The emergency medical response charity CRITICAL is advising farmers to seek medical attention early for all health concerns, including mental health.
The advice comes ahead of next week’s National Ploughing Championships.
Experts in the field of mental health say farmers and those working in the agricultural sector often leave it too late to seek medical help, especially when it comes to mental health.
The charity is speaking out ahead of the National Ploughing Championships, which take place in Ratheniska, Co Laois from September 17th to 19th, 2024.
Dr Mark Ruddy is a GP in Co Wicklow and is a responder with CRITICAL. He says that many farmers find it difficult to open up about how they are feeling and this can have a devastating impact on their health.
�If you look at mental health we know that older men in isolated areas are a high risk group so a lot of the time you�re talking about farmers who have limited social outlets. In rural Ireland, mental health has only become a thing recently. People have always had mental health problems but for a long time we�ve ignored it and haven�t treated it until recently. I ask all my older patients who are in for other things about their mood and we pick up a lot of people who are low or depressed or anxious so I see a lot of early presenters through my GP work. Unfortunately I see the other end of the spectrum through the CRITICAL response when the stress could lead to issues such as heart attack or stroke. We also see a lot of suicides and I think farmers are probably disproportionately represented in the suicide statistics.�
Dr Lisa Cunningham is a consultant based in Mayo General Hospital and is a trustee of CRITICAL. She added: �There are a lot of younger farmers who have an insight into the pressures that come with working in that sector and they�re more likely to talk to someone about how they�re feeling. However, there are a lot of older farmers who bury their feelings in work. Very often, they feel like they might be a burden on someone or they may not have as many social outlets available to them where they can talk to other people and they just carry on without talking to anyone.�
The National Ploughing Championships, will take place in Ratheniska, Co Laois from September 17th to 19th, 2024.
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