Health and rehabilitation in the Municipality of Hjørring

“The health area is given high priority in the Municipality of Hjørring, and the municipality is generally way ahead of the game compared to other local authorities. There are lots of initiatives in the melting pot, many of which have already been implemented,” says health manager Anne Krøjer.

Some of the municipality’s various health-related activities are offered through its five Sund By or “Healthy Town” shops, which are situated in Hirtshals, Hjørring, Løkken, Vrå and Sindal. Here, citizens can have their blood pressure measured as well as the level of carbon monoxide in their blood and their body fat percentage. In addition, a number of measures are planned at schools, centres for the elderly and for the handicapped with a view to promoting healthy habits among schoolchildren, the disabled and seniors.

“There are many good reasons for making health a priority. Health affects us all, and therefore it is very much up to us as a municipality to promote the health of our citizens.

Healthy habits boost physical and mental energy and increase our life expectancy, while at the same time saving society the costs attached to hospital admissions. Health is being well, and the aim therefore is that we should reach the top on the Danish health barometer. In the municipality, we will endeavour to motivate citizens to live healthy lives and ensure that the environments they encounter at work, in day institutions and at the centres for the elderly are also healthy. Living a healthy life must come naturally and, above all, must not involve too much bother,” says Anne Krøjer.

Following the municipal reform, the municipalities have been given far greater responsibility for health-promoting and preventive efforts in relation to their citizens. The idea of giving municipalities more responsibility is, among other things, to integrate prevention and health-promoting activities with the other municipal tasks in the environments where the citizens live their lives, i.e. at day institutions, schools, after-school clubs, senior housing, leisure activities, work etc. The Municipality of Hjørring’s visions, objectives and overall focus areas are described in the municipal health policies which are revised every four years. The municipal focus areas are, among other things, based on the health profile which Region North Jutland has prepared, and which gives specific figures for the state of people’s health in the Municipality of Hjørring. You can read more about the municipal health policy at www.hjoerring.dk

Sund By shops – open to citizens
The Municipality of Hjørring is strengthening health and well-being through concrete measures which are offered to citizens through the municipality’s five Sund By shops.

Citizens are welcome to visit the Sund By shops for advice on health and well-being. Here, citizens can also have their blood pressure, carbon monoxide levels, weight, BMI and body fat percentage measured free of charge. If additional guidance is required, you are also offered a health chat, dietary guidance and stop smoking courses. For more details about opening hours, options and prices, please visit:www.sund-by.info
or the Sund By shops themselves:

Sund By in Hjørring
Jernbanegade 8C, 9800 Hjørring,
 tlf. 7233 5630

Sund By in Hirtshals
Banegårdspladsen 3, 9850 Hirtshals,
tlf. 7233 5610

Sund By in Sindal
7, 9870 Sindal,
tlf. 7233 5621

Sund By in Vrå
Uhrenholts Gård Jernbanegade 8D,9760 Vrå, tlf. 7233 5625

Sund By in Løkken
Brændingen 8, 9480 Løkken,
tlf. 7233 5628

Healthy workplaces – stop smoking courses offered

It is the municipality’s basic view that health and well-being are best strengthened in collaboration and is a responsibility to be shared between the citizen, the family, society and the public authorities. Therefore the municipality also tries to involve private and public enterprises/institutions as active partners in the efforts to promote people’s state of health in the community.

The Center for Sunde Arbejdspladser (Centre for Healthy Workplaces) is available to all private and public workplaces wishing to promote health and well-being for their employees. Using health profiles, the centre offers to identify possibilities and problems at the workplace and provides specific initiatives within smoking, diet, alcohol and exercise. The centre offers:

1) personal health profiles

2) smoking policy and stop smoking courses

3) dietary policies, dietary advice, weight loss courses and advice on healthy canteen food

4) guidance on physical activities at the workplace and fitness tests and

5) alcohol policies and providing information on treatment options.

For further information on services and prices, contact the Center for Sunde Arbejdspladser (Centre for Healthy Workplaces), Jernbanegade 8C, 9800 Hjørring, tel.: 72 33 56 00 . You can also visit www.sundearbejdspladser.dk

Forsamlingsbygningen – a voluntary centre
The community centre Forsamlings-bygningen is the Municipality of Hjørring’s voluntary centre. Its primary aims are: 1) to ensure that the municipality’s socially vulnerable groups have the best possible conditions for leading an active and meaningful life on the basis of respect, value and sense of security, and 2) to establish and coordinate collaboration across the voluntary associations/organisations which carry out humanitarian and social voluntary work in the Municipality of Hjørring.

Forsamlingsbygningen also embraces activity centres in Lønstrup, Poulstrup and Sindal. Common to all four centres is that they can be used by volunteer social associations/organisations, pensioners and people taking early retirement who can participate in the activities taking place at the buildings, or use the premises for their own activities. The activities range from self-help groups, counselling and ordinary association meetings on the one hand to gymnastics, Nordic walking, concerts and dancing on the other. The centre’s motto: We have the premises – you are the content!

Motellet – acute rooms and rehabilitation
With the municipal reform, the municipalities have assumed responsibility for rehabilitation that is not part of hospital admission or preparation for treatment/admission. The municipalities are therefore responsible for the rehabilitation of people who are no longer receiving hospital treatment. Here, the Municipality of Hjørring has Motellet, which the municipality wants to use for citizens who need temporary admission with intensive care and rehabilitation. The intention is that the acute function will serve as an alternative to hospital admission for patients requiring expert treatment and help.

Training for citizens with physical debilities
Training is also an important focus area for the Municipality of Hjørring. In tack with the municipal reform, the municipalities have been given more tasks in relation to rehabilitation:“Following the municipal reform, our area of responsibility has been expanded as the municipality must now offer rehabilitation to citizens being discharged from hospital. We are well geared to take this on thanks to our experience with rehabilitation and maintenance training for, in particular, the seniors in the municipality. The fact that we are now responsible for this task means that the work with each citizen can be organised together with the municipality’s other training and rehabilitation activities, which will help to ensure greater coherence and continuity in the treatments,” says health manager Anne Krøjer.   

In addition to the rehabilitation of patients who have been discharged from hospital, the municipality offers maintenance training and rehabilitation targeted in particular at the municipality’s older citizens with a temporary or long-term physical impairment. Rehabilitation and maintenance training take place at selected activity centres close to where people live, at the relief and rehabilitation centre Motellet, in citizens’ own homes as well as at special institutions for children and adults.

If a citizen with a lasting impairment needs aids, the municipality also helps here. Likewise, it is also the municipality that handles applications for relevant modifications at home or for disabled driver vehicles.