Royal seal of approval for Ribble Valley based Field Nurse Trust as it celebrates 10th anniversary
The Field Nurse Trust was founded on a simple premise.
As farmers can be very reluctant to visit their GP practices why not take healthcare support to them?
Now celebrating its 10th decade, the trust was set up by a collective of local individuals with a common purpose of reducing the identified risks of physical and mental health of those living in rural areas. Since then the project has gone from strength to strength.
One of the founding members, Roger Dugdale, who ran a successful farm feed business which brought him into contact with farmers for many years, explained how the charity works.
He said: “Farmers often face a lot of isolation, working long hours, perhaps alone a lot of the time, and they tend to brush problems and health issues off until it gets too serious.So we had to come up with a way of reaching out to them.”
The one place where farmers are always guaranteed to be is sales day at auction marts, agricultural shows and other rural events.
Gisburn Auction Mart is one of the points they visit every Thursday, and that’s where reporter Sue Plunkett caught up with them to find out what the charity does on the ground.
Sarah Bargh said: “We are all qualified nurses, mostly with a farming or agricultural background, which equips us to know well the health issues and other problems farmers may face. The farmers can come to see us and have a chat, get their blood pressure checked and discuss any other health issues that may be troubling them.
“We can provide information to signpost them to other services and also when they may need to see their GP.”
Sarah’s colleague, Janet Thomas, said they always tried to look at health issues relevant to farmers such as arthritis, joint pain, diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol and also sepsis, a huge killer in the farming community.
“We don’t always sit and wait for them to come to us,” said Janet. “We go out and chat with them and you find that’s often when issues come up in conversation.”
Mental health is also a huge issue and the field nurses are also trained in that area so they can look out for signs of depression and anxiety and offer support and advice. As a charity, funding is always needed and Roger said support from the community was amazing and had allowed the Field Nurses to be extended to up to eight auctions marts across the North West.
He added: "Support is especially good from the young farmers and we are very grateful to everyone who helps with funding what we believe is a vital service."
And the trust gained the royal seal of approval during King Charles’ recent visit to the Ribble Valley. He met representatives of the trust at Clitheroe Auction Mart and chatted at length with Roger, and fellow trustee Richard Schofield, and a number of the nurses present. And to top off the honour His Royal Highness mentioned the trust in his closing speech.