Judith Schmidt has worked for Honiton Leisure Centre for nearly three decades and for the past three years she has been the Health Referral Lead.

Judith (aged 56) lives in Honiton with her husband.

She is responsible for looking after people that have been referred to LED Honiton Leisure Centre for health reasons by another organisation or professional.

The referrals could be made by their GP practice, physiotherapist, Force Cancer charity or the cardio team at Honiton Hospital.

An extensive range of services are offered by the leisure centre, but many people are completely unaware such a scheme exists.

The LED's health referral schemes are currently supporting approximately 80 people on a range of programmes and schedules.

For example, the cardiac rehabilitation exercise programme supports people who have recently had a heart attack and Cancer patients, referred by Force Cancer, are provided with a personalised exercise plan, depending on their specific needs.

Judith also runs a 6-week Escape Pain course, for those suffering with Osteoarthritis or chronic joint pain, whilst the Strength and Balance classes are for older customers who have experienced a fall or who are unsteady on their feet.

As well as these specific programmes, some people are referred to Judith's classes by their GP as a preventative measure.

An individual could be referred for low mood or general poor health, and the classes offer motivation and a support network.

The objective is to help people improve their mood and fitness before medical interventions are needed, or before a major incident, such as a heart attack or a stroke takes place.

The patients generally pay for the classes themselves, but some of them, such as the cardiac rehabilitation programme, are subsidised. Force Cancer used to provide 16 exercise sessions for free, but budget constraints caused by Covid-19 mean that funding is no longer available.

Judith said: "The classes are great because people can interact. The members are supportive of each other. For example, the arthritis groups have made friends with each other, and then they move onto other things together.

"We have a lot of people being referred, since Covid-19 caused such a backlog. Covid-19 hit and now we have people who have had conditions for quite some time coming forward.

"It's such great work, so important. You meet such lovely people and they're always really grateful.

"Working with people is definitely my favourite part of the job. I like the one-to-one part of it, through Force, because you know that it is really helping them physically and mentally.

"It's a real progression for them and it's really nice when you suddenly see that change, and you normally see it before they do!

"There are days when you go home and you can feel quite sad, but it does make a difference to them.

"If people have got anything that they need to talk to the doctor about, please do. Just reach out if you need support from your doctor or from us.

"There are so many things that people can do with us, if they only knew we are there for them."

More information about Honiton's LED Leisure Centre is available [L] https://www.ledleisure.co.uk/ [L+] here.