As the £100,000 Project Placemat gathers momentum, with the aim of improving the health and quality of life for Bostonians, there's gloomy news that shows what an uphill struggle lies ahead.
Although Boston has narrowly lost its place at the top of the league for obesity, it now boasts the title of the nation's "baby boom" capital, with the highest number of bundles of joy per woman in the country.
The news of the fecundity of the borough's young ladies is obviously linked to the fact that the rate of teenage pregnancy in Boston is worse than the England average, and it is still estimated that the percentage of adults in Boston who are obese and the percentage who eat healthily are both worse than the average for England.
The latest profile for the borough says that whilst the health of people in Boston is generally similar to the England average, life expectancy is significantly lower for men living in Boston compared to the England average and rates of drug misuse and people diagnosed with diabetes are worse than the average.
There are also inequalities within Boston by gender and level of deprivation.
Something called The Lincolnshire Local Area Agreement (how many of these pathetic local quangos are there?) has prioritised tackling physical activity, smoking, child obesity, alcohol misuse, and road injuries and deaths.
Meanwhile, we note that Boston Borough Council has paid "experts " from the University of East Anglia, which in turn has hired a twee-sounding research outfit called "Work House" to come up with ideas for a new health store in the town.
A health shop doesn't exactly require a degree in rocket science to stock, and we already have at least two that have been in the town for years and do an excellent job.
This just seems like spending money for the sake of it, and will probably prove to be a total waste of time.
Then, Boston hit the headlines again this week with the news of an exciting piece of equipment at the town's Pilgrim Hospital - a £3,000 inflatable armchair called the Camel, which helps to lift overweight people.
It was bought after an obese patient fell in the outpatients' department and couldn't get up again. The Camel was donated to the department by the Pilgrim's League of Hospital Friends. What a shameful waste of money.
Instead of paying lip service to health issues such as wasting cash on pointless research into how to stock a health shop, and lifting fatties who know they're gross but can't be bothered to do anything about it, we need to get to grips more firmly with the major issues.
Part of the problem could be in Boston itself.
We've all heard of sick building syndrome, where occupants of certain office blocks fall prey to more illnesses than those in a neighbouring office. It seems that the building itself is the cause of the symptom, and if it is demolished and the occupants relocated, their health improves.
Whilst we know that it's not feasible to demolish Boston and start again, there are things that we could address that might help.
Improving the look of the place would be a good starting point.
Smartening up the look of the growing number of empty shops would be a big help.
A town that looks bright and busy generate a spirit of well being and happiness.
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1 comment:
Can't agree that the so-called baby boom is down us locals.
Going by the evidence of my own eyes - and especially ears - I'd say most of the prams and pushchairs being pushed around the town are driven by Eastern Europeans.
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