Free lung health advice in Churchill Square
Albion in the Community (AITC) will be using a pair of giant inflatable lungs to raise awareness of lung health among shoppers in Churchill Square.
AITC’s Speak Up Against Cancer team will be downstairs in the shopping centre’s promotions court between 9am and 7pm on Saturday.
They will be joined between 10am and midday by the club’s official mascot, Gully, and there will be a range of quizzes and free giveaways on offer throughout the day.
Visitors to the inflatable lungs will be able to find out potentially vital information on how to keep their lungs healthy and spot the early signs and symptoms of lung cancer; they’ll also be able to take a quick test to reveal their lung age.
The event, which AITC has called Breathing Space, is part of AITC’s wider work throughout Brighton and Hove which aims to increase local early detection rates of a range of different cancers. In the last 12 months alone, AITC’s Speak Up Against Cancer team has shared potentially life-saving information with more than 17,000 people.
These face-to-face meetings took place at 114 different public events – an average of one public workshop attended by the AITC team every three days. These have included other eye-catching giant inflatables, including an inflatable walk-through bowel previously displayed in Churchill Square and an interactive inflatable breast temporarily housed in the Open Market.
The inflatables help AITC’s team engage passers-by and demonstrate early warning signs for various cancers.
Churchill Square’s centre director Mark Buchanan-Smith was only too-pleased to accommodate the charity’s latest event. He said: “I’m thrilled that we’re supporting Albion in the Community in this way. The activity is a great way for shoppers to find out about lung cancer and why stopping smoking is so important.
“Having the giant inflatable lungs in Churchill Square will really be a sight to see and I’d encourage everyone visiting the centre to talk to the team from Albion in the Community about not only this, but the work they do across Brighton and Hove.”
Sue Brown, Albion in the Community’s Speak Up Against Cancer co-ordinator, added: “We take over 23,000 breaths a day so our lungs deserve a bit of TLC.
“We are being joined at Saturday’s event by local nurse specialists, council health trainers and our own volunteers who can help advise people if they have any health concerns – so put down your shopping bags for a few minutes, take a well-deserved breather and find out more about how to look after your lungs.”
For more information on Speak Up Against Cancer, which is commissioned by Brighton & Hove City Council Public Health and NHS Brighton and Hove Clinical Commissioning Group, call: 01273 878261 or email: speakup@bhafcfoundation.org.uk.