RUH to provide skin cancer advice at the Ploughing Championships

Specialists from the department of Plastic Surgery at Roscommon University Hospital (RUH) will be at the HSE Health and Wellbeing Marquee at the National Ploughing Championships on Thursday 19 September to offer advice on how to reduce the risk of skin cancer and empower people with knowledge so that they can identify skin cancer at an early stage.

Bernadette Finneran, Registered Advanced Nurse Practitioner specialising in skin cancer at RUH explains, “Statistics from the Irish Cancer Society demonstrate that 1 in 4 deaths from skin cancer in Ireland are from those working in the construction or farming industry thus making the Ploughing Championships an ideal opportunity to promote UV radiation awareness. There are now over 1,000 deaths from malignant melanoma in Ireland each year and the plastics team have taken a pro-active approach by offering key advice on UV radiation awareness.
 
“The key skin cancer prevention message for Irish people, who have a fair complexion and are prone to sunburn, is to follow the Irish Cancer’s ‘SunSmart Code’, which is to seek shade between 11am and 3pm, cover up using long sleeve clothing, sunglasses and a wide brim hat and use a high factor sunscreen with SPF 30 or 50.”
 
The expertise of the Plastic Surgery Team led by Consultant Surgeon Ms Deirdre Jones will be at Stand 458, Block 3, Row 21 to promote UV radiation awareness as part of the new National Skin Cancer Policy Initiative.
 
In addition, the Health and Wellbeing marquee will host a series of hourly demonstrations and health events – including how community first-responders help those in emergency, CPR demos, alcohol and parenting chats, health checks and quizzes. Visitors to the HSE stands can avail of an array of free advice and health information regarding HSE campaigns such as START (healthy eating and active living), Quit.ie (quitting smoking), Sepsis, preventing skin cancer, BowelScreen, Peripheral Arterial Disease, Rural Mental Health and Injury Units. Staff from the Injury Unit at Roscommon University Hospital will also be in attendance to provide information on their services.