THE Rotary Club of Kerang will lead an effort to bring down the melanoma rate within the Shire of Gannawarra, which is among the highest in the State.
The Kerang and District Community Centre has also taken up the challenge. Last week it convened a meeting to gauge support for a health truck that would travel throughout the shire.
Centre co-ordinator, Jacqi Spencer said the truck would be modelled on the Lions melanoma van that travels throughout South Australia to provide screenings.
“We heard about their truck and thought why couldn’t Kerang have its own melanoma van that could go around to football games, cricket games, anywhere a crowd is and people could get tested,” she said.
“That sprang into an integrated health truck where maybe people could also have their hearing tested, eyesight tested – whatever the community wants.”
The meeting included representatives of Rotary, Lions, Gannawarra Shire Council and Northern District Community Health Service.
Rotary Club of Kerang member, Phil Swifte said the truck proposal had merit, but more immediate and less costly steps could be taken to combat melanoma.
Principally, he said the club had engaged Melbourne-based company Skin Smart Australia to send specialists to Kerang and run a community forum at the Rotary centre in the third or fourth week of August.
The forum would be funded with a grant from the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal if the club’s application was successful, or the club would provide the funds from its own coffers.
“Kerang is three times the State average on melanoma, so the club has decided it’s too important to let it slip through,” Mr Swifte said.
“The main thing is we make people aware of the danger.”
Attendees also agreed the forum would be an opportunity to discuss further the health truck proposal.
Mr Swifte said if the forum was well attended, Skin Smart would return to the region every three or six months to offer screenings, with future funding to be sought to make the service free.
