Portavogie Fishermen Benefit From Health Checks

Free health checks for fishermen go down a storm in Portavogie.

The second stop for the SeaFit health checks was in Portavogie harbour on 29 March and was a great success.

Nearly 40 local fishermen were seen in just one day – the highest attendance so far in this three-stop tour. Following on from their success in Ardglass, the SeaFit team took a range of checks to the fishing community plus advice and information on how to get fit for sea.

Portavogie Fishermen availed of free health checks through the Fishermens Mission and SeaFit.

Farm Families, Cancer Focus, Mourne Physiotherapy and a local dentist were all there offering a wide range of health checks from blood pressure and diabetes checks, to skin cancer and Carbon Monoxide tests, a taste of physiotherapy and oral health checks.

Commenting on the success of the event, local Fishermen’s Mission Superintendent Ingrid Perry said: “We’re absolutely delighted with the results from Portavogie. It was a good day for fishing so the boats were out and we were worried about the impact on numbers.

“But we needn’t have been; the afternoon was so busy that we had to tell some people to come back later. Portavogie may not be the largest fishing port in Northern Ireland but that doesn’t mean it’s not full of fishermen who want to find out how to GetSeaFit!”

The one day health check in Portavogie was the second in a series of major health and wellbeing events organised by SeaFit for the fishing community in Northern Ireland.

The next event takes place in Kilkeel on Friday 5 and Saturday 6 April at the Mission Centre, from 10am – 5pm.