Health & Wellbeing

If you live in the Snowy Valleys local government area, you would be forgiven if you felt a bit wide-eyed and bushy tailed. It’s been quite a year there. But help is on the horizon. A program that’s had success in assisting people to get physically and mentally back on track in the fire-affected NSW southeast – and has the...

Australia has flattened the COVID-19 curve and managed to get transmission of the virus under control, but as winter approaches, Australians are being warned about a second outbreak that could be more deadly and spread more rapidly than the first. Although the second wave of the Spanish flu – a common comparison point for COVID-19 – was much deadlier than the...

Did you know that from 1 May 2020, it's mandatory for all aged care workers and visitors to an aged care facility in Australia to have received the flu vaccine? Along with continuing to respond to the spread of COVID-19, the Federal Government's response to the flu this year has been early and hefty, with $80 million invested in providing...

Students at the University of Canberra and the Australian National University are finding creative ways to address the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) in hospitals. University of Canberra students Bryce Cronin and Jed Hodson recently won the Protecting Vulnerable Peoples Challenge of the Australian Computer Society’s Flatten The Curve Hackathon by using a 3D printer to produce face shields. The...

Students from Young North Public School were treated to a cooking class from celebrity chefs Matt Preston, Gary Mehigan and Manu Feildel last week. They also heard from former Canberra Raiders NRL player Alan Tongue, and next week will listen to artist Ben Quilty and environmental educator Costa Georgiadis, among others. The online initiative from the NSW Department of Education...

Canberra Airport has become the first in the country to install temperature screening technology in its departure terminal, a COVID-19 measure that doctors hope is taken up by other transport terminals as an extra way to rein in the virus. The technology, first developed by electronic security firm EOS Australia for use in schools around the world, measures all human forehead...

Eurobodalla Shire Council has announced dogs will be allowed 24/7 access to designated 'timeshare' beaches from 1 May until 1 November. For the next six months, the off-season timesharing conditions will be in effect at designated dog exercise areas. Dogs will be allowed on timeshare beaches – on or off-leash – at all times under the care and control of...

It was nine years ago that Peter and Emma Cockburn from Young lost their 15-month-old daughter Georgina in a driveway accident. Peter had arrived home from work and was reversing his builder's trailer into the garage of the family home when the curious tot, the youngest of four children, was fatally injured. Since then the couple has courageously and doggedly...

One new case of COVID-19 has been identified in the Murrumbidgee Local Health District bringing the total number of positive diagnoses to 46, as police continue to enforce social distancing restriction across the region. lt's the first positive result in Southern NSW for some time as infection rates in both the Southern NSW and Murrumbidgee Local Health Districts have held...

Forget the fact that we can't drive too far at these days, but Australians seem to be like the kids in the back crying ''are we there yet?'' The nation's COVID-19 containment measures appear to be working and we are the envy of countries where the death toll is and continues to be appalling. It's working so well that commentators,...

Getting outside and exercising is not only a cure for having to currently isolate at home due to COVID-19, but it is also a possible cure for liver cancer, according to research at the Australian National University. People who are overweight and have type 2 diabetes are the most susceptible to liver cancer. However, research led by Professor Geoff Farrell,...

Goulburn Mulwaree Council has closed Pejar Dam, 25km northwest of Goulburn, advising that the area is not safe for swimming, boating and fishing, and that contact with the water may pose a threat to livestock and pets. High levels of potentially toxic cyanobacteria prompted the council to issue a red alert warning to recreational users after standard monitoring tests for...

If people in the bush can be thankful for one thing in an emergency, it’s the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS). And right now, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the service is proving it still has our backs. Built on Australia’s pioneering past – thanks to the vision of missionary Reverend John Flynn – the service offering medical services to remote...

The number of COVID-19 diagnoses across the two major southern NSW Local Health Districts is unchanged, but there are still concerns that community transmission may be occurring in the regions. There have been 42 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD) since Saturday, April 4, while there have also been no new cases in the Southern...

It’s been a good news weekend for the staff of Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD) who have been tossed into 2020 like cats into a washing machine, first with bushfires on their doorstep and now COVID-19 trying to gain entry through their front doors. First and foremost came the news, and possibly hope, that the rate of infection of residents...

With daycares and schools reducing their capacity or moving online in response to COVID-19 regulations, parents are finding themselves with a triple-whammy situation – expected to work from home, parent full-time and deliver lessons to school-age kids. "It's literally doing three jobs at the same time: working, parenting and trying to teach," says Bemboka mum Paula Mathewson. While many people are...