A Portadown-based football club has teamed up with local health organisations to offer free diabetes screening to young people this week.
Hanover Youth FC will be offering the service on Friday, November 22, from 6pm at their home ground in Brownstown Park in Portadown, with the screening open to all kids between three and 13.
The club has linked up with ELSA and the Southern Health and Social Care Trust to make the event happen.
The ELSA Study aims to recruit 20,000 children across the UK to explore the feasibility and benefits of screening for type 1 diabetes.
To take part, parents simply have to fill out a form on behalf of their child. Registration is required in advance of Friday.
A spokesperson for Hanover FC said: “Kids might not want to go to hospital to get their finger prick done but they might sit down at football. It’s not a stressful environment, they’re there to have fun.
“Literally two seconds does it and they’re out the door. There’s none of the stigma of a hospital when the panic sets in.
“If the antibodies are high, ELSA and the Southern Trust contact the parents and by getting it an an early stage, they can start to act on it right away.
“There’s enough struggles in the world so if we can start to educate and get kids tested for the likes of diabetes, that can only benefit everybody.”
As a community-based football club, Hanover FC are also working to tackle mental health issues amongst children, coaches and their parents.
The spokesperson continued: “From a club point of view, it’s about educating on the mental health side and how to deal with it. Football is a vehicle to educate kids.
“If there’s anything we can do as a club to educate our own kids, coaches and parents, that’s a benefit for everyone.
“Now that our coaches are educated in mental health, they know how to speak to the kids and we can start to signpost people to the various bodies. A kid might be more likely to tell a football coach than their parents.”
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