Fashion Show
The Ardara ICA will host a Fashion Show on Sunday September 18th in the Parish Centre from 3pm to 5pm.
Clothing from Lynda’s Boutique, Eddie Doherty Tweeds, John Molloy Woollen Mills, Triona Design, Campbell’s of Ardara, Bonner’s of Ardara, The Present Day.
Pop-up shops from Bows & Wreaths, The Skin Buff, Gift It, The Present Day, Room to Relax, Total Relax, Relax Kids, Social Prescribing, The Beauty Room, Sugar Plum Pixie Dust.
Admission €10.
Refreshments served. All welcome.
See the event page for further information.
Duchas Magazine
Articles are now being taken for the Duchas Magazine which is always out at Christmas each year. Get your articles ready and you can leave them in Diver’s for collection or send by email to duchasannual@gmail.com.
The Johnny Doherty Festival
Celebrating local music and dance traditions, this hugely popular festival held in honour of esteemed fiddler Johnny Doherty will make its post-Covid return from Friday September 23rd to Sunday September 25th.
The programme of events is available on our Johnny Doherty Festival page.
Kids Arts & Crafts
Kids Arts & Crafts at the Downstrands Family Resource Centre for 1st, 2nd & 3rd class. Starting on Wednesday 21st September, 4pm – 5pm, with Tina Gallagher (6 weeks – €15).
For more information or to book a place, please contact us on 074-9545879 or 087-3851426.
A Hand of Friendship
A Hand of Friendship is an organisation with the objective of helping our town’s new residents feel welcome, become part of our community and get to know people.
Activities will take place upstairs in the Ardara Heritage Centre. Dates and times are to be decided.
Want to get involved? We need help with administration, organisation, outreach, support and sourcing funding.
One of our aims is to develop and build lasting connections through creative arts and outdoor pursuits, among other activities.
These activities will be led by locals, including Colm Sweeney (Adult Arts), Clare Molloy (Children’s Art), Rosemary Whelan (Knitting), and many more!
If anyone is interested in getting involved, please contact Colm Sweeney or Clare Molloy.
GAA Development Draw
Well done to Tuesday Evening’s winners in our Development Draw. We had the 1st and 2nd week draws. There was also a draw for a pair of Garth Brooks for all fully paid up tickets.
Week 1 winners:
€1000 – Margaret McHugh, Leaconnell
€500 – Geraldine Kennedy, Cashel
€400 – John Gallagher, Carn
€300 – Patrick Boyle c/o David Henigan
€200 – Deirdre Carr, Carrick
€100 – Greg McGrory
Week 2 winners:
€1000 – Terrence/Majella Boyle, Crove
€500 – Mary Joe Gallagher, Mountcharles
€400 – Danny/Teresa Byrne, Bruckless
€300 – Ciarán Mulhern, Triona
€200 – Martin Dorrian, Meentullynagarn
€100 – Viqual B. Hatt c/o Vinny Ryan
Garth Brooks Tickets – Eoin Murphy c/o JT Magen
HSE Updates
COVID-19 and booster updates
People in the following groups who haven’t had a second booster vaccine can now boost their protection:
- People aged 50 and older.
- People aged 12 or over with a long-term health condition like diabetes, asthma or heart disease.
- Healthcare workers.
- Anyone who is at least 16 weeks pregnant. If you’re pregnant and you haven’t had a first booster, you can get this at any stage of your pregnancy.
Your next COVID-19 vaccine will help protect you from serious illness in the months ahead. This is because protection from previous vaccines or from COVID-19 infection, decreases over time.
If you’ve had COVID-19 recently, wait 4 months before booking your vaccine appointment.
Vaccines are also available from participating GPs and pharmacies.
For more up to date information or to book an appointment in a HSE vaccination centre, visit hse.ie or call our team in HSE Live on 1800 700 700.
COVID-19 Testing
Details are available here.
Paxlovid™ in Ireland
Paxlovid™ is an oral medication used to treat COVID-19. It can be used to treat people who are at highest risk and should be taken in the first 5 days of illness. Paxlovid™ may not be suitable for all patients, but it can be considered for:
- Vaccinated people aged 75 or over
- Vaccinated people aged 65 or over who also have additional risks including obesity (BMI over 35), diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease
If you have COVID-19 symptoms and are at higher risk, talk to your GP or hospital team. You can find more information here.
Know Check Ask: Keep a list of ALL the medicines and supplements you take and show the list to doctors and pharmacists at every appointment
When people and patients know and understand their medications, dosage and frequency, this can greatly reduce the number of adverse events arising from medication errors. For information and a guide to keeping track of your medicines, please see HSE.ie here.
COVID-19 vaccine resources
The HSE produces and regularly updates resources for the COVID-19 vaccine. You can visit the COVID-19 vaccine materials page for the latest leaflets and booklets including information on boosters and vaccines for children.
COVID-19 information in other languages
Visit hse.ie/translations for a range of COVID-19 vaccine information videos and resources that have been produced in other languages, including information on COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy.
Information videos on COVID-19 vaccination for parents of children aged 5-11 are available here.
Animated videos for children about COVID-19 vaccination
Animated videos for children are now available in English, Irish, Irish Sign Language and 11 other languages. The videos are intended as resources for parents, guardians or care workers to use to talk about the child’s COVID-19 vaccine and the process of being vaccinated with them. You can see all of the videos here.
Health service updates and information
HSE shines a light on community supports available this World Alzheimer’s Month
Marking World Alzheimer’s month this September, the HSE Dementia: Understand Together campaign is urging people across the country who may be recently diagnosed, awaiting diagnosis, concerned about their memory or having difficulty with mental tasks to seek support within the community.
There are approximately 64,000 people living with dementia in Ireland at this time. With this number expected to more than double to 150,131 by 2045, many more of us are going to be living with dementia, or supporting a loved one with the condition.
If you are concerned about dementia, support is available, we work with the Alzheimer Society of Ireland to provide a national helpline, call free on 1800 341 341 (Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm, Saturday 10am to 4pm). For more information on dementia and services in your county, visit understandtogether.ie. You can also find more information here.
We would be grateful if partners would help us raise awareness during the month, please find attached at the bottom of this email some template social media posts which we hope you find useful.
New national survey to ask women about their experiences of bereavement care following the loss of a baby
The National Maternity Bereavement Experience Survey — the first ever survey of maternity bereavement care in Ireland — gets underway today (2nd September 2022).
This online survey asks women and their partners about the bereavement care they received in an Irish maternity hospital or unit following a pregnancy loss or perinatal death. The aim of the survey is to learn from the experiences of bereaved parents to find out what is working well, and what could be improved.
Women and their partners who experienced a second trimester miscarriage, the stillbirth of a baby or the early neonatal death of a baby in one of Ireland’s 19 maternity units or hospitals between 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2021.
The survey can be completed online on yourexperience.ie until 31st October 2022.
The survey contains 99 questions on topics such as communication, labour and birth, postnatal care, bereavement care, discharge and follow-up care. A number of free-text questions provide women and their partners with the opportunity to provide additional information and feedback on their personal experiences in hospital.
To find out more about the National Maternity Bereavement Experience Survey, please visit www.yourexperience.ie.
HSE urges parents to protect their children by registering for school vaccinations
The HSE calls on parents to take the opportunity to protect their children and not to delay getting their children vaccinated as the HSE immunisation programme commences in schools nationwide from 26th September.
In Ireland, all the recommended vaccines given in the school’s immunisation programme are free. Learn more about the different vaccines and the school programmes on the HSE website:
For further information, please visit the National Immunisation Office website www.immunisation.ie
The Irish Cancer Prevention Network annual webinar
The Irish Cancer Prevention Network are hosting their annual webinar for health and social care professionals on Tuesday 6th September, 1-2pm. This year the webinar will cover:
- New research on cancer awareness and attitude amongst adults living in Ireland
- Cancer risk reduction initiatives in Ireland with a focus on social inclusion
Register by clicking on the link below to watch live on the 6th September or to receive a recording of the webinar.
Registration link: https://ims.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ZMudcYfdQO-MZtn-Tn52Jg
Let’s Talk About Alcohol and Pregnancy webinar
As part of International Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) Awareness Day, the HSE Health and Wellbeing Alcohol Programme will host this webinar on 9th September at 12:30pm to explore how to effectively communicate the risks of alcohol during pregnancy and have challenging conversations about alcohol and pregnancy. New videos demonstrating alcohol brief interventions with pregnant women will be launched.
This webinar is aimed at all health and social care professionals working with pregnant women and/or those planning a pregnancy. It will also be of interest to a wider audience such as those working in education, health promotion, and community development.
Registration link: https://bit.ly/3dkshAT
New Ethnic Equality Monitoring resources available for staff
Following the results of a survey with staff of the HSE and NGOs, the National Social Inclusion Office has recently updated a number of resources to support staff to carry out ethnic equality monitoring in line with the Second National Intercultural Health Strategy 2018-2023:
Further information is available here
Health service information for Ukrainian nationals
- Updated mental health supports information is here
- Disability services information is here
- Healthcare services information is here
- COVID-19 information is here
- COVID-19 vaccination video, Dr Oksana Kozdoba, a Pediatrician from Ukraine, shares information about the vaccination programme in Ireland. She covers the vaccines offered in Ireland to protect babies, school children and adults.
Stay safe
COVID-19 is still with us. These are important things that we can all keep doing to help reduce infection:
- Isolate if you are symptomatic (even if you are fully vaccinated and boosted) or if you are diagnosed with COVID-19
- If you have symptoms, stay at home until 48 hours after symptoms resolve
- Complete your primary and booster programme of vaccination
- Continue to manage risk for yourself and others who are more vulnerable. You can do this by wearing masks, physical distancing and avoiding crowds as well as maintaining basic hand and respiratory hygiene
