Podcast Episode 1. Opening Gambit.

Hello, my name's Kate and welcome to this podcast with the Lindsay Leg Club Foundation. People who experience lower leg problems such as swelling, pain, reduced mobility, wounds and skin problems often confront issues of social isolation and hardship, which can be physical, financial and psychosocial, and also difficulty in accessing expertise to improve their health outcomes. The Leg Club model of care was established by Ellie Lindsay in 1995 to support these individuals in a unique partnership between the nursing team and the local community. In a social environment, these individuals are treated collectively and the emphasis is on social interaction, participation, empathy and peer support where positive health beliefs are promoted. This model of care has been very well received with leg clubs now set up in many communities throughout the UK and around the world. As the interest, engagement and expertise around leg clubs has grown, Ellie and her supporters created the Lindsay Leg Club Foundation in 2005, which is a registered charity. One arm of the foundation is the social media and communications collaboration. This is comprised of Ellie Lindsay, Lynn Bullock, Salim Sheikh, Juliet Lobley, Gary Bain and myself Kate Bain. Together we're committed to the oversight and development of media platforms through which the Foundation's values, messages and stories can be shared. The Foundation belongs to all of its members, the carers, clinicians, researchers, educators and advisors. At times all of us will have questions or insights, perhaps moments of hilarity or sadness, some failures, some successes and wonderful human connections. The social media and communications collaboration would like to piece together and share this chronicle of us, that is all of us, the entire leg club community. The collaboration is presently working behind the scenes to establish policies and pathways for utilizing social media platforms which will connect us, support us and encourage us to even greater endeavors. We will find ways for us to be interactive one with another using media such as Twitter or Facebook, LinkedIn and the Lindsay Leg Club Foundation website and through podcast presentations like this. We will be asking for your ideas, your inspiration, your news and especially your stories and we will help you to tell them because these narratives are your gifts to the rest of us. The Lindsay Leg Club Foundation's social media and communications collaborative looks forward to working alongside you very soon as we share our collective journey. .