John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

One of the greatest things that has happened to me is cardio rehab. I would have undergone cardio rehab after being under the care of the HSE. It is contracted out to ExWell. I do that. We share a constituency in Thomas Davis GAA Club. It is there on Wednesday and Friday. I think there are four classes. There is a man doing it with me who is 93. It is post-event so it is after a medical or surgical event and I get that but there are hundreds of people doing it. This was not happening before. It is very much part of my recovery, none of which I take for granted because nobody knows what will happen. There is a space for pre-emptive work and I think we could get there. This part of it, which is twice a week for 12 weeks, is contracted by the HSE. If I choose to do the next phase, which I would, it is very cost-efficient. It might be a fiver or something like that. There are people of every age, gender and ability. When I went in, there were people half bent over on the Zimmer frames and I thought "What am I doing here?" but by the end of the first half, I thought "My God, they're amazing." This was giving them independence to reach up to a shelf to take something down or to lift a kettle. I do accept that it is after events but it is happening. It was not happening a few years ago. It is really fantastic. People are doing exercise in parks. I know we need so much more of it but I often think we do not champion it. I know the witnesses are dealing with the end result of us not doing it but fantastic things are happening and we need to expand them. If the HSE was in a position to offer that ExWell piece before anybody was ill so people could come along and get involved, it would be really useful. Some good things are beginning to happen in the space.