Tag Archive | Health

Donegal Day Out

Jun23

This feature is part of the ‘Women’s Lives, Women’s Voices’ series. Written by Elena Tabandzhova, founder of Donegal Day Out website and Facebook group

My name is Elena T.

I’m originally from Bulgaria, a mother of three children, and a web designer in our family web design agency. We came to Ireland in 2017, and since then, we have been happy to live in Letterkenny.

When we arrived in Donegal, the curiosity about the county was immeasurable. We had to know where we live and what our new homeland looks like. Also, our move to Ireland was supposed to bring lifestyle changes – a more active life, more outdoor experience, nature education for my children.

The problem is that it is a bit hard to force ourselves to go out of the house. All the things that are waiting to be done – laundry, dusting, cooking are waiting for us, and I feel if I don’t do them soon, the whole household will collapse on my shoulders. Also, it is hard to go out in the rain and wind instead of enjoying the comfort of the home and your favourite show. Lastly, going out with children could be a bit of hell. So much food to prepare, so many clothes to take, and someone is always unhappy.

But in the end, I didn’t want to watch cool places on Facebook; I wanted to experience them!
So we made a short trip to Woodquarter in Mulroy Bay and liked it. It was so rechargeable to our minds, and our little boy was so happy. Then we decided to do something more significant – to visit all 39 Wild Atlantic Way discovering points in Donegal. We planned it for two days in the Easter break, but it was so amazing, and there were so many things to see, so we couldn’t do even half of what we wanted.

After those two days on the road around Donegal, we started to go out every weekend to find new places to visit. Slowly being out and about becomes an essential part of our weekly routine, as important as the morning tea.

And the need for Donegal Day Out came up.

When we travelled on the Wild Atlantic way, we had a hard time finding the correct locations of some of the stops. Also, there was not much information about many of the places we visited. So I started to collect information for myself – to easily plan family trips for days out in Donegal. Then I thought I could share it with others who may find it helpful. It could help people improve their lifestyle – outside the house, the shops, the noise, and the commercial world.

So when we started our family website business, one of the first sites I created was www.donegaldayout.ie It had to be an easy-to-use, well-organised, complete informative online guide for outdoor experience planning in Donegal. And at last, it had to give the users a bit of rest from all the advertising and commerciality that surround us from everywhere.

When an idea meets creators and how “I” became “We.”

Soon after I created the first pages, a very close friend, Dalia Taftazani, hugged the idea with her heart, and we became a team. She is a great photographer and loves outdoor adventures and exploring Donegal.

When the project grew up and became more significant, the third team member came to take care of it – Sonya Pepelyashkova. She is a business consultant and our project manager who works with us to develop Donegal Day Out into the most used online guide to planning a day out in Donegal.

It took time to settle up and find our place as a team, but slowly we got there, and now the project benefits a lot from our different personalities and skills.

Today Donegal Day Out has a spirit.

Today Donegal Day Out is an online guide with more than 120 places in 11 different categories. We add more every month and improve the guide by seeing the user’s needs. And it is lovely to see how it already works and has hundreds of users every month.
https://www.donegaldayout.ie/

Our Facebook community has grown up, and for about a year, the group has over 3,400 members. In this group, everyone can inspire others with a great place to go or get inspired for a day out in Donegal, so don’t miss joining and inviting your friends.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/487215939072024

We keep our followers on the Facebook page informed of what is new in the guide and how it is improved.
https://www.facebook.com/donegaldayout

You can also enjoy our beautiful pictures from Donegal on our Instagram page.
https://www.instagram.com/donegaldayout.ie/

If you feel the same about Donegal’s nature and the significance of the outdoor experience, then Donegal Day Out is an excellent place for you. And if you like the idea – please help us spread the word and get more people to have an active, mindful, and happier day out in Donegal.

Women’s Collective Ireland- Donegal are always looking for women to share their stories and looking for women to write features on topics of their choice which we will profile as part of our Women’s Lives, Women’s Voices’ series.

Sorcha’s Healthy Living

Sep28

This feature is part of the NCCWN Donegal Women’s Network, ‘Women’s Lives, Women’s Voices’ series. Written by Sorcha Mc Elchar, a qualified Nutritionist, Healthy Lifestyle Blogger, columnist, Fitness instructor, and YouTuber from Donegal.

My nutrition story began early on and from a very young age. I had a keen interest in Nutrition and still have a project from Primary School where we had to write what we wanted to be in the future. Some of my classmates wrote they wanted to be a Hairdresser, a Guard, a Teacher etc but what did I write…. a Dietitian. Most 12-year-olds didn’t even know what a Dietitian was…but unfortunately, I did because I had met several growing up…. along with numerous Doctors, Consultants, and Nurses. Why was that? …I hear you say.

At the age of two I became very ill. It began with sore eyes so bad I couldn’t bare to go out in daylight (I also had very pale skin so you could be thinking Vampire here….) but along with chronic diarrhoea and a failure to thrive the Doctors just couldn’t figure out the cause. That was until at age four when I went into a full body cramp (very painful) and it was discovered my blood Calcium levels were extremely low and I was finally diagnosed with a rare Auto-immune Disease called APECED syndrome. Due to two faulty genes, my Immune system was attacking the hormone producing glands in my body. My failure to thrive was because my gut didn’t absorb enough nutrients from my food. The Dietitians tried everything to help me put on weight from shakes to a ‘green card’ allowing me to eat as much junk food as I could…but nothing worked. If I managed to put on a few kilos I would become ill and lose it all again. Life was running in a vicious circle. I had no quality of life. It was either school (if I was well enough) hospital or home. I had no energy for anything else. If I managed a full week of school, we celebrated.

Then at age 17 my Doctors decided I wasn’t going to live much longer if they couldn’t get enough nutrients into me so in a last ditch attempt to save me I was put on a specialised personal Intravenous Nutrition that bypassed my Gut entirely through a permanent central line in my chest at allow the nutrition to go straight into my bloodstream. Then a miracle happened…. within days we could see improvements. I had more energy, I slept better, I caught less infections, I wasn’t cold all the time. my hair, skin and nails were healthier looking. I also felt happier in myself and stronger.

This was my light bulb moment where I saw how important Nutrition was. I still had my condition…I still had loads of medication to take…. I wasn’t cured… but my quality of life improved one hundred-fold.
Thankfully growing up my parents instilled in me the importance of hard work and perseverance. I also had an amazing SNA at Secondary school Trisha Redmond (Finn Valley College) who helped push me out of my comfort zone more and I realised I could do a lot more than I thought I could if I just put my mind to it and now, I had the energy to do this!

I was able to start dance classes with Aislingi Academy in Stranorlar and there I found a new ‘happy place’ where I could get stronger and foster a love for performing. In time I started college at LYIT doing an honours degree in Food Science & Nutrition where I graduated with a first-class degree thanks to the amazing support from my PA’s Therese Fitzsimmons and Bernie Alcorn and all my lecturers who realised despite my illness I was willing to give them 110%. The Disability officer Rosin Mc Cormack in LYIT and everyone at the Curve including the College Nurse Hannah Glackin saw my abilities instead of my disabilities and encouraged me all the way.

When I graduated, we were in lockdown so even though I had ideas of where I could get a job, I had to stay isolated due to my immune deficiency. So Covid motivated me to set up sorchashealthyliving.com where I Blog scientifically sound Nutrition and Healthy Lifestyle advice. I also upload videos to my Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube channel and offer one-to-one Nutrition and Lifestyle consultations and packages which can be found on my webpage and Facebook page.
My goal is to help people realise how important good Nutrition is, because healthy eating doesn’t have to be complicated. Small steps can often make the biggest change….and most importantly….enjoy food!

Contact details for Sorcha: 

Visit her website at: sorchashealthyliving.com

Email: sorchashealthyliving@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/SorchasHealthyLiving/

https://www.instagram.com/sorchashealthyliving/

https://www.tiktok.com/@sorchas_healthy_living?

Sorcha’s Healthy Living YouTube Channel

NCCWN Donegal are always looking for women to share their stories and looking for women to write features on topics of their choice which we will profile as part of our Women’s Lives, Women’s Voices’ series.

The Impact of Covid-19 on Maternal Health in Donegal

Sep30

Finola Brennan, NCCWN- Donegal Women’s Network project Co-ordinator speaks with Greg Hughes on Highland Radio about of the isolation, anxiety and stress many pregnant women in Donegal have experienced since Covid-19 and highlighting;

“The urgent need to have a more national women centred, human and compassionate response  in the delivery of the Maternity Services, while living with Covid 19”.

You can listen to the interview with below.

As a member of The National Collective of Community based Women’s Networks (NCCWN) we are calling on the Government to ease Covid-19 restrictions in maternity services and allow birthing partners to support pregnant people and be present at all pregnancy related appointments, scans, full labour and birth as soon as possible.

As part of this call, we are also asking members of the public to let Government representatives know that you are not happy with the current measures or treatment of pregnant people and you want restrictions in maternity services to ease.

To make it as easy as possible for you to contact your local TD we have drafted a letter you can use to express your concerns and support every pregnant person across the country. You can find who your local TD is and how they can be contacted at: https://www.whoismytd.com/.

If you are part of a women’s group and would like to draft your own letter, please feel free to contact your nearest NCCWN project for support. You can find where all of our projects are located here. Or, if you would like your nearest project to send the letter on your behalf please contact us and let us know. Your personal details will only be used for this campaign unless you indicate that you want us to retain your details.

Download the letter template

Do you know about the COVID-19 Restrictions in Maternity Services?

Sep21

Maternity services in Ireland should matter, please get involved and show your support.

NCCWN Donegal Women’s Network as a project of The National Collective of Community based Women’s Networks (NCCWN) are calling on the Government to ease COVID-19 restrictions in maternity services and allow birthing partners to support pregnant people and be present at all pregnancy related appointments, scans, full labour and birth as soon as possible.

As part of this call, we are also asking members of the public to let Government representatives know that you are not happy with the current measures or treatment of pregnant people and you want restrictions in maternity services to ease.

To make it as easy as possible for you to contact your local TD we have drafted a letter you can use to express your concerns and support every pregnant person across the country. You can find who your local TD is and how they can be contacted at: https://www.whoismytd.com/.

If you are part of a women’s group and would like to draft your own letter, please feel free to contact your nearest NCCWN project for support. You can find where all of our projects are located here. Or, if you would like your nearest project to send the letter on your behalf please contact us and let us know. Your personal details will only be used for this campaign unless you indicate that you want us to retain your details.

Download the letter template