SSAFA’s Cyprus staff get active for an Olympic summer

03 September 2024

With all eyes on Paris this summer for both the Olympics and the Paralympics, staff from the Community Health Team (CHT) of SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity ran a public health campaign geared around getting, being, and staying active.

The CHT provides a range of support, advice, and guidance to British Forces community oversea as part of its contract with the Ministry of Defence. Services include midwifery, health visiting, dietetics, school nursing, child and adolescent mental health services, and speech and language therapy on Cyprus and as far apart as BATUS in Canada and Brunei.

CHT dietitian Rianna Machen led the Get Active campaign – those taking part aimed to cover the distance from London to Paris by any means – that saw staff from across the disciplines cover some 2252.36 miles, which is exactly the distance from Akrotiri to Ålesund in Norway.

Rianna commented: “SSAFA’s Community Health Team launched a public health campaign targeting British Forces families to boost physical activity ahead of the Olympics, highlighting the importance of staying active, offering tips for encouraging children to be more active, and ensuring safety in the heat.

“In addition, the SSAFA Community Health Teams all around the world, undertook a friendly challenge where each team participated in a virtual trek across the English Channel to promote an increase in activity and team work.

“During the Olympics, SSAFA staff members walked, cycled, ran, swam and paddle boarded to tot up miles which were put towards virtually reaching Paris from London, and showed themselves to be great role models to our British Forces families.”

For more information about the services and support SSAFA’s Community Health Team provides to military families overseas, contact us here or the SSAFA Community Health Facebook page for information on your local (closed) Facebook group.