Maggi Barnard

The third and last Skillset Green Army team graduated this week after 20 weeks of valuable environmental work in the Parkes and Forbes Shire Council areas. The team consisted of six participants between the ages of 17 and 24 years, overseen by team supervisor, Darrin Kopp.

The team did planting work at the Gum Swamp Painted Snipe Project site and at the Forbes National Tree Day site, Parkes National Tree Day site, Memorial Hill Parkes and Parkes Solar Farm. They also obtained work health safety, First Aid and other training, and assisted at Eco Day at the Central West Livestock Exchange.

“The team did well to make the most of the opportunities, and maintaining and improving biodiversity in our local area,” said Central West Lachlan Landcare (CWLL) Co-ordinator, Marg Applebee. She thanked the Parkes and Forbes Shire Council staff for their support over the 18 months of the program.

“It has been a pleasure to work with Skillset to provide work opportunities for young people in our community.” Marg said she hoped it was the beginning of many great things for the participants and that they would be able to build on the skills they have obtained. Darrin who worked very closely with the team every day, was rather overwhelmed when he thanked them. “Although you pushed me to the limit at times, I really enjoyed it. It was fantastic!”

The participants all agreed they had gained a lot of knowledge of and a much deeper appreciation for nature. The focus was on increasing the biodiversity and connecting Grey Box Grassy Woodlands corridors to increase habitat for
native species. CWLL will be taking applications as part of the National Landcare Programme (NLP) initiative. Landholders are encouraged to contact Marg on 6862 4914 if there is a project that would fit the NLP guidelines.

The Northparkes Emergency Response Team came second overall in the Victorian Mine Rescue Competition last week. This well-respected national competition has been held for 24 years, and attracted ten teams from mines across Australia this year. The Northparkes team, comprised of ERT members Jack Medlyn (captain), Wayne Sargent, Ben Ryan, Linda Snyman, Jade Walker, Jamie Pope and Matt Flynn, took first place in firefighting, theory and first aid.

Northparkes Managing Director Jim Fowler said: “We are enormously proud of our competition team. Our consistent success at this competition reflects the team’s hard work to stay at the leading edge of emergency response practices.” Jim congratulated the winning team from Newcrest-Cadia in Orange.

Team member Linda Snyman, who was one of only three women to compete, said the scenarios set up by the adjudicators were excellent. “Even though everything was staged using actors, it was all very real and we were responding to incidents that could possibly happen at our mine. Taking part in the competition helps to reinforce all the training that we go through on site and has made me a more confident and capable responder.”

The 2017 competition took place in Yallourn, at Energy Australia’s Power Station. Teams competed in a number of challenges demonstrating theoretical and practical mine rescue skills over three days. Linda said: “We are known for our focus on theory and it paid off when we won the overall theory award.”

Northparkes currently has 24 active Emergency Response Team (ERT) members who train year-round to ensure they are ready to assist in case of an emergency. Northparkes Manager People, Safety and Environment Stacey Kelly said: “Competitions such as this allow us to practice our skills and benchmark ourselves against others in the industry.”

The research is clear. Sitting too much is seriously bad for your health. We are now seeing that people who spend most of their day (8+ hours) sitting have doubled the risk of cardiovascular disease and an increased risk of diabetes and early death.

Whether it’s time spent sitting at the office or school, driving, eating or watching TV, a sedentary lifestyle causes serious threats to your health. Additionally, sitting a lot burns very few calories and many studies have linked it to weight gain and obesity.

Human bodies weren’t designed to sit all day, they were designed to move. Muscles and bones both require regular movement or low level activity to maintain strength and help prevent osteoporosis. Reducing sitting time is linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attack and reduced incidence of neck and lower back pain.

It’s a common misconception that exercise can compensate for prolonged sitting. Even if you exercise for 30 minutes four times per week, you are still subject to the negative impact of too much sitting. This is a major problem for office workers since they spend most of their day sitting. Low intensity activities like standing and walking are more important than most realise.

Fortunately the use of standing desks is becoming increasingly popular. Standing desks allow you to alternate between sitting and standing. You can either get a kit that allows you to convert your existing desk to an adjustable desk or better still replace it with a sit- stand desk. For optimum health benefits it is recommended to alternate between sitting and standing every 30 minutes.

For the fitness of you,
Linda Reilly

Currajong Disability Services (CDS) celebrated Pink Ribbon Day last week and raised funds for women’s cancer at the same time. Pink Ribbon Day is a regular event on the CDS calendar. “It was a great day and everyone really got involved and supported it,” said Dane Millerd, Marketing and Communications Co-ordinator.

“Pink Ribbon day allows us all to recognise and support the special women in our lives who have been touched by cancer – they are our mothers, sisters, grandmothers and daughters and it’s important we all rally around them.”

Every day in Australia about 50 women are told they have breast or a gynaecological cancer. Sadly, every day around 12 Australian women will die from a women’s cancer.