Worrying new research has unveiled that on average, Australian women alarmingly spend nearly 15 years of their lives dieting, with over a third experiencing negative emotions such as depression, anxiety, stress, and sadness in their pursuit of shedding weight. 

This disheartening reality could be affecting the roughly 7,200 women living in the Parkes community. Health care professionals want to encourage women in the area to seek assistance on their weight loss journey and understand they don’t have to do it alone. 

Endocrinologist, Dr. Ramy Bishay says “Far too often obesity is considered a lifestyle condition, but this report demonstrates that the ‘eat less, move more’ mantra is failing women. We simply can’t expect women to undue thousands of years of adaptation to starvation, in a matter of weeks or months by ‘eating less and moving more’.”

Additionally, Parkes currently falls within Australia’s Distribution Priority Area catchment, which identifies locations in Australia with a shortage of medical practitioners. This is a concern for locals that need to consult a healthcare professional as they embark on their weight loss journey with shortages potentially causing longer wait times for healthcare appointments. 

One of CWA NSW’s priorities is to support students to further their education, by offering grants and scholarships to school and tertiary students assisting to pay for educational expenses. It used to be fees and textbooks, but in today’s world of technology, it’s software and electronic devices.

Forbes Evening CWA Branch is pleased to support local student Annika Dukes, further her education by contributing financially towards the purchase of software and an upgraded device on which she can complete her assessments.

Annika is completing a Certificate IV Community Pharmacy Dispensing. She started this online course through the Pharmacy Guild Australia in January this year, after starting work at Life Pharmacy Forbes.

Annika said she soon realised the potential in being able to assist the community more through this type of employment after seeing all the behind the scenes work that goes into filling prescriptions and supporting customers.

Annika has learnt about CTG (Closing the Gap), concessions and Health Care Cards and how they apply to scripts, different medications and how they can help, as well as how to fill prescriptions.

Annika said, “I have already completed three assessments, with 15 more to go. Each assessment takes about three weeks and about fifty pages as well as a verbal assessment over the phone for each one,” she commented. Her course will take three years to complete.

“It’s been difficult not having the same software as my teacher as everything is done online and over the phone. My old laptop does not support that software,” Annika commented.

“This financial assistance from Forbes CWA Evening Branch will remove quite a few obstacles and make it much easier to complete assessments and receive feedback from my teacher by allowing me to get the appropriate software and laptop,” stated Annika.

Ms Robyn Miller, President of Forbes CWA Evening Branch presented Annika with her cheque at Life Pharmacy, commenting, “Education is one of the most valuable things we can possess, so we are pleased to be able to support a local person on their journey of learning,” she said.

Monday, 7th August was Aged Care Employee Day (ACED). Dementia Australia is celebrating Aged Care Employees by acknowledging the tremendous contribution that aged care workers make to improving the lives of people living with dementia, their families and carers.

Dementia Australia CEO Maree McCabe AM said, “more than two-thirds of aged care residents have moderate to severe cognitive impairment and aged care employees play a crucial role in supporting them.”

“We acknowledge and thank aged care workers for the difference they make to the lives of people living with dementia, their families and their carers,” Ms McCabe said.

“Aged care workers continue to be there to support those who need them the most, making a difference each and every shift.

Ask Annie is a mobile education app that helps care workers provide better support to people who are living with dementia. It provides easy to access training for aged care employees through short, self-paced modules.

Since its launch in June 2021, Ask Annie has been downloaded more than 17,285 times with more than 1,200 paid subscriptions.

To find out more about Ask Annie, visit Centre for Dementia Learning website