March is Rotary’s Bowelscan month. Australia has the world’s highest incidence of bowel cancer – 1 in 12 men and women will be diagnosed with bowel cancer by the age 85.
Age is an important factor. The risk begins at age 40, doubling every five years and more rapidly as the person gets older.
Statistics show 90 per cent of bowel cancers can be successfully cured if detected at an early stage. Early detection leads to an improved prognosis and less severe treatment.
Bowel Cancers begin as a polyp. Polyps are growths occurring in the lining of the bowel. Not all polyps are cancerous; they may or may not bleed and cause diarrhoea and pain.
But because polyps can develop into cancer, early diagnosis and removal of all polyps is important. More than 75 per cent of people who develop bowel cancer do not have a family history of bowel cancer.
It is strongly recommended all men and women over the age of 40 to have a Bowelscan test every year.
Tests are sold through participating pharmacies for $10 – the Oberon Pharmacy is selling them. The cost includes testing by an accredited pathology laboratory and notification of results via the Bowelscan Medical Co-ordinator. All tests come complete with easy to follow instructions.
The simple, inexpensive and non-intrusive test can be performed in the privacy of your home.
The Bowelscan Program is a service to the community and all proceeds are returned back into the Bowelscan program to ensure its continuation and expansion. The Rotary Club of Oberon has been running the service in Oberon for many years.
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Last week, the Rotary Club of Oberon held a fundraiser, along with Rotary clubs around the world to raise fund to support the End Polio Now campaign.
The brown bag dinner idea was happening all around Australia. Each Rotarian had to bring their dinner in a brown paper bag and their usual dinner fee was donated to the End Polio Now campaign.
Our club met in The Common.
We then moved to the CTC Conference room for our Brown Bag dinner. Each Rotarian also had a pinkie fingernail painted – to indicate that they had donated. Painting a fingernail idea originated from the mass immunisation campaign – it was a way of indicating who had been immunised.
After 20 years of hard work, Rotary and its partners are on the brink of eradicating this tenacious disease. Your contribution will help Rotary raise $200 million to match $355 million in challenge grants received from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The resulting $555 million will directly support immunisation campaigns in developing countries, where polio continues to infect and paralyse children, robbing them of their futures and compounding the hardships faced by their families.
Help our club raise funds to End Polio Now – the next time you see a Rotary event, ask if you can donate to PolioPlus. Rotary will be at the Farmers’ Markets again this weekend with our delicious bacon and egg rolls as well as selling locally produced lamb and goat.
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The Rotary club of Oberon has been lucky enough to obtain a demonstration Shelterbox. The Shelterbox is displayed in the shop window next to Country Belle (donations can be made at Country Belle). Please call by and see the Shelterbox.
Shelterboxes respond instantly to natural and man-made disasters by delivering boxes of aid to those who are most in need. Each box supplies an extended family of up to 10 people with a tent and essential equipment to use while they are displaced or homeless.
The Rotary Club of Oberon has bought nine Shelterboxes over the years. Each box costs $1200. More information on Shelterboxes can be found at www
.shelterboxaustralia.com.au
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