Medically supervised exercise classes staged at leisure centre
TALLAGHT University Hospital, South Dublin County Council and DCU MedEx have come together to bring medically supervised exercise classes and educational workshops to south Dublin for the first time.
MedEx has been operating in DCU for the past 10 years and during that time it has grown to become one of the largest centres of its kind in Europe, hosting over 700 participant visits every week.
MedEx Tallaght began operating in Tallaght Leisure Centre from on May 1.
The community based chronic illness rehabilitation programme will offer structured and supervised exercise classes to enable people with a diverse range of illnesses to exercise in a safe environment in order to maintain or gain fitness during or after treatment.
Patients with chronic diseases such as heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, cancer, peripheral vascular disease, neurodegenerative conditions can avail of the programme and new programmes will commence this year for those with chronic pain, heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, cystic fibrosis and for renal failure patients on dialysis.
There will be a specific focus on creating programmes for patients with mental illness and memory complaints in Tallaght as a recently completed three year HSE funded evaluation of MedEx demonstrated the positive effects exercise had on patients’ psychological wellness and cognition.
The evaluation also highlighted the positive impact the programme has on strength, aerobic capacity, body composition, inflammatory markers, fasting glucose, blood pressure and falls risks.
Billy Coman, Director of Housing, Social and Community Development South Dublin County Council said, “We are delighted to have teamed up with Tallaght University Hospital to bring MedEx to Tallaght Leisure Centre.
“MedEx has been hugely successful in DCU and has contributed to the positive recovery and management of thousands of patients with serious illnesses in north Dublin and I have no doubt it will have a similar impact on the wider south Dublin community in Tallaght.”
