News
The Duchess of Cornwall opens a new osteoporosis centre in Cornwall
4th July 2007
The Duchess of Cornwall today urged young people to follow a healthy lifestyle to help prevent bone and joint disease during a visit to Cornwall to open a new centre for osteoporosis.
The Duchess, who is President of the National Osteoporosis Society, was in Cornwall for a day of engagements, which included naming The Duchess of Cornwall Centre for Osteoporosis and meeting staff and patients at The Knowledge Spa, The Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust, Truro, Cornwall.
The Knowledge Spa at the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust in Truro is a multi-educational centre delivering training for doctors, nurses and hospital trust staff.
In her speech to open the centre, The Duchess said: "It is important to raise awareness of the joint problems of both osteoporosis and arthritis to help prevent these painful, debilitating and sometimes fatal conditions.
"It is vital young people learn regular exercise and a healthy diet is important to their bone health in future."
The Duchess said her mother and grandmother both died as a result of this devastating disease.
"It is thanks to the work of centres such as this one the light at the end of the tunnel seems to be getting closer," she said.
After arriving at the hospital, The Duchess met staff, patients and volunteers and talked to students.
Professor Anthony Woolf, who provides the clinical services for osteoporosis at the hospital, said The Duchess was "keen to see how we are progressing and happy to support us by lending her name to the centre".
He said there was also a research facility at the centre, the aim of which was to increase the understanding of the impact of osteoporosis.
The centre is spread across a number of locations on the hospital site, bringing together clinical services for preventing and treating osteoporosis in Cornwall.
The Duchess toured an exhibition on bone and joint disease which has been attended by groups of sixth-form science students from all over Cornwall.
One A-Level student, 16-year-old Daisy Wilson, from Camborne Science and Community College, explained to The Duchess how the exhibition had helped her biology revision programme.
Later in the day, The Duchess visited the Cinnamon Trust, which is the specialist national charity for elderly people and their companion animals. Frailty and illness can mean that even day-to-day care of a much loved, much needed companion poses seemingly insurmountable problems. The charity was founded especially to help ease these worries besetting elderly or terminally ill pet owners.
The Duchess also visited the Helston-based disaster relief charity Shelterbox which sends boxes containing tents, clothing and other aid to disaster-hit countries.
She packed and wrapped one of the boxes, heading to help flood victims in Pakistan, complete with a plaque on the lid commemorating her visit.
Shelterbox founder Tom Henderson said: "She met our people when she was on a visit to Kashmir last year when they were putting people into tents. She said she would come to see us and she has kept her promise."
Mr Henderson said The Duchess's visit "is an endorsement of our work".
One of the volunteers who packs the boxes, Lynn Smith from Helston said: "The Duchess said it was a fantastic organisation. She said she did not realise how much we sent out and how important it was to people who have lost their homes."
The charity, which sent its first box of aid to India in 2001, is sending a total of 600 of the boxes - each of which costs £490 – to Pakistan flood disaster victims.
So far the charity has sent 40,000 boxes of aid to 32 countries, and helped around half a million people.
Shelterbox, based in a warehouse in Helston, has up to 300 volunteers packing the boxes, and 60 personnel who travel around the world delivering them to where they are needed.
The needs of children are not forgotten - Shelterbox also sends out a "classroom in a box" which caters for 50 youngsters.
Click here to read The Duchess's speech.