date with all the latest news on the preparations for winter, give them a follow here.

If you would like to get involved and help support vulnerable people in your area of North East Lincolnshire, contact Penny or Vicky on 01472 315347.

Get your daily dose of 'sunshine'

 AS THE gloomy winter days set in and the sun's rays get weaker, our opportunity to build up and maintain our body's store of vitamin D plummets.

Vitamin D is rightly called the sunshine vitamin because the action of sunlight on our skin converts pre-vitamin D into a form our body can use.

Vitamin D is actually a hormone, and does some pretty important jobs for us, not least helping us to use the calcium we eat to keep our bones healthy. Without enough vitamin D, toddlers can develop rickets – this used to be a thing of the past, but in recent years there have been several hundred children treated.