EIT Health Campus promotes healthy living at Uppsala run

Students meet patients, public enjoys health screenings

For the public, the stand set up by EIT Health representatives at the “Blodomloppet” run provided an opportunity to check potential health problems with screenings of their blood pressure, blood oxygen levels and breathing. For the EIT Health Campus students from Uppsala University who ran the stand, it was a clear reminder that healthcare is ultimately about people, and that healthcare innovation only really matters when it affects the lives of patients.

For EIT Health in general, it was an opportunity to promote healthy living, while also raising public awareness of the importance of our work.

Reaching out to stimulate health

“A key feature of EIT Health’s business is to reach out with information, motivation and innovations aimed at stimulating improved public health. ‘Blodomloppet’ is an event in line with the goals of EIT Health,” said Catharina Svensson, pro dean of medical education and EIT Health Campus Coordinator at Uppsala University.

Students representing EIT Health Campus at Uppsala University promoted healthy living and health innovation at the public events around the 18 May Uppsala version of “Blodomloppet”, a popular footrace that takes place in different locations around Sweden and is designed to encourage exercise and blood donations.

‘Tomorrow’s care team’

“Our students will collaborate in tomorrow’s care team, and to plan and carry out this cooperative activity is an important part of their interprofessional learning. Together, they have very broad knowledge of how exercise is best performed to result in physical strength, the importance of recovery and how exercise affects and is affected by various health conditions,” according to Mia Colliander, Educational Counselor, Department of Medical Sciences, at Uppsala.

This was the first time that healthcare students at Uppsala University, working with EIT Health Campus, participated to answer questions concerning health, fitness and blood donations. It was part of EIT Health Campus’s line of activities oriented toward citizens, who are seen as the ultimate beneficiaries of all EIT Health work.

The event attracted roughly 13 000 runners, joggers and walkers of all ages, and a large portion stopped by the EIT Health stand, Colliander said. She said she counted 200 visitors in the first couple of hours of the event, but had to stop counting as the first runners finished the race and began to pack the lines waiting to test their blood pressure, hand stregth, breath exhilation levels and blood oxygen saturation.

For more information about the event, and the activities of EIT Health Campus at Uppsala University, contact Catharina Svensson, mia.colliander@medsci.uu.se, EIT Health Campus Coordinator at UU.