HEART of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust (HoBtPCT) and Aston Villa had their eye on the ball with the launch of a film studio at Villa Park stadium last Friday.The studio is the latest initiative from HoBtPCT and Aston Villa’s Community Interest Company and aims to give youngsters the opportunity to train for the fast developing world of multi-media communications, whilst producing health education films for the local community.
The new facility was opened by former Villa defender and Welsh international Mark Delaney, with help from the pupils of Anderton Park Primary School in Sparkhill, Birmingham.
HoB tPCT Head of Public Health Programmes Kevin Haywood explained how the local NHS and community would benefit.
“We will have regular access to the studio to produce our own health promotion films to educate and support the local community to adopt healthier lifestyles. We will be able to develop our own ideas at the same time as training local youths to use the equipment, which will hopefully improve their chances of gaining employment,” he said.
“We are increasingly looking for more innovative and exciting ways of delivering health information to our communities, and this facility will give us the opportunity to do just that. A minimum of four health promotion films per year will be produced.
“There has already been a lot of interest from our health visitors and community workers, who see this as an ideal opportunity to produce DVDs aimed at specific groups.”
The studio has cost £25,000 to build and another £150,000 to equip, and will tap into public grants to fund day-to-day running costs.
