HEALTH FAIR 2025

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ExWell’s third annual Health Fair took place on the 5th of September 2025 at Punchestown . The Health Fair is our big day of celebration, education, exercise participation, music and fun.
Punchestown is a fantastic venue for the Fair and it was like a pilgrimage as buses and cars arrived from all over the country and the sense of excitement as people checked in was wonderful. In total we had 800 people in attendance, a Health Fair record.                             

                                                                                                                                                     

We were honoured that The Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill,

attended to open the event, which was hosted again by Professor Niall Moyna.

The Minister showed her deep understanding of the issues pertinent to chronic

illness care and highlighted the key impact of loneliness in predicting admission

to hospital.

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Louise O’Keeffe, an ExWell participant in Loughinstown and a strokesurvivor,

also spoke at the opening. She described the major change thathas occurred

for herself and her family since her stroke, and the importance of the ExWell

programme in Loughlinstown to her ongoing recovery.

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This year’s education talks were powerful. Professor Donal O’Shea’s message

was that it is quite possible to be healthy and active no matter what your weight

is and he explained that patients on his obesity treatment programme often

become much healthier and happier despite losing little or no weight.

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Dr Brendan Egan from DCU gave a great practical talk on how to address the

nutritional challenges people experience with ageing. Specifically, he stressed

the importance of adding extra protein, B vitamins and Vitamin D and give clear

advice on how to do this.

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Ms Ailín Rogers is a surgeon in the Mater who works with people who have

stage 4 (metastatic) cancer. Her message was that this is a large and expanding

group, that they can expect to live for many years, that there is always hope and

that modern surgical techniques have added greatly to the treatment options that

are available.

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Dr Leonard Douglas is a consultant specialising in psychiatry of old age.

He discussed the common occurrence of new onset mental illness in older people

and how this often is a manifestation of the “battery running low”, that many

factors can be involved in sparking a mental health episode and that there can be

many ways to help the recovery.
These include discussing the issues with friends and family, seeking involvement

in social groupings and exercise.

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Thomas Coleman is a sleep specialist who summarised the key actions to take for
people who sleep poorly. He advised stepping back and looking at sleep patterns over
a 10-14 period rather than worrying about one bad night’s sleep. These include the
importance of routine, exercise, nutrition (what to consume and what to avoid) and
reduced screen time.

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Kate Sheridan is a lecturer in DCU whose expertise and research is in the field of

chronic pain. This is common challenge in people attending ExWell. Kate explained

how the degree of pain experienced is often not directly related to the amount of

physical damage that is present in the body of the body where the pain if felt. She

also introduced some of the factors involved in “turning up and turning down” the pain,

including exercise, social connections and ‘having a purpose’.

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After the talks we moved on to the breakout sessions and lunch. Attendees had numerous options to choose from, including strength exercises, movement to music, ceilí dancing, the sit to stand exercise, getting up from the floor, boxercise, posture improvement, breathwork, yoga, Tai Chi, balance and dynamic stretching. It was the first time for us to try the break out model at the Fair and we were naturally nervous about the challenge of moving so many people between the different activity rooms. We needn’t have worried.
The ExWell team played a blinder and the entire session ran very smoothly.

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In the afternoon, Dr Liam Moggan chaired the participant voice session, in which seven participants shared the personal illness stories and their experience of attending ExWell. The range of illnesses they described included metastatic cancer, stroke, rheumatoid arthritis, obesity, heart disease, multiple sclerosis and chronic pain. The common theme was the importance of exercise and of the social interaction that goes with the ExWell programme.

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The day finished with a fantastic performance by the ExWell Unity Choir and a sig-along with
the audience.

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 To watch speeches from the speekers simply click on their photographes.