Category: RiotACT (Page 2 of 5)

About twelve months ago, my daughter developed swelling and redness in one of her eyes. We were lucky enough to get an appointment with our local GP the same day, but were shocked to be told that we needed to go to Canberra Hospital emergency admissions straight away.

Our GP was concerned that our daughter might have orbital cellulitis – a rare but very serious condition that requires immediate attention. Nine hours and an exhaustive number of tests later, we returned home with the all-clear. Every single staff member was professional and sympathetic and although it turned out to be a false alarm, it was definitely a case where being safe rather than sorry was the right approach.

Aside from being grateful for having access to a health system as good as Australia’s (thank you Gough Whitlam), the whole episode made me more appreciative of the complex role of hospitals.

People think mostly of the front line services of emergency, intensive care, and maternity wards when they imagine a “hospital”. But hospitals are also responsible for administering a huge network of specialist tests and care for patients. Many of these patients have complex conditions that may take days, months, or even years to treat – and particularly in the case of elderly patients, there may be no realistic chance of a permanent cure.

My daughter’s experience with the hospital is known as acute care: a serious episode where hospital attention is required immediately. After discharge there was only a minimal likelihood that she would need to return.

On the other hand, sub-acute care is where “the patient’s need for care is driven predominantly by his or her functional status rather than principal diagnosis”. Put simply, the goal is long-term improvements in quality of life even if no simplistic “cure” is possible.

The UC Public Hospital currently under construction and due to open in 2018 is such a sub-acute facility. It is being designed to offer:

• General rehabilitation
• Psychiatric rehabilitation
• Geriatric evaluation and management
• Mental health day services

Its location at the University of Canberra will provide additional opportunities for integrating teaching, training and research to improve short and long term patient outcomes.

Sub-acute facilities are a comparatively new innovation but are vital for a well-functioning hospital system since they free up capacity in acute facilities. They are not “second class hospitals”, but facilities that are optimised to deliver long-term rehabilitation and care for conditions that are not life-threatening.

The ideal model for sub-acute care is a multidisciplinary assessment by specialists, leading to individual care plans that ultimately lead to the patient being discharged into their home environment to receive supported care. As our population in Canberra ages, the need for high-quality sub-acute care has never been greater. Executed well, sub-acute care delivers “responsive, patient centred, flexible and holistic care” with benefits to both staff and patients.

It’s really important to correct this misconception about the role of the UC public hospital given the misleading criticisms made by the Canberra Liberals back in 2015. For sub-acute care, the goal is quality of life, not admission to a bed. Putting a sub-acute patient in a hospital bed should really only be done where no other option is available.

One of the most audacious features of the proposed Belconnen Town Centre Master Plan is to transform Lathlain Street into a pedestrian friendly promenade. The Master Plan positions “the Lath” as the premier Belconnen destination, host to shops, markets, live music, street festivals, and other entertainment options as well as health, education and community services.

With wider footpaths along Lathlain St from the Belconnen Markets to Westfield, this diverse variety of services and activities will become easily accessible on foot, with a new residential population living in apartments above street level to take advantage of the nearby facilities.

In the next 10 years, I expect Lathlain St to feel more like Bourke St in Melbourne and less like a back street of Belconnen.

This transformation has only recently become possible though. With the demolition of the old police station and detention centre, and the ambulance and fire stations shortly to move to their new home in Aranda, a big section of prime real estate has been freed up for redevelopment.

I personally believe that we should aim to maintain a good mix of commerce and community. For example, the nearby Community Health Facilities and walk-in centre are already widely used. These could be supplemented with a new community services hub on Lathlain Street as part of a new home for the Belconnen Library and Belconnen Community Services.

The relocation of CIT from its leafy but isolated home in Bruce to Lathlain St would also increase enrolments through improved access. For people worried about the effects of this additional development on parking, these new developments would make the construction of additional multi-storey carparks more commercially viable, with the likely effect of a net improvement in availability of commuter parking overall.

When the Belconnen Town Centre was being constructed in the 1970s, many planning decisions were taken which can only be politely described as “insufficiently thought through”. Despite being “the largest shopping centre in Australia” when it opened in 1978, the shopping mall, isolated bus interchange, and sunken bus bypass lane hampered Belconnen’s development for decades.

The extension of Westfield to include visible shops and restaurants on Lathlain St in 2012 and construction of the new bus interchanges have done wonders for Belconnen. It now feels more like a district and less like a random assortment of buildings.

I’m excited about the possibilities of Lathlain Street for Belconnen and I hope that the final master plan retains these features. I commend the planners who came up with the idea and I look forward to what Belconnen will look like in another 10 years!

Exercise is vital for people of all ages, but particularly as we get older. Studies show that people who are lifelong exercisers remain independent longer, are less depressed, and reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes and injuries from falls.

We are lucky to have a wide range of sporting options available in Canberra. However they can be quite expensive, not to mention that weekly sports leagues are not always easy to commit to as a time-poor parent.

If you are looking to get fit in Canberra, but don’t want (or can’t afford) to pay membership fees for the local gym or sports club, there are a range of great free and flexible options available – here are just a few:

parkrun
The parkrun website organises timed 5km runs around the world, with 160 locations around Australia holding regular events. There are three events held weekly in Canberra at John Knight Park in Belconnen, Yerrabi Pond in Gungahlin, and at Lake Tuggeranong.

It’s free with an emphasis on fun and fitness. Events are open to parents with strollers and kids (under adult supervision). Everyone is encouraged to stay for a coffee and a chat at nearby cafés afterwards.

Outdoor fitness stations
There are 20 outdoor fitness stations located across Canberra that provide a range of fitness equipment. As well as simpler fixed equipment like pull up bars, sit up benches and step ups, you can also find aerobic walkers, leg presses, shoulder presses, chest presses, and trapeze rings. The ACT government has also posted a range of instructional videos for people wanting to learn how to use the equipment properly.

The ALP candidate for Murrumbidgee Mark Kulasingham was a key advocate for this program back in 2012 when he was looking for exercise options he could use while also caring for his kids as a stay at home dad. I always thought it was a great idea and a great example of community advocacy, so it’s great to see these up and running.

Skate parks
I won’t be grabbing a skateboard any time soon, but for the more adventurous Canberra has seven major skate parks and a dozen more minor facilities including the Belco Skate Park, recognised as one of the best in the country and the largest in Australia when first completed.

Centenary Trail
Opened as part of Canberra’s 100 year celebrations in 2013, the Centenary trail provides well-marked paths for those interested in seeing some great scenery with their walks and bike rides. While not all parts are paved, most of the sections are very friendly to people of all skill levels.

Even if you’re daunted by the thought of finishing all 145 kilometres, there are several recommended shorter walk and many loop walks marked on the map if you want ideas for scenic places to get out and about in Canberra.

Canberra Community Walks
You can still find signs for the Heart Foundation-sponsored Canberra Community Walks program in a number of suburbs across Canberra. Simply by following the signs, people can enjoy a 2-3km walk in around 30 minutes and are a great way to get active.

While the program is no longer advertised on ACT government websites, the signs are still in place and you can access maps through the amazingly useful Internet Archive:

• Southside (Tuggeranong, Kambah, Monash)
• Weston
• Belconnen (Page, Kaleen, Town Centre)
• Cambell
• Narrabundah
• Ainslie

The Heart Foundation now focuses on its Walking program, with more than 30 registered groups regularly meeting across Canberra to walk and talk.

Disc golf
Finally, if you are after something completely different, the 2.2km nine-hole disc golf course in Eddison Park in Phillip provides a fun and free way to spend an afternoon. While it is not as well-known as its cousin, it is much cheaper to play since you only need a $2 frisbee to get started.

Hipsters. Hippies. Punks. Goths. Beatniks. Nerds. Subcultures are a comparatively modern thing, becoming more common as cities have grown larger. They are both made possible by mass production and the Industrial Revolution, and a reaction against the modern society that has arisen because of them. There are many subcultural groups from the past century, each with their own motivations and activities.

Some subcultures have quite simple group identities revolving around shared fashion sense or musical taste. Other subcultures like hippies and vegans tend to have more prescriptive and ideological viewpoints on acceptable lifestyle activities and views of the subculture’s members. While many of the best known subcultures are liberal, there are others like the Amish are conservative.

A subculture must define its identity somehow in opposition to the culture it operates within. The hipster desire to seek out indie, handmade and boutique as a conscious rejection of modern, digital and especially mass-produced goods, is in reality just as much a statement of identity and rejection of the mainstream as the stereotypically dark makeup and clothes of the Goth movement.

Many subcultures don’t translate across cultures, yet increasingly they draw influence from global sources. For example heavy metal influences are now seen worldwide, even popping up in Botswana.

With the rise of the internet and social networking, people can join and interact with their subculture of choice, regardless of the physical size or location of their home town. Having these options is mostly a good thing, since subcultures help people find a place to belong if they feel alienated by their ‘mainstream’ experiences.

My view is that there are four basic social needs which can be filled by a subculture: identity, participation, expression, and defence. Not all subcultural groups will meet each of these needs equally or at all.

Identity is a validation of the fact that you are not alone which comes from being among like-minded people. Participation is simply the sharing of a common pastime or pursuit. Expression comes from feeling able to do things when among others of your subculture which you might not feel able to do by yourself, or could not do by yourself. And finally a subculture is a physical defence if are able to rapidly mobilize and act in a coordinated way.

Some of Canberra’s more notable subcultural groups and events include:

• Hipster Lane: While it’s a stretch to claim that we are now a “hipster city” with the transformation of Lonsdale St in Braddon, there is no doubt that Canberra is seeing many more people adopting the hipster lifestyle and fashions.
• National Folk Festival: For the past 25 years, Canberra has hosted Australia’s largest folk music festival, which is marketed as an “alternative cultural experience” as much as a series of concerts.
• Canberra Bridge Club: In the 1970s and 1980s Canberra regularly hosted one of the largest contract bridge events in the world. It continues to have a highly competitive scene including its annual Summer Festival of Bridge.
• Rat Patrol: The customised pedal bikes of this eccentric but enthusiastic Canberra group were regularly seen and often covered by the RiotACT in years gone by, although they seem to have been dormant since around 2012.
• CANCON: Australia’s largest convention for people into “tabletop gaming”, regularly attended by 8000 people or more, is a hugely successful event for more intellectual pursuits.

What other Canberra subcultures are out there? If you participate in a subculture, what attracts you to it?

Photo credit: Luis Alvarez Marra

No matter which way you look at it, Canberra has had a coming of age in the past decade. Shortly before his retirement in 2011, in an interview for Inside Story Jon Stanhope said:

I think [the ACT] is a better place now than when we came into government – judged any way you want on a social justice scale or a liveability scale or even an economic performance scale. Canberra is now a real place. A recent global survey had us at twenty-six in terms of liveability – I doubt we would have been in the top hundred a decade ago.

Stanhope would no doubt have been quietly proud of Canberra topping the OECD Regional and Local Well-being rankings and the Property Council’s liveability index in 2014.

The just-released Mercer Worldwide Quality of Living Ratings places Canberra at number 28, just below Perth (21) and Adelaide (27). Some experts say that once international flights and light rail are operational, Canberra can expect to rate higher still.

Despite some knee-jerk scepticism about the results, the statistics don’t lie: Canberra hasevolved, particularly when looking at our retiree and family population.

In the 1970s, senior citizens were four times less likely to live in Canberra than the national average. That gap has now virtually disappeared, with many more retirees choosing to stay in Canberra instead of moving to other capital cities or the coast.

We can also no longer lay claim to being a “nappy valley”, with our proportion of dependent children now the same as the national average.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics.

In other words, it is time for stereotype of Canberra as “a great place to raise a family but not much else” to be permanently put to bed.

To his credit, Chief Minister Andrew Barr understands this shift in how people see Canberra. That means more jobs, more construction, and more people. Canberra’s economy is becoming more diverse, with new opportunities including:

• Expanding our tertiary education and research footprint. One in 9 Canberrans either work or study in a tertiary education institution. The Canberra Innovation Network (CBRIN) aims to increase entrepreneurial opportunities, often in partnership with or originating from the tertiary sector. Similarly, the expansion plans for the University of Canberra will see a range of additional industry partnerships formed on-campus to supplement research programs.
• Creating an international flight destination and freight hub. Majura Parkway is forecast to have 6000 trucks travelling on it every day within 15 years, with a significant reduction in congestion elsewhere as a result. Our improved road network, along with the commencement of direct international flights from Singapore, allows Canberra to join the global trade and transport industry in a way that has simply not been possible in the past.

With the growing population, there has been a surge of new apartment buildings in town centres, particularly Belconnen and Kingston, along with the plans to boost the Civic residential population to 20,000 over the next decade. These will provide a greater range of housing choices and better entertainment options, not to mention a boost to the ACT budget bottom line.

But as our population grows, it’s important to preserve Canberra’s unique character as the bush capital. By maintaining local green spaces and high-quality parks like the National Arboretum, while focusing on smart ways to increase housing density that minimise the impact on the skyline of the ACT in our suburbs, I think that this can be achieved.

As residents, we elect the ACT Government to look after our interests. Our representatives in the Legislative Assembly need to find the right balance between respecting the lifestyles of those in established suburbs and allowing Canberra to naturally evolve into a bigger and more diverse place.

I have found that there is no more personally or professionally challenging period than the switch to becoming a mother. Almost all women I know under 40 entered the workforce with the expectation that they would have a career their whole life. The median (average) age of mothers at the time of their first child has been rising, from a low of 25.4 years in 1971 to just above 30 years old today.

The result is that women get 10-15 years to build a professional career and then hit the whirlwind of parenthood. This is difficult both for employers and employees because it is around the point where many women are becoming supervisors and managers.

Maternity leave and return to work provisions are critical for ensuring women aren’t left worse off financially. But the disruption to a woman’s professional career path is harder to avoid.

In many respects, women in Canberra are lucky: the public service is constantly reorganising in response to political and policy needs. This makes it better equipped than most other organisations to handle staff taking extended periods of leave and then returning them to a similar or improved role. But this is the exception rather than the norm. Stories of women being sidelined from their existing role due to organisational restructures, or being pressured to return earlier than they would otherwise wish are frequent.

Nearly 1 in 4 women return to work to keep their job or because their employer requested it (25%). This figure is nearly double the number who returned to work for purely financial reasons (15%).

Even more mothers return to work because they want to stay in touch with the workforce that – until recently – was their life’s focus. 40% of women return to work to maintain their self-esteem, maintain their career or skills, or simply for more adult interaction and mental stimulation. In my experience, if you spend more than 12 months out of the workforce you begin to worry about whether you still have the ‘skills’ and ‘ability’ needed when you return to the workforce.

Many women also face the problem of finding a valued role that is part-time or has flexible working hours. While only 25% of mothers in families with one child work part-time, this rises to 70% for mothers who have two or more children. This rise is partly driven by necessity as children reach school age and require drop-off and pickup during business hours.

Under the Fair Work Act 2009, employees who have been employed for at least 12 months in their current role have the legal right to request flexible working arrangements. But frankly, far too many organisations are not well-equipped to deal with employees who don’t want to work standard full-time hours. There are far fewer part-time roles advertised, and most of these are low skill or low paid. Even if you do secure a part-time role, there is often an implicit (and sometime explicit) discriminatory attitude against part-time workers who seek promotion.

The perverse result is that women have an incentive to work hard and get promoted into the full-time job that they want before having children. They must then turn around and request part-time work from their employer, accepting the fact that they will be stuck in that role for quite a few years.

Unfortunately, this very pragmatic approach entrenches the stereotype that mothers exploit their entitlements and cost employers money. But women who weren’t lucky or forward-thinking enough to be able to achieve a good work situation before having kids can find returning to work very difficult and stressful.

Managers need to be trained in how to make part-time, offsite, and staff with irregular hours valuable members of their teams. Organisations also need better acceptance that managers can be in charge of teams without seeing them face-to-face at all times.

I think we can do better to satisfy the various needs of employees.

Heat stress and heat stroke are no joke. A 2014 study found that since 1900, they have been responsible for more natural, non-disease related deaths than any other cause, including floods, cyclones, bushfires, and storms combined. Twice as many people died from heat stroke during the period of 2009 Black Saturday fires than from the bushfires themselves.

The people most at risk from heat stress are those least able to look after themselves, including the elderly, babies, mentally unwell, and the poor. While public education, fewer outdoor jobs, changes in behaviour, greater freedom of dress, and improvements in home cooling have mitigated the number of recent cases, these are expected to rise in coming decades with an aging population and greater numbers of extreme heat days every year due to climate change.

Houses are too often designed with the presumption of air conditioning (active cooling) instead of better architectural design and use of insulation and heat sinks (passive cooling). Where buildings assume a working air conditioner, people are particularly vulnerable to heat stress in the event of power failure. Education is also a major factor in survival. The 2003 European heat wave saw up to 7 days over 40 degrees Celsius in some areas. Such an unusual event in the normally mild French climate led to 11,000 deaths in that country alone. Many of these deaths were attributed to a lack of preparedness and understanding. An odd quirk of this heatwave was that the weakest group of older people were far more likely to survive than older but healthy people. Access to medical care was a key factor in survival.

Heat stress can be a self-inflicted problem as well. Statistically, the most lethal day of the year for heat stress is the day after Australia Day, thought to be a lethal combination of having an outdoor barbeque or picnic on hot days combined with significant consumption of alcohol. The 2014 Australian Open tennis was notoriously tough on players and fans, with over 1000 people treated for heat exhaustion in the first few days of the tournament.

A few simple steps can keep you and your family safe from the risk of heat stroke:

1. Avoid extremely hot environments such as the interior of a hot car, a tent on a hot day, or periods of direct exposure to the sun. Other preventative measures include:
   • drinking lots of water, particularly before and during activity (avoid caffeine and alcohol)
   • staying indoors or in the shade
   • keeping air circulating and/or using air conditioning
   • consider visiting an air conditioned environment such as a shopping centre or library
   • avoiding physical activity and resting where possible
   • wearing lightweight, loose clothing
   • having a shower, bath, or sponge bath
   • eating regular, light meals
2. Know the symptoms of heat stress. Heat stress can be treated with rest and rehydration through slow sips of water:
   • adults commonly report headaches, dizziness, faintness, nausea and vomiting
   • signs of heat stress in babies include restlessness, irritability, and a reduced number of wet nappies
3. Call 000 if you are worried about symptoms of heat stroke. This is a medical emergency where body temperature rises above 40 degrees Celsius and core systems start to shut down. Symptoms include:
   • hot and dry skin (except when caused by vigorous exercise)
   • rapid breathing and heart beat
   • headaches, nausea and vomiting
   • confusion, agitation, slurred speech, irritability, and delirium

Try to cool the affected person while waiting for help by removing excess clothing and applying ice packs to the head, neck, armpits and groin.

Summer is a great time to have fun outdoors, but there’s more to it than just slip, slop, slap. Keep hydrated, stay cool, and keep your loved ones safe.