We won the innovation award at Carlisle Living Awards #bestofCarlisle – a huge step for World Health Innovation Summit. Our vision is to inspire, innovate and support communities to share knowledge to improve healthcare.
April 2015 I sent a tweet out asking health colleagues if they were willing to come to Carlisle, Cumbria. The tweet was part of a vision to bring communities together who would inspire, innovate and share knowledge to improve healthcare. Our health services are under immense pressure at the moment and we need new ways to support them.
The idea is simple – we all have an interest in health, however we never had a way to share our experiences (Patients, Clinicians, Managers, Voluntary Sector, Education and Business communities) in a forum that would allow us to contribute to improve the care we all need.
World Health Innovation Summit provides that platform. It allows us all (every sector of society) to come together to share our knowledge. To drive innovation you need diversity – WHIS provides that unique setting and environment where we can work as a team to help each other.
Health is wealth – every one of us at some stage will use a health service. We all know the current situation and we need to help. Our motto is #togetherweinspire and we want you to get involved. Share your knowledge and experience so we can provide our communities with the best services possible.
We’re a social enterprise that is set up as a community interest company. We will put profits after costs back into local communities. The future of business will be aligned to social value. So by supporting our activities your local community will benefit. Individuals and businesses who help and support us will be supporting their communities and everyone wins.
What started out as a tweet has now reached over 100 countries. We have over 12 summits in the pipeline. The next summit is in Greece on the 21st-23rd October where you can join me and other thought leaders to inspire, innovate and share knowledge while supporting the Greek people. We are then off to Thailand on the 9th December. In 2017 we are planning events here in the UK (Cornwall, London, Cumbria) and abroad in India, Africa (Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Morocco etc), Brazil, USA (Texas), Ireland. We’re are getting contacted daily now from new communities who want to adopt the WHIS model.
Prevention is better than cure:
- WHISKids
- WHISatwork
- WHISSeniors
- Health & Wellness
We decided to see how we can support our next generation through WHISKids (Health & Wellness) in schools. This started as a pilot programme in a local primary school in Great Corby and has now grown to 10 schools in less than 6 months. We plan to deliver these programmes online. The feed back from the children has been amazing and they love it.
WHISatwork is our team going into the workplace to provide support to businesses for stress and health and wellbeing.
WHISSeniors – we’re working with the Henry Lonsdale Trust to develop innovative programmes to improve the quality of life for elderly people.
Health & Wellness – Cumbria and the lakes is the place to be. A stunning location for recreation activities and are developing our activities with the support of GoActiveCumbria. Our first event was in March and we had fantastic feedback and we have another on the 24th September 2016 in Hayton Castle, Aspatria.
The above are all set up to alleviate pressure on our health services in a time when it’s badly needed. Martyn Blacklock, Soni Cox and Gillene Sealby have been leading these fantastic programmes and we’ve big plans to share the knowledge via digital means in the coming months.
*Part 2 Sunday – 18th September
Gareth Presch
Founder
Let's share knowledge
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