Dementia Australia has welcomed its newest Ambas­sador, Adam Harvey. A nine-time Golden Guitar Award winner, has a deeply personal connection to dementia. His mother’s diagnosis inspired him to write his heartfelt song, Remember Me.

New data released by Dementia Australia for Brain Health Week shows that Aus­tralians are largely unaware that common health issues such as hearing loss, depres­sion and high cholesterol are risk factors for dementia.

Dementia Australia CEO Professor Tanya Buchanan said that dementia is the second leading cause of death for all Australians and there are currently 433,300 Australians living with the condition.

“Dementia is on track to become the country’s biggest cause of death within the next five years. While we cannot change getting older, genetics or family history, sci­entific research shows that looking after our brain health can make a big difference to reducing or delaying the risk of developing dementia,” Professor Buchanan said.

Last year, the Lancet Commission identi­fied 14 modifiable risk factors which, if ad­dressed effectively, could reduce dementia incidence globally by 45 per cent.

The risk factors include smoking, obesity and physical inactivity as well as factors such as hearing loss, high cholesterol and depression.

“In fact, people with mild-severe hear­ing loss are two to five times as likely to develop dementia than those with normal hearing,” Professor Buchanan said.

“It is never too early or too late to reduce your dementia risk. It’s a chronic condition which must be treated with the same health investment as other major chronic condi­tions, Professor Buchanan said.

Find out more about the modifiable risk factors that can make a big difference to your brain health: dementia.org.au/brainhealth/reducing-your-risk-dementia

If this story has prompted any questions or concerns, call the National Dementia Helpline 1800 100 500 (24 hours, 7 days a week) or visit dementia.org.au.

Throwback to 2020 – Pictured is Nurse Rachael and Mr Reece making good use of a new chair purchased with funds raised by the Friends of Forbes Hospital Auxiliary. That year saw the Friends of Forbes Hospital Auxiliary donate approxi­mately $23,500 of essential pieces of equipment for the Forbes Hospital

The first meeting of the year for the Friends of Forbes Hospital Auxiliary was held at Club Forbes on 7 February. We acknowl­edged the contributions made by our small band of hard workers, with help from our wonderful, generous community, and visi­tors at markets and stalls, enabling us to purchase equipment for the local hospital.

We are currently helping equip the Pal­liative Care ward with comfort items for pa­tients and their families.

Past purchases have included a treat­ment chair for the community nurses, bas­sinets for the maternity unit, a tonometer for the emergency department, and sup­port equipment for occupational therapy in the inpatient unitVice President, Lloyd Gerdes was con­gratulated for his volunteering community award and being nominated for Senior Citizen of the Year. Lloyd alos volunteers as Probus Secretary, and the Editor of the Probus newsletter, Treasurer of the Gar­den Club and is a 20 year member of the Forbes and District Historical Society.

Further UHA rules were discussed and the upcoming UHA Central West Regional Forum to be held on 5 March at Grenfell.

We are to be honoured by a visit from the State President and State Treasurer on 4 March to discuss our continuing role pro­viding services to Forbes hospital and how to attract new members who are welcome to join our next meeting on 4 April at Club Forbes at 2.30pm.

Watch out for the Friends of Forbes Hos­pital Auxiliary at the local Farmers markets this weekend and also the Forbes Rotary Ipomoea markets where lots of goodies will be for sale. The market stall is a major fundraiser for the Auxiliary, and has raised over $22,000 since it was started six years ago, with committee members regularly at­tending the local markets.

“You’re one point away from postnatal de­pression” said the family health care nurse scoring the questionnaire I had just com­pleted in her office.

I was on the verge of breaking point. My baby, our third addition, was breastfeeding every 40 minutes overnight and would not take a bottle.

The nurse explained that I was in a zone called postnatal depletion. My hair was fall­ing out, my nails were cracked, my mind was playing tricks on me. I was depleted.

Being pregnant, breastfeeding, caring for other humans, not getting enough sleep had taken its toll.

Fast forward a few weeks as I now sit in front of Laura, my Nutritionist, as she reviews the results of my blood test. The numbers on the page in front of us tell the story of how I feel.

I was a tired Mum, so exhausted that I was surviving on frozen pizza and dino chicken nuggets. I’m sure many of you can relate!With the help of Laura I began to rein­corporate foods into my diet that were rich in the vitamins and minerals my body was lacking and pretty quickly, my nails healed up and grew. My hair stopped clogging the shower drain, and I didn’t feel exhausted every time I woke up in the morning.

We’re thrilled to share that Laura is now offering her Nutrition Consultation services to our community in Parkes or via Tele­health to any location. If you are seeking support to feel your best, reach out to our team to book an appointment with Laura today on 0437 749 746 or learn more at www.kerinhealth.com.au

Australian women in every state and territo­ry can now access treatment for uncompli­cated urinary tract infections at a community pharmacy, without a prescriptionIt follows a decision to empower commu­nity pharmacists to do more for their female patients. UTIs are the second most frequent preventable cause of hospitalisation and on average 1 in 2 women develop a UTI in their lifetime.

Pharmacy Guild of Australia National President Trent Twomey said “Women are busy mothers, carers, bosses who need timely easy-to-access access relief to get on with their day and prevent long-term health complications.”

Professor Twomey said increased access to UTI treatment was part of a larger evolu­tion of women’s health services in commu­nity pharmacies across Australia.

There are more than 6000 community pharmacies across Australia that have the opportunity to provide additional services and prescriptions for everyday health condi­tions.

“The widening of the services provided in community pharmacy is meeting the expec­tation of the modern patient and is reliev­ing the pressure on other parts of the health system.

“Community pharmacists are highly skilled health professionals and we’re ready, willing and able to deliver more for our pa­tients,” Professor Twomey said.

Stephen Lawrence MLC has today an­nounced that the NSW Government is im­proving access to healthcare for people living in rural and regional communities, pro­viding financial assistance to over 81,000 patients from Local Health Districts cover­ing inland NSW in the past year through the Isolated Patients Travel and Accommoda­tion Assistance Scheme (IPTAAS).

IPTAAS provides financial assistance to patients who need to travel long distances for specialist healthcare that is not available locally. NSW patients have also received more money back in their pockets thanks to increased subsidies, with the average reim­bursement per patient to be $482.

The NSW Government is embracing a comprehensive range of measures to im­prove access to care in our regional, rural and remote communities, including: deliv­ering more health worker accommodation in the bush, doubling rural health worker incentives for the most critical and hard to fill positions to improve recruitment and re­tention, boosting doctors in our regional GP surgeries as well as hospitals through the single employer model, and deploying an extra 500 regional paramedics.

People prone to respiratory conditions like asthma or hayfever are being urged to take extra care ahead of predicted thunderstorm activity across Western NSW Local Health District (WNSWLHD).

Each year from around mid-October to mid-November, asthma and hayfever suf­ferers may be at greater risk of severe symptoms due to high pollen counts, and weather conditions like those are predicted across the region in coming weeks.

Western NSW Local Health District Pub­lic Health Physician, Dr Victor Carey, is urging people with asthma or breathing problems, and those impacted by hayfever in spring, to take extra precautions when thunderstorms are expected.

“People should be alert, not alarmed. It is incredibly important for people to be aware they could be at risk. Airborne pollens are at their highest levels at this time of year,” Dr Carey said.

“Thunderstorms can cause pollen grains to explode and release fine particles which can be inhaled more deeply into the lungs.

Even people who don’t have asthma should take extra precautions during thunderstorm season.

“Anyone with diagnosed asthma should be proactively managing their symptoms.

Carry your asthma medication with you at all times during high-risk periods and make sure your family, school and workplace has a copy of your asthma management plan.

Breathing difficulties can be life threaten­ing. In the event of a breathing emergency dial Triple Zero (000) immediately.

More information can be found on the NSW Health website: https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/environment/factsheets/Pages/thunderstorm-asthma.aspx

Pharmacist Sarah Hazell. Photo Credit to Monique Lovick Photography.

Forbes Pharmacist, Sarah Hazell, is cel­ebrating 26 years at Flannery’s Pharmacy.

The Forbes local, graduated from Forbes High School in 1997 and went on to study pharmacy at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, before returning to work at the local business.

“A lot of young people are amazed to learn I’ve only ever had one job. I started here at the age of 18 and that was my first job, at Flannery’s Pharmacy, and I’m still here today,” Life Pharmacy and Flannery’s Pharmacist Managing Partner, Sarah Ha­zell, said.

“I’ve just absolutely loved my role as a pharmacist in a small, rural community. I think it’s been so rewarding professionally, and it’s a great environment to get to know your patient and see the patient again, and again, and again and get that regular follow up. You build wonderful relationships and it’s really lovely.”

There are about 37 thousand pharma­cists across nearly six thousand community pharmacies in Australia. As scope of prac­tice initiatives are announced and rolled out in every state and territory, now more than ever pharmacists are stepping up to meet healthcare needs in their local communi­ties.

This year marks 26 years with Life Phar­macy Group for Sarah, 22 years as a regis­tered pharmacist and 17 years as a partner.

She credits her passion for pharmacy, the Forbes community, and her mentors as a driving force behind her success.

“It was never my plan to stay in Forbes, I always wanted to live by the beach, but I’ve always been presented with wonderful opportunity after wonderful opportunity. I met my husband at university, we moved to Forbes, and we’ve just made this our home.

We’ve both got businesses in town and just love the community, and I think it’s a great place to raise a family,” Sarah said.