This article is from page 8 of the 2009-10-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
THE issue of mental health among male members of the Traveller com- munity is a “critical area” that needs to be discussed more openly, the Mayor of Clare has said.
Cllr Tony Mulcahy (FG) was speaking in Ennis last Wednesday at the launch of a new primary health- care drop-in centre for members of the Traveller community.
The Health Drop-In Centre will run each Wednesday from 10am _ until 12.30pm and will assist people from the Traveller community with health information and advice, and group
activities on health matters.
The programme employs three qualified Community Health Work- ers who are also members of the Traveller community. All three – Ann Keenan, Catherine McCarthy and Kathleen Sherlock – took part in a four-year training programme run by Clarecare.
Cllr Mulcahy encouraged members of the Traveller community to avail of the service and acknowledged the role of Traveller women in es- tablishing the service. He said that it was now important that the wider Traveller community embraced the scheme.
“We’re all worried about the Mc- Carthy report and cuts and this is exactly the type of scheme that we don’t want cut. It’s close to people on the ground”.
Cllr Mulcahy said the centre repre- sented an opportunity for the Travel- ler community to have their say on health matters.
‘Suicide is one of those issues that we can’t afford not to talk about,” said Cllr Mulcahy.
He added that issue of mental health among men was a “critical area that needs to be focused on’. He said that in general, men were slow to admit to health problems.
Sandra Cox, programme coordina- tor with Ennis Community Develop- ment Project (CDP), told the launch “We all hope that the Traveller com- munity will avail of the service to benefit their community and their own health”.
The need for a primary health care programme was identified in research carried out for the ‘Strategy for the coordination of Public Services to the Traveller community in Clare’.
It found that members of the Trav- eller community typically had a life expectancy of between 11 and 12 years less than people in the settled community.