Health & Wellbeing

On 10 June, I got the call every partner dreads. “I’ve been in an accident,” said Will. Then the call cut out. Mobile signal is patchy at the best of times on our remote property at Bigga, NSW, about two hours north of Canberra. Will, a farmer, wasn’t calling from the back of an ambulance or hospital, he was calling from...

The Southern NSW Local Health District has gone five weeks without recording a locally acquired COVID-19 case. The area is home to about 200,000 residents and includes Batemans Bay, Bega, Bombala, Braidwood, Cooma, Crookwell, Delegate, Goulburn, Moruya, Pambula, Queanbeyan and Yass. The last locally acquired case was on 19 October in Goulburn. READ ALSO: Batemans Bay Hospital nurse a finalist...

Nurse Lisa Wilson from Batemans Bay Hospital has been named the winner of the Judith Meppem Leadership Award in the NSW Health Excellence in Nursing and Midwifery Awards. The award highlights an outstanding nursing and midwifery leader who continually exhibits excellence in leadership, focusing on values of teamwork, innovation, service, quality, compassion and integrity. Lisa was one of four finalists for the...

Clinical psychologist Stacy Shepherd has been working with bushfire victims since the 2019-2020 Black Summer, which burnt 79 per cent of her region. Her psychology practice, based in Broulee on the NSW South Coast, still has clients who are living in temporary housing, caravans or couch surfing. Stacy says Eurobodalla residents and many Australians who lived through the Black Summer...

Two Canberra universities have joined forces to deliver new clinical training facilities in southeast NSW, which aim to make healthcare more accessible in regional areas. The University of Canberra (UC) and Australian National University (ANU) officially opened two new clinical training facilities in Cooma and Bega on Friday, 13 November, as part of the South East NSW Health Collaborative project....

Namita Mittal has a new perspective on balance after giving birth to twins during the height of the COVID-19 lockdown. Not only are both hands full with her newborns, but the pathologist at Canberra Hospital is also juggling her eldest daughter's schooling from home without the usual level of support from her extended family. Namita is one of 750 women...

A Moruya doctor has told Region Media the Eurobodalla community could be waiting for a new hospital for up to 10 years. Obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Michael Holland says the need to combine Eurobodalla's two hospitals – Moruya District Hospital and Batemans Bay Hospital – and make it accessible to the entire region existed before he began practising locally 18 years...

Southern NSW is now the only regional area outside of Sydney with active COVID-19 cases following two positive test results in Goulburn Mulwaree. The two people who tested positive for COVID-19 were living together, according to the Southern NSW Local Health District. The first person to test positive from Goulburn Mulwaree in the past two weeks was a close contact...

Goulburn MP Wendy Tuckerman has moved to reassure worried residents that the Ron Hemmings mental health unit in Goulburn isn't slated for permanent closure. Ms Tuckerman says she had spoken to Southern NSW Local Health District (SNSWLHD) and the Minister for Mental Health and can confirm that admissions would reopen on 16 November 2020 while a review was underway. According to Ms...

Yass mothers have questioned the findings of a recent review of maternity services available in the regional NSW town. Bec Duncan and Jasmin Jones, who have campaigned for several years for women to be able to give birth at Yass District Hospital, said the report data is flawed. Jasmin gave birth by the side of Barton Highway - and Bec...

Last week, two women from the NSW South West Slopes joined a distinguished circle of scholars who have, for 55 years, been intent on bettering the world. Danielle Allen, of Greenethorpe, and Bernadette Zanet, of Tumut, were named among 112 Australians who are now proud recipients of the prestigious 2020 Churchill Fellowship. The memorial Fellowships were developed as an expressed wish...

Brent Hall tells me he didn’t sleep well last night as we take a seat in the living room of his Crookwell home. It’s not often the 63-year-old receives a visit from a journalist. “It’s silly, I know," he says. "I don’t know what I’m actually worried about.” Brent has experienced anxiety and depression for most of his life, attributing...

The Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) has teamed up with Eurobodalla Shire Council and Snowy Monaro Regional Council to ensure regional women can access the breastfeeding support they need in a COVID-19-safe way. The project will provide sponsored places at Breastfeeding Education Live sessions, and 12 months ongoing support via membership for up to 15 women in the Eurobodalla region, and up...