Health & Wellbeing

Harden Health Service has farewelled two much-loved and active members of its Local Health Advisory Committee (LHAC) who have retired after many years of service to the community. There’s little doubt the efforts, counsel and vocal campaigning of health advocates John and Carol Ford will be sorely missed as they step down from the local committee. Both joined LHAC in...

Upper Lachlan Shire Council will consider plans for a $2.5 million upgrade of Crookwell District Hospital this March. Under the plans, a new emergency department and ambulance bay will be built at the front of the hospital. The emergency department will include two holding bays, a resuscitation bay, an IV dialysis sitting room, a triage assessment room, three public toilets,...

The findings from two researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) on stopping allergies such as asthma and hay fever will come as a relief to many people across the region who sneezed and wheezed through one of the worst pollen seasons on record. With Canberra known as the pollen capital of Australia, the researchers say their findings are "an incredible...

As a journalist, I'm always asking others to share personal stories so it seemed reticent not to share mine this March, which is Endometriosis Awareness Month. I was 21 when I was diagnosed with the disease that's since inhabited my uterus, ovaries, bladder and bowel. It seems surprising now that I had never heard of endometriosis at the time, given...

The Live Life Get Active program will be offered across the Eurobodalla Shire, with cross-training, boxing and yoga classes to be held in parks at Batehaven and Narooma on the NSW South Coast. The program is the brainchild of Amanda King, who, seven years ago, invited former Olympian Jane Flemming to help launch and grow entry-level classes for people looking to...

Frontline health workers on the NSW South Coast began receiving the first COVID-19 vaccinations at South East Regional Hospital in Bega on Tuesday, 2 March. Staff from Liverpool Hospital have travelled to the South Coast to manage the outreach clinic for health workers located between Batemans Bay and Bega. Southern NSW Local Health District chief executive Margaret Bennett said it...

Member for Eden-Monaro Kristy McBain says she is "shocked and concerned" to hear that frontline workers in her electorate will have to endure a seven-hour round trip to reach the nearest COVID-19 vaccine centre in Canberra. She has written a letter to Health Minister Greg Hunt urging him to include the hospitals in Bega, Moruya and Tumut in phase one...

A Moruya doctor has told a NSW Legislative Council inquiry into regional health that patients on the South Coast face long wait times or have to travel outside of the region for mental health, paediatric and orthopaedic services. Dr Michael Holland’s submission, written on behalf of community group One New Eurobodalla Hospital, is among 400 from health professionals, advocacy groups, lawyers,...

Residents in southern NSW are advised to take extra steps to protect themselves from mosquito bites following a suspected outbreak of Ross River Fever and the Barmah Forest Virus locally. The Southern NSW Local Health District says an increased number of suspected cases of both mosquito-borne diseases have been reported to the public health unit and are currently under investigation....

Hayley Snape was aged 31, happily married and had three healthy children when she decided to give another couple a chance at starting their own family. The Crookwell mother knew she wouldn’t be needing her eggs anymore and that they could be the missing ingredient to someone’s dream coming true. “Sometimes I use a cake analogy when explaining it: they...

Calls are being made at both a community and national level for greater action on aged care in southeast NSW, including Jindabyne, to allow the region's older residents to remain in their hometowns for as long as possible. "Aged care is one of those fundamental services that a community needs for it to take care of its most vulnerable ,"...

The Cooma Swim Centre is set to receive a defibrillator after a push from the community prompted a joint funding agreement between the NSW Government and Snowy Monaro Regional Council. The NSW Government and council will each contribute $1000 to cover the cost of the new defibrillator. Every year, more than 30,000 Australians have a cardiac arrest. A defibrillator analyses...

A University of Newcastle nursing student will have the chance to experience a two-week placement in Yass this summer after he was awarded a NSW Rural Doctors Network Bush Bursary scholarship. Peter Matthews has long desired to be a nurse, however life took him in a different direction before he landed in his chosen career. Growing up in regional Victoria, Peter first completed...