The Health News Australia September 5 2017

Overview

• The Strathdevon aged care facility confirms a number of its residents died in a recent flu outbreak following the death of 7 elderly people at a Victorian facility.
• Australian entertainer Olivia Newton-John will champion the use of medicinal cannabis when she is in Australia this week to raise money for her wellness and research centre. She said that drug has helped her with her second fight with cancer.
• Gavin Larkin setup R U OK? in 2009 as a personal project to honour his late father. Larkin later died of lymphoma, and then his son died from a brain tumour. The ninth R U OK? Day is on Thursday, September 14.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 5th of  September 2017. Read by Tabetha Moreto. Health News

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/09/02/australias-deadly-flu-outbreak-prompts-new-health-warnings

A Tasmanian nursing home confirms a number of its residents died in a recent flu outbreak following the death of seven elderly people at a Victorian facility. The Turnbull Government wants to know if more could have been done to prevent them. Despite ninety five percent of its residents being vaccinated, the Strathdevon aged care facility is mourning the loss of six elderly men and women diagnosed with influenza A . Doctors are making a renewed push for influenza shots to be free of charge for all Australians.

Federal Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt said he has instructed his agency to meet with the Victorian health unit and St John’s to determine whether the deaths could have been prevented. He added that any loss of life within aged care is something that does concern him, particularly when it’s influenza.
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Experts have blamed poor vaccination rates among children for the record breaking flu notifications and flu-related hospitalisations in Queensland and New South Wales. Mister Wyatt says some standards may need to be strengthened. More than one hundred five thousand flu cases have been confirmed nationally, the largest number ever diagnosed in one season. In Victoria alone, cases have doubled on this time last year to almost twelve thousand.

https://thewest.com.au/news/health/newton-john-champions-medicinal-cannabis-use-after-it-helped-her-cancer-battle-ng-b88588000z

Olivia Newton-John will champion the use of medicinal cannabis when she is in Australia this week to raise money for her wellness and research centre. “I will do what I can to encourage it. It’s an important part of treatment, and it should be available,” the singer, who announced a second battle with breast cancer in May, told News Corp Australia. The Australian entertainer said the drug — which is legal in her home state of California — had helped her during her second fight against cancer. She was diagnosed with cancer a couple of months ago but says she is healing. “I use medicinal cannabis, which is really important for pain and healing,” she said.

The government has provided a pathway for the prescription of medical cannabis, but the process has been described as “somewhat complicated”. To date, fewer than one hundred fifty patients in Australia have access to medical cannabis. The sixty eight year old announced on her Facebook page in May that back pain she had been experiencing turned out to be breast cancer that has shifted to the sacrum, a bone in her lower back. In addition to natural wellness therapies, Newton-John has undergone a short course of photon radiation therapy.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-04/r-u-ok-day-the-true-story-behind-the-creation/8865546

As R U OK? Day rolled out for a third year across Australia in two thousand eleven, its founder Gavin Larkin was anything but OK. Gavin Larkin setup R U OK? in two thousand nine as a personal project to honour his late father. Larkin later died of lymphoma, and then his son died from a brain tumour. Six years after Gavin’s death, his family is still involved with R U OK? day.
He was days away from death but still tracking the success of his fledgling suicide prevention movement from bed at his Sydney home. His wish was for R U OK? Day to continue well beyond his death and, six years on, Australians have wholeheartedly embraced the concept of checking in on the welfare of each other. The latest figures show eighty percent of Australians are aware of the day of action and one in four of those have participated in an R U OK? Day-related activity. But the phenomenon has also been a source of strength and comfort for his wife and children.

“This is the house that lives and breathes R U OK? and it’s incredible to see the community that R U OK? has built around us,” his daughter, Josie, said. Two years after Larkin’s death from lymphoma, his fifteen-year-old son, Gus, died of a brain tumour. The father and son’s courage, acceptance and fighting spirit in the face of devastating prognoses were documented on Australian Story in two thousand eleven.

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The ninth R U OK? Day is on Thursday, September fourteen.