Headford News and Community Spotlight - Oh, My Aching Feet

HAPPY PANCAKE TUESDAY, HEADFORD!

Did anyone see the Arora Borealis last Thursday night? 

These photos were taken by people on Malin Head in Inishowen. Pretty fab, huh?

If you have arora borealis photos to share, please post a comment below.  


 
Closer to Home -- The Woodland League--a group dedicated to restoring the relationship between people and their native woodlands--reminds us that this is NATIONAL TREE WEEK! This is a great time to plant a tree. Go for a walk in the woods and pick up some litter. Help those trees that have been storm damaged by gentle pruning and providing supports. Remember, our trees are not only beautiful, they provide oxygen. Without them we'd die. So go hug a tree!  

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT 

Headford's Foot Health Professional 

Did you know there’s a Foot Health Professional-Reflexologist-Massage Therapist (all in one) located in Headford? Her name is Cindy Dugan and she sees clients privately in the Solas Room at the Headford Parish Hall.

What, you may ask, is a ‘Foot Health Professional’? It’s sort of a new term for chiropodist, but, Cindy is quick to advise me, she is not a chiropodist. Confusing enough? Basically, it means that statutory regulation does not apply to Foot Health Professionals (sometimes referred to as Foot Health Practitioners) and they do not fall under the U.K. Health & Care Professions Council’s jurisdiction. But Cindy can work magic with corns, callouses, varucas, ingrown toenails and foot immobilisation. So if you’re looking for those services and think you have to find a chiropodist, you don’t. Cindy’s your woman!

Though her practice is based in Claregalway, Cindy is available in Headford for appointments on Fridays. In addition to all those services listed above, she offers diabetic foot care, as well as helping people with vascular and circulatory problems. Her practise includes assessing joints and returning them to their proper alignment to help alleviate pain in the hips, knees, and foot joints. In fact, Cindy says she can improve the health of all your joints from the foot up to the hip.

Cindy Duggan, Headford's Foot Health Professional

Cindy first became fascinated with reflexology, following in her aunt’s footsteps (no pun intended). She feels she’s always had a natural affinity for nurturing touch and holistic therapies, but her early career was quite different. For a number of years, Cindy worked as a chef with her own catering business, then in 2008, she became a qualified reflexologist. That was followed by courses in Indian Head Massage and Full Body Massage, after which Cindy travelled to England to train as a Foot Health Professional. Every year, she does three or four different refresher courses learning new skills and polishing old ones.

Because of her early experience with cooking and catering, Cindy says she has a great deal of experience with the nurturing power of foods. She shares this information with her clients offering nutritional advice, food coordination and combination tips that can be helpful with various health situations. She also offers diabetic dietary advice and carb and protein guidance.

It's a cold, rainy day when I go to visit Cindy, but her smile and her handshake are warm. She explains various types of corns to me and how corn removal and ingrown toenail removal are ‘virtually painless.’ That’s hard to believe, especially when she shows me all her sterilized pointy instruments. When I express doubt, she assures me, ‘Oh, no. It doesn’t hurt. And we don’t do blood here!’

If all that isn’t enough, Cindy also does orthotics and gait analysis. She can do reflexology for babies, covering everything from colic to constipation to sleeping through the night.

When I ask her why she became a Foot Health Professional, she says, ‘I’ve always been good with my hands and never had a problem with feet.’

So, if you have a problem with feet, now you know who to see. Cindy Duggan can be contacted at 091.799013 or 086.0631105.

 

Headford News and Community Spotlight - Our First Newsletter!

Welcome to the new Solas website and blog. If you want to know what the heck 'Solas' means, who we are, where we're located and/or why we do what we do, click on the 'What is Solas' tab above.

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If you want to find out about the latest news and events in Headford, then you're on the right page. Keep reading. You may find out something you didn't know about your neighbours, your friends, your village, or even yourself!

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

Old Friends

Sean Cáirde—Old Friends. It’s a beautiful concept. Don't we all have a dear friend we've known since forever with whom we can be ourselves? Someone who makes us laugh, listens to our troubles without judging, holds us when we need to cry. Someone so familiar, looking at them is almost like looking in a mirror. 

As we grow older, our friends grow old with us. And sometimes they don't. Sometimes they have to leave this world before us, and that can be heartbreaking. So getting older can make the prospect of being alone more and more difficult to bear. It means sometimes new friends become old friends. Like at the Sean Cáirde meetings every Friday in the Parish Hall in Headford. 

'This gets me out of the house,' says Anne who's been coming to this group for eleven years. 'I like to come and have a chat and a cuppa.' When I ask her what she likes best about the group, she says, 'Art. I like it when we do art projects.' 

'Yes,' someone else agrees, 'We're always doing something. Something different.' On Valentines Day, they were making heart-shaped pin cushions, laughing and chatting as they worked. 

'The exercise is good,' another member adds. 'The yoga. I like that.' 

It seems every member likes something different about Sean Cáirde. 

'Lunch!' Breedge says. 'Lunch is my favourite part.' 

Kathleen says, 'We can discuss our problems in good company and we all become close friends.' 

'Yeh. It's a great place to make friends,' someone else agrees. 'I knew people’s faces, in passing, you know, but now I know them to talk to.'

According to the famous Nun Study conducted by Dr. David A. Snowdon, an epidemiologist at the University of Kentucky who studied 678 aging nuns, the best way to grow older is to keep active, not just physically, but mentally and socially too. And that's exactly what the participants of Sean Cáirde are doing each week when they meet for social time, the share a hot lunch, learn new skills, listen to music, dance, and share good times. 

Every so often, the group goes on outings together. Several of the members tell me about one of their more recent outings to market day in Moycullen, followed by dinner at the Forge restaurant. 'The outings get better every year,' someone says, 'and you're not too long sitting on the bus.' 

On the subject of buses, there is a shuttle service available that can pick participants up at their home and bring them back. 'It takes me all the way to my door,' Kathleen says. 'When you don't drive, that means an awful lot.' 
 

The Nun Study, one of the most innovative experiments to answer questions about aging, proves that the participants of Sean Cáirde are ticking all the right boxes. Living well and aging smart. 

If you'd like to know more about the famous Nun's Study, watch this: