Over 80% of women say work performance is affected by menopause symptoms, as Menopause and the City event urges women to seek support
- Menopause and the City among four pilot projects selected in latest Smart D8 programme
- Free community information event to take place on October 16th at The Digital Hub
- Parent-project inforMD Menopause aims to improve menopause health and wellbeing in Liberties and wider area.
“With the average age of menopause at 51, women spend a third of their life postmenopausal. Of those, 75% of women experience menopausal symptoms with 25% describing their symptoms as severe”, participants heard at an event on Monday 16th October in advance of World Menopause Day.
Menopause and the City, one of the four selected Smart D8 pilot projects, held an event at The Digital Hub on Monday 16th of October ahead of World Menopause Day, to share information on menopause and support networks available in the local Dublin 8 area.
Founded and driven by Dr Louise Fitzgerald, Menopause and the City is a sub-project of inforMD Menopause, an initiative that is focused on improving menopause health and wellbeing in Dublin 8 and beyond. It will be the first national platform wholly dedicated to providing women with information on menopause and resources where they can access support.
The Menopause and the City pilot project aims to educate women, their family and friends about menopause so they can be empowered to manage their symptoms using self-management strategies but equally know when to seek professional help appropriately. The pilot will provide several free in-person workshops delivered to the community and a free online platform.
The first of those information workshops featured a number of leading expert speakers in healthcare and menopause, including Dr Ciara McKenna and Dr. Aoife Nic Shamhráin, leading Menopause Specialists with Menopause Health, Clare Farrell, Women’s Health Physiotherapist at The Coombe Hospital and Family Physio, and Orna O’Brien, Senior Dietician at the Irish Heart Foundation.
Dr Louise Fitzgerald, the founder of inforMD Menopause, has extensive experience in healthcare and identified the challenges facing women experiencing menopause in accessing treatment and support. With a background in medical practice, Dr Louise runs a successful menopause clinic in Dublin City Centre where she provides equal access, treatment and support for women experiencing menopause.
Speaking ahead of the launch of the pilot project, Dr Louise Fitzgerald, Founder of inforMD Menopause and Menopause and the City, stated:
“Menopause has become an increasingly important conversation in modern society however many women remain unaware of treatment and support networks in their local communities. The impact of hormonal changes on the lead up to menopause can be turbulent, confusing and stressful. It is quite shocking to hear that 82% of women are in some way affected in their work performance by menopause symptoms[1]. While some women require medical intervention for their symptoms, many women only require lifestyle advice, which should be available to all women. It’s important that we raise awareness of menopause symptoms, supports and resources for communities, and I hope that inforMD Menopause does just that. I’m delighted to launch inforMD Menopause and Menopause and the City ahead of World Menopause Day and I’m very grateful for the support from Smart D8 on this important project.”
Jack Lehane, Smart D8 Ecosystem Manager, said:
“Menopause and the City is one of Smart D8’s four successful pilot projects selected for 2023, and we are delighted to be able to support Dr Louise Fitzgerald in her work to create a better educational ecosystem around menopause health. Menopause and the City and inforMD Menopause are especially important for population health and have the potential to scale across a range of Irish communities. The intersection between healthcare and innovation is central to our Smart D8 programme, and Menopause and the City is one of many initiatives that we look forward to enabling to improve community health and wellbeing in Dublin 8 and beyond.”
inforMD Menopause aims to create a greater level of awareness on menopause, its symptoms and share support resources in local communities for those experiencing menopause, with Menopause and the City developed to drive awareness of resources and supports.
Smart D8 is one of five Smart Districts of the Smart Dublin programme designed to improve health and wellbeing in an urban population. Led by The Digital Hub, St James’s Hospital, Dublin City Council and Smart Dublin, Smart D8 announced the latest pilot projects to receive support from the programme, with Menopause and the City among the four chosen projects. For more information about Menopause and the City or Smart D8 visit: https://smartdublin.ie/smart-districts/smart-d8/
ENDS
For more information:
Rachel Power | Murray | rpower@murraygroup.ie | 087 9399 605
About inforMD Menopause and Menopause and the City
Developed by Dr Louise Fitzgerald of Grafton Medical Practice/InforMD.ie, inforMD Menopause seeks to create a better educational ecosystem around menopause health for both individuals as well as families and friends. Menopause and the City is a project with truly scalable potential, and Dr Louise Fitzgerald is aiming for Dublin 8 to become the centre of the first city-wide approach to positive menopause education and support through the pilot project.
About Smart D8
Smart D8 is an initiative to improve the health and wellbeing of citizens in Dublin 8 through collaboration and innovation. It is one of five Smart Districts that form part of the Smart Dublin programme. Since October 2020, Smart D8 has brought together innovators and an urban community with a diverse range of entrepreneurs, academics, local government, national healthcare providers and public bodies in a partnership model to work collaboratively to solve real population health and wellbeing challenges at scale.
Lead partners include: The Digital Hub, Dublin City Council, Smart Dublin and St. James’s Hospital. They are joined by Tyndall National Institute, St Patrick’s Mental Health Services, Trinity Research & Innovation, Trinity Translational Medicine Institute, National College of Art & Design, Guinness Enterprise Centre, Health Innovation Hub Ireland and the HSE in this unique collaborative initiative. Smart D8 is focused on finding innovative solutions to improve the health and wellbeing of nearly 45,000 people living in Ireland’s capital city. Through funded pilot calls and partnerships, Smart D8 is facilitating future products and services showcasing their potential to positively impact the lives of people nationally and internationally.
The initial work of Smart D8 focused on significant community research to measure unmet population health and wellness needs. Following on from this research, a number of pilot projects were actioned to directly respond to this community feedback. A range of innovations have already been rolled out with positive impacts on population health and wellbeing – reaching over 5,000 citizens in and around the Dublin 8 district, before scaling nationally. These initiatives include Heart of Our City which aimed at improving awareness around and management of cardiovascular disease in the community, Civic Dollars which enabled people to earn digital currency through spending time in local parks, and Ways To Wellbeing which boosted the wellbeing and mental health of elderly people by giving them the chance to connect with young people in their community in a meaningful way. Smart D8 was nominated for the HealthTech Innovation of the Year (Product or Service) Award in the Public Sector Digital Transformation Awards 2023.
Find out more at: https://smartdublin.ie/smart-districts/smart-d8/
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[1] The Menopause Hub, Ibec (2021), Menopause in the Workplace Survey. Available at: https://www.iodireland.ie/images/uploads/downloads/Menopause_Infographic.pdf