August is Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month, making it a great time to focus on one of the most overlooked parts of a child’s wellbeing: their vision.

Good vision is essential for learning, development, coordination, and confidence.

The problem is that children often don’t know when they’re not seeing well. They won’t tell you because they assume everyone sees the world the same way they do.

Instead, they adapt. They might sit closer to the television, tilt their head, avoid reading, or simply appear distracted or reluctant to engage with schoolwork. These changes can be subtle and easy for even the most attentive parent or teacher to miss.

Every child should have a comprehensive eye examination before starting school and then every one to two years after that.

At any age, it’s worth arranging an eye test if your child sits very close to screens or books, has one eye that drifts or turns, persistently tilts their head, squints, rubs their eyes when they’re not tired, loses their place while reading, complains of headaches after school, or suddenly develops a dislike of reading or schoolwork.

School vision screening programs can be helpful, but they don’t detect every eye condition and aren’t a substitute for a comprehensive eye examination. Some childhood eye conditions are genuinely time sensitive. Amblyopia, or “lazy eye”, is highly treatable when detected early, but becomes much more difficult to improve after about seven or eight years of age.

The safety side of the equation is just as important.

Encourage children to spend time outdoors. It’s one of the few measures proven to reduce the risk of children becoming short-sighted, with around two hours outside each day making a real difference.

With spring just around the corner, it’s also worth remembering that UV levels climb quickly at this time of year. Children’s eyes naturally allow more ultraviolet light to reach the retina than adult eyes, making good sun protection especially important. A broad-brimmed hat and sunglasses that meet the Australian Standard are simple, inexpensive ways to help protect their eyes.

The good news is that comprehensive eye examinations for children are covered by Medicare, and you don’t need a referral.

Students pictured learning the role and pathways to paramedicine.

Approximately 20 students from Parkes and surrounds immersed themselves in healthcare careers through the Scrub In Work Experience Program.

Rather than shadowing just one clini­cian and field all week, students received a broad careers taste tester and rotated through 45-minute workshops, facility tours, speed networking and a career path­ways panel.

The teenagers tried out allied health, physiotherapy, social work, nursing, medi­cine, paramedicine and Aboriginal health and education. They learned how to: study realistic 3D printed bullet wounds, take mo­bility measurements, apply plaster casts, engage with stroke simulations and en­gage in a VR assessment of escalating pa­tients in a 6-bed ward.

Participating schools included Parkes High School, Tottenham Central, Peak Hill Central and Parkes Christian School.

Declan, from Parkes High School, Year 10 said, “When they offered this program I decided it might help me with future choic­es and I wanted to try different industries.

The activities we got up to today included nursing, social work, speech pathology and medicine. I originally wanted to do nursing, but after doing things like radiography that really caught my eye and I found an inter­est in that.”

Mia, also from Parkes High School, Year 10 said, “When I graduate I would like to do nursing in the hospital. I would like to help a lot of sick people because I’ve had sick people in my family and have seen how I can help them. We were drilling into a chicken bone and putting a syringe in to in­ject into the bone. Then we put an IV in and learned about what some kids have to deal with when they have speech impediments.”

Scrub In is designed to maximise hands on learning, broaden career awareness, clarify pathways into health, and reduce pressure on staff.

Troy Kelly, Senior Project Officer, Re­gional Industry Education Partnerships said “I think it’s given the students a much broader perspective than if they had gone through a conventional work experience program.”

Learning to cannulate a patient and flush veins.

Learning to intubate and ventilate a patient.

Simulating drilling through tissue and bone to enable medication to be injected

People passionate about improving health­care in regional, rural and remote areas of NSW are invited to apply to join the Re­gional Health Ministerial Advisory Panel.

The Panel is an independent advisory body that provides strategic advice to the Minister for Health and Regional Health, and the NSW Health Secretary.

Its role is to identify opportunities and solutions that improve healthcare access, outcomes and service delivery across hos­pitals and health support services in re­gional, rural and remote NSW.

The Panel also plays an important role in strengthening community engagement and ensuring local perspectives inform the design and delivery of healthcare services.

Applications are encouraged from people who can represent the interests of regional communities, including Aboriginal people, and those who have knowledge, experi­ence, or expertise in one or more areas, aligned with the NSW Government’s priori­ties for regional, rural and remote health.

The Panel members may be appointed for a term of up to three years and will meet at least every three months.

For more information, including how to apply, visit EOI Regional Health Ministe­rial Advisory Panel or contact MOH-ODS-Regional@health.nsw.gov.au. Applications close on Friday 29 May 2026.