Quirónsalud gathers 300 teenagers at an event about health

The Quirónsalud Foundation held on Monday at the CosmoCaixa in Barcelona the meeting Stay healthy: Mental health and adolescencea pioneering mental health and well-being event for 300 male and female students between the ages of 15 and 16.

The workshop is being held as part of the educational innovation project “Stay Healthy”, which aims to Promoting healthy habits among teens Through different workshops on topics: nutrition, sleep, physical exercise, COVID-19 virus, addiction to new technologies, and substance abuse. Since 2018, this initiative, implemented in all Spanish provinces, uses scientific rigor, new pedagogical models and the digital environment as a channel to communicate the future importance of the decisions they make in their daily lives to adolescents and how do they affect your health in the long term?

Since its launch, the Stay Healthy Service has won More than 15,000 students participate in face-to-face sessions And more than 57,000 of those made through virtual classes, which were released as a result of the pandemic. In Barcelona alone, where there are 28 learning centers registered in the programme, 30 face-to-face sessions will be held during the month of June, involving more than 850 students.

Sharing knowledge closely

Teresa Álvarez Perdices, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Director of the Quirónsalud Foundation, notes: “By staying healthy, we enter all those classrooms that we need and shed light on an important issue such as people’s health. How A company focused on health, people come first and we want to present and impart our medical knowledge in a close and accessible manner at an essential stage of life. Today, due to the general context of uncertainty and the way technology affects adolescents, we believe that addressing the issue of mental health is critical. We are very proud to have been able to find collaborators who support and understand us and who, like us, are willing to take a stand for the health of future generations.”

In the case of the “Stay Healthy: Mental Health and Adolescent” meeting, the goal was to respond to Request from educational centers With which the project regularly collaborates, given the need to address the impact of technology on adolescents, according to the results of a recent UNICEF study in this area, up to 15 percent of adolescents experience severe or severe symptoms of major depression.

Given the complexity of teachers dealing with these issues in the classroom, the collaboration of different professional volunteers from the Quirónsalud Hospital network in Barcelona was crucial and allowed the participants to learn about risk factors The most common mental health symptoms through a A reliable and accurate source. The knowledge was applied through five workshops with different methodologies related to food, substance addiction, sleep, addiction to new technologies and physical exercise, along with health professionals from different specialties: psychologists, dieticians, pediatricians, physiotherapists and urologists who joined the event.

In the case of nutrition, the link to mental health is clear. We are seeing in younger and younger teens a Increased incidence of eating disordersExplains Maria Valero, MD, a dietician in the Endocrinology and Nutrition Service at Universitari Dexeus Hospital. “This is why it is essential to prevent and educate in the importance of eating a healthy diet, without fear and developing self-esteem to avoid risky behaviors,” he says.

Marta de Chisano, Head of the Department of Pediatrics at El Pilar-Grupo Quirónsalud Hospital, commented, “Sleep is a biological process that must ensure rest for the body and mind. It is a healthy habit crucial to the health of children and adolescents that helps them process the information they receive during the day.” For this reason, he adds, “Good rest benefits the emotional well-being school and physical performance. Today, teens don’t realize the importance of sleep, it’s up to us to give them all the tools to help them change their habits and live a healthier life.”

Teaching Responsibility

On the other hand, Mariana Annes, a pediatrician at Quirónsalud Barcelona Hospital, wanted to emphasize that exercise not only increases the release of endorphins, and thus a sense of well-being, but also positively affects mood, self-image, self-esteem, socialization, sleep or reduce stress, etc. “It is our responsibility to teach young people that physical activity can be a A tool that helps them break away from routine Digital to connect with your body, and should be promoted as a priority health policy,” he explained.

During the workshops, the participants had explanatory videos, hands-on activities, puzzles and the use of virtual reality glasses. Additionally, the meeting ended with a final reflection on mental health stigmatization, which was shared by activist Helen Mercader, of Opertament, who recounted her experience as someone with a mental health diagnosis.

Session moderator Jordi Sassot, Head of the Pediatric Psychiatry Unit at Technon Medical Center, commented, “Mental health is a cross-cutting issue that affects all dimensions of a person’s life. For this reason, it is important for adolescents to know accurate and scientific information about issues that directly affect their lives. Their health, and that they are often misrepresented through social networks.

The collaborative perspective as a key to the project

The event was developed in collaboration with several committed organizations, which have joined the Quirónsalud Foundation’s goal of caring for adolescent health, such as Foundation “La Caixa”, which provided the various CosmoCaixa spaces in which the workshop was held; Samsung, which contributed to the provision of virtual reality glasses, under its Empathy Subject project; Or the Citizen Participation Unit of the National Police, which is already a regular collaborator of the Stay Well programme, as a result of the cooperation agreement signed with the Quirónsalud Foundation. In addition, other brands such as Solán de Cabras, El Granero and Avène were also involved, contributing materials to the event.

According to Teresa Álvarez Perdices, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Director of the Quirónsalud Foundation: “If we have learned anything in the past two years, it is that together, united, we are able to do great things, and therefore, incorporating alliances into our Staying Healthy project allows us to continue to grow in our goal of in promoting healthy habits among adolescents”.