In October 2022, Epilepsy Scotland held a two-day roadshow event in Orkney to raise awareness of our national services to the estimated 230 Orcadians living with epilepsy (based on the average of 1 in 97 people living with epilepsy in Scotland).
The national charity held an advice and information stall, ran epilepsy awareness workshops in four local primary schools, and met with local businesses to form potential fundraising partnerships.
Epilepsy Scotland’s policy team also held meetings at Kirkwall’s Pickaquoy Centre with three local councillors – Cllr Leslie Manson (Kirkwall West and Orphir ward), Cllr Heather Woodbridge (North Isles ward, Deputy Leader of Council), and Cllr Graham Bevan (Stromness and South Isles ward, Convener of Council).
We are extremely grateful that councillors took the time to meet with us in person.
Further engagement with Orkney Islands Council
In those meetings, we talked about epilepsy and the support services and campaigns of Epilepsy Scotland, including discussing opportunities for future engagement with Orkney Islands Council around our mission to work with people with epilepsy to ensure their voices are heard.
In order to continue to work with councillors to increase awareness and understanding of epilepsy, we must first fully understand the experiences and challenges of people with epilepsy in Orkney, which we will conduct through an online survey.
This survey is designed for people with epilepsy living in Orkney to share their experiences, exploring factors such as health care, education and employment.
It is also open to a friend or family member of someone living with epilepsy in Orkney or someone who works with people with epilepsy in Orkney (i.e. a teacher, health professional, employer, etc).
We would be grateful if you can take part in this survey by 9am on Monday 19th December 2022. It will take less than 10 minutes to complete and responses are anonymous.
You can access the survey here.
If you are interested in talking more about your experiences of having epilepsy in Orkney then please get in touch with our Policy and Campaigns officer, Anna at ATelfer@epilepsyscotland.org.uk.
The Orkney Roadshow event was the first in a series of roadshow events we intend to hold across all 14 of Scotland’s Health board areas in the coming months to increase awareness and understanding of epilepsy and of the national support services provided by Epilepsy Scotland.
We want to reach out to more people, in all corners of Scotland, than ever before.
If you would like to keep up to date with our roadshow events and our national work please follow us on social media and sign up for our monthly newsletter.
