Beyond Blue welcomes renewed Federal Government funding to provide small business owners access to much needed mental health support.

The Federal Government’s investment of $7.7 million to extend Beyond Blue’s NewAccess for Small Business Owners (NASBO) program is an acknowledgement that small business owners are struggling and are really doing it tough,” says Beyond Blue Chief Executive, Georgie Harman.

The NASBO program is available for free between from 8am to 8pm, to small and medium business owners nationally. The service uses evidence-based low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy and offers small business owners up to six sessions and two follow up sessions, working with a trained coach with a background in small business themselves.

Adapted specifically for small business owners, NASBO is based on Beyond Blue’s highly effective NewAccess program and is funded by Commonwealth Government. The program is not only effective at improving mental health but has also been independently determined to represent good value for money and delivers a positive return on investment.

Participation is free. Small business owners who are interested to know more can visit www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/newaccess-mental-health-coaching/small-business-owners or call 1300 945 301.

Federal Member for Riverina Michael McCormack has expressed his dismay after learning Salvation Army Aged Care will close its residential aged care services in Central West New South Wales.

Rosedurnate Aged Care Centre and Retirement Village in Parkes will be closed, whilst Moyne Aged Care Centre in Canowindra will be acquired by Roshana Care Group.

“This is just dreadful and disastrous for the people of the Central West,” Mr McCormack said.

“With the closure of Parkes’ Rosedurnate Aged Care Centre and Retirement Village, about 45 residents will be displaced, with no clear facility at which they will be rehomed.

“I’m calling on the Government for urgent intervention into this matter to ensure no resident is left without adequate care.

“Just because a place such as Parkes or Canowindra is four or so hours from Sydney does not mean their residents are any less deserving of first-class aged care and retirement facilities.”

Myopia (also called short-sightedness) is an eye condition that causes blurry distance vision. A person with myopia can see clearly up close such as reading or looking at their phone screen, but to see when driving, watching tv or the smart board in class is blurry for them.

Myopia has always been around, but we are seeing a sharp increase in the prevalence of short sighted children in recent times. In Australia, the rate of short sightedness in 12 year olds has doubled in just six years and it is projected that by the year 2050, half of all people living in the world will be myopic! Not only are more children myopic today, but we are seeing them becoming myopic at an earlier age. This is not ideal, because we know that the earlier a child becomes myopic then the more severe their myopia is likely to become in the long run.

This can become a huge problem because myopia causes a host of different eye health problems in adulthood such as retinal detachment, glaucoma, macular degeneration and earlier cataract development.

You can help prevent your child’s risk of myopia by encouraging them to take regular breaks from close work, limiting their screen time to the recommended 2 hours maximum each day and encouraging them to spend time outdoors. Book them in for regular eye tests because the earlier that myopia is detected, the more that can be done to treat it and slow it down.

At Hansen Optometrists Parkes, we offer the full array of latest myopia treatments to help put the brakes on your child’s myopia progression.

It’s alarming that around 200,000 Australian children aged between 0 and 14 are now living with myopia. Here are some easy ways for parents and caregivers to be more proactive about their child’s eye health in 2024.

Make a date with your optometrist

Early detection is the cornerstone of maintaining good eye health in children.

“Regular eye examinations can uncover conditions such as hyperopia (long-sightedness), astigmatism and eye movement & co-ordination issues, which, if left untreated, may impact a child’s academic performance and overall wellbeing.”

Prioritise green over screen

While technology does play a significant role in the realms of education and entertainment, for the sake of children’s eyesight it’s essential to balance screen time with outdoor activities.

Encourage a balanced diet

Foods like broccoli, oranges, mangos, spinach, carrots, kiwi fruit, strawberries and oil-rich fish like salmon and tuna provide essential nutrients like lutein, zinc, vitamin A, C and E as well as omega-3 fatty acids which all help to boost eye health.

Props for protective eyewear

In Australia, it has been estimated that sports-related eye injuries make up 11% of all paediatric eye injuries with boys twice as likely to sustain a significant eye injury compared to girls.

“Children’s eyes, with their wider pupils and clearer lenses than adults, are particularly susceptible to UV radiation especially before the age of two. By ages nine to 11, approximately 30 percent of young people exhibit UV damage, and by the age of 15, one in three will have developed pterygium or pinguecula.”

Be vigilant about any changes to vision

“Keep an eye out for signs such as squinting, excessive blinking, frequent eye rubbing or “knuckling”, complaining of headaches or eye discomfort or any noticeable changes in their academic performance, especially literacy skills, interest in reading and ability to concentrate on schoolwork generally.”

Federal Member for Riverina Michael McCormack has expressed serious concerns for the health welfare of regional, rural and remote Australians after the Minister for Health, Mark Butler, said Australians should just “ring around” to find a bulk-billing GP in their area.

It comes after the Minister moved the goalposts regarding Distribution Priority Areas for GPs – bringing Newcastle, Wollongong and some suburbs of Sydney into the scheme therefore stripping doctors from the regions – forcing of community pharmacies to pick up the tab for its 60-day medicine dispensing policy – putting services in regional communities under threat.

“The Health Minister, through his own words, has shown a complete disdain of those who live, work and pay taxes in regional, rural and remote Australia,” Mr McCormack said.

“This is cold comfort for those in the Central West who may only have access to one GP or have to travel many kilometres to even see a doctor, let alone have the luxury of choice.

“It is clear the Health Minister is being directed by the Australian Medical Association along with his fellow Labor Ministers who are led by the nose by their union puppet masters.

Western NSW Local Health District (WNSWLHD) is reminding people to be cautious and have a plan to beat the heat during extreme temperatures forecast across the region for the rest of the week and into the weekend. 

Priscilla Stanley, WNSWLHD Public Health Director, said temperatures are expect to reach upward of, and in some areas above, 40 degrees Celsius across the District in the coming days. 

Ms Stanley urged people to understand how heat can affect their health and take precautions, particularly those at greater risk like older people, people with existing medical conditions, pregnant women, babies and young people, outdoor workers and socially-isolated people. 

“This summer is predicted to be very hot. For a lot of our District this appears to be one of the first real tastes of that extreme weather, so I encourage everyone to take the risk of heat-related illness seriously,” Ms Stanley said. 

“Heat can impact anyone and it puts a lot of stress on the body. It causes dehydration, heat stroke and heat exhaustion. These conditions can cause serious illness, hospital admission or even death and extreme heat can make underlying health conditions worse.” 

AGED CARE residents in rural and remote New South Wales will be given the gift of critical COVID-19 vaccinations this Christmas, as figures show just 38% of aged care residents have received a booster shot. 

Life Pharmacy Group (LPG) Pharmacists from Forbes, Parkes, Dubbo, and Bathurst are travelling across the state to deliver, and administer, hundreds of vaccinations to patients in residential aged care facilities. 

The LPG team will visit sites in Balranald, Bourke, Cobar, Condobolin, Gulgong, Kandos, Mudgee, Orange, Parkes, Rylstone, Wellington, and Yeoval, from 5 December travelling by car and aircraft to reach the remote areas. 

It comes as an eighth COVID wave grips NSW, threatening holiday festivities for a third year. 

“We’re going to centres which, quite often, may not have a GP or pharmacy in those towns so our stores are offering outreach services to assist the vulnerable patients in those communities that otherwise don’t have a health professional to assist with vaccinations,” Owner, and Pharmacist in Charge of Orana Mall Pharmacy Dubbo, Lisa Gibson said. 

“Reduced vaccination rates are part of the increase in cases, which means people’s immunity is wearing off from those boosters that most of us have had, either earlier in the year or in previous years. As people come together more frequently towards Christmas and new year, the potential for cluster outbreaks increases.” 

The Australia Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has recommended all adults aged 75 years and older, should receive an additional COVID-19 booster vaccine dose if six months have passed since their last dose[2]. 

In a similar initiative in June of this year, the LPG team delivered more than 600 vaccines to aged care residents in remote locations across NSW. 

Lifeline and Beyond Blue are linking up under a new partnership to make it easier and more efficient for people to find the support that best suits them. 

Community demand for mental health and crisis support rises and resources become increasingly tight, Lifeline and Beyond Blue have designed their new strategic directions to be complementary. 

Lifeline will continue to focus on supporting people in crisis and Beyond Blue will continue to focus on prevention and earlier intervention, supporting people at the first sign of struggle. 

Together, the organisations support millions of people a year with information, advice, online self-help and referrals via telephone, text, webchat and digital platforms. 

Beyond Blue Chair The Hon Julia Gillard AC said: “Australia’s mental health and suicide prevention systems are too often crisis-driven. People often only get support when they’re at breaking point. So Beyond Blue will continue its focus on supporting people early on – helping people to feel better sooner, to get well and to stay well.” 

Lifeline Chair Jacinta Munro said: “Lifeline will continue to focus on crisis support and suicide prevention, supporting Australians in times of crisis and equipping individuals and communities to be suicide safe.” 

“This partnership between Lifeline and Beyond Blue helps to deliver a more integrated system, with more clarity for help seekers, smoother transitions between services and a greater focus on holistic support.” 

Earlier this year, the organisations formalised a three-year collaboration agreement that will build on their long record of working together in operations and advocacy. This year, the Victorian Government engaged Lifeline and Beyond Blue to lead the first stage of a sectorwide co-design to deliver on a Victorian Royal Commission recommendation to create better referral pathways across the state’s helplines. 

Beyond Blue and Lifeline worked closely during the Black Saturday bushfires and the height of the pandemic, including by linking young people to Lifeline’s crisis text service from the Coronavirus Mental Wellbeing Support Service delivered by Beyond Blue. 

Now official, the partnership means Lifeline and Beyond Blue will be better placed to share resources and connect people with the information, advice and support that suits them best, regardless of where their journey begins. 

In the past four years alone, more than 400,000 people have used the app with more than 150,000 safety plans made.

Kerin Health was founded in 2016 by local Rachel Kerin, and currently employs in excess of 25 Allied Health professions, all of which are women. 

Rachel Kerin had a dream to provide a service to rural and remote communities that was a premium standard of healthcare. A dream to have a close knit, multidisciplinary team that truly cared about clients and community. And so she created Kerin Health. It started with Rachel, and one other Physio who took a chance on a small start-up, Jess (who is still with Kerin Health). 

Very quickly, it was clear to Rachel that there was a real need for more access to Allied Health care in the Central West. In no time at all, she started bringing on new members to the team as needs grew in the surrounding areas. 

Kerin Health provides exceptional health care services to the local Parkes and surrounding communities through services such as Physiotherapy, Counselling, Speech Pathology, Occupational Therapy, Early Intervention services, Women’s Health services and more. 

Rachel and the team are currently in the process of a major new building construction (due for completion in November 2023), which will expand their capacity to deliver services to the local community. This new, state of the art facility is the first of its kind in NSW. Some exciting components of this new build are an early learning sensory playground, sensory therapy clinic rooms, copious clinic room space, as well as a large pilates studio audio visual room which is available to hire to the local community. 

The new building will have three clinic rooms for hire to health professionals, “I’d love to get a psychologist here, I’d love to get a gynaecologist here, an obstetrician, so women don’t have to drive to Dubbo and Orange for their healthcare” said Rachel.