Taking care of sick kids may be very different from taking care of six kids, but Margaret Colwell has both down-pat, in her busy lifestyle.

This forty-nine year old wife and mother of six, a Woronora resident and part-time General Practitioner, began her career working with underprivileged teenagers, and now as she reaches her fifty-year milestone, little has changed in her generous nature.

Characterised by laugh lines and gentle eyes, Colwell, who has spent her entire life in the Sutherland Shire, turned light-hearted chatter into a crusade, as she spoke of the state of health of the region.

Q: In your opinion, what is the state of health like for the area?
A: The state of health for the area is pretty good. Most people have access to a high standard of health care and to good nutrition and hygiene.

Q: Is this changing or not? Why do you think this is?
A: Yes, Lifestyle diseases caused by obesity and lack of exercise are affecting more and more people. Family breakdown is causing a lot of social problems which has an adverse effect of the people and all those around them. Deteriorating law and order is also having an effect with more violence occurring and more drug and alcohol abuse.

Q: What do you think the biggest health concern for the Sutherland Shire is?
A: Lifestyle related diseases caused by lack of exercise such as diabetes, High blood pressure, heart disease; stroke and a number of other chronic illnesses are all of concern for the area.  

Q: How can we overcome this problem as individuals and as a community?
A: As individuals, eat less and move more. As a community we have to start with children. Encouraging them to be more active and spend less time in front of the TV and computer and limiting junk food intake. We have to remove barriers to children being active such as winner oriented sport programmes which discourage less athletic kids from competing, uncomfortably hot school uniforms, lack of ready access to drinks during school time and boring school sport programs.  Parents have to set a good example. Making the streets safer so people can walk more would also be a good start in addition to bicycle tracks that are safe and accessible.

Colwell has been involved in many health awareness activities within the 25 years she has served the community as a GP, defining her position as more than merely a mother of her own children, but rather the instigator of a healthier lifestyle in many others.

It may only be a start, but the Council, along with organisers from Mercy Home Australia, are working toward providing help for young women suffering from self-esteem issues, eating disorders and depression.

“The Sutherland Shire holds one of the highest rates of drug abuse, eating disorders and domestic violence.” A spokeswoman for the project said. ” ‘Esteem’ acts to counter this, and introduce girls to the truth about their value.”

For more details watch the YouTube video below or visit the Mercy Home Australia website. 

Caution: the following contains graphic images. 

When the now nineteen year-old Sutherland Shire resident hit puberty, she experienced some of the worst years of her life, including a horrendous eating disorder and a deadly slump into depression, causing her to self-harm.

Although still undergoing a long, intense healing process involving hospitalization, medication and counselling, Jane can still remember how it all began and why it went on for so long.

“I have had issues with my weight and appearance since I started going through puberty,” she said. “I thought it was normal to not want to look in the mirror and not to eat what everyone else was because I didn’t want to get fat.”

“I didn’t know that it would make me sick later, when I would stop eating altogether for long periods of time, and would shut the world out altogether.”

“I didn’t even know how much weight I’d lost until my clothes started to fall off me. I couldn’t see it. I only saw a fatter version of me.” She said.

“I had never been so depressed in my life after I dropped out of school and started seeing a guy that didn’t want to commit to a serious relationship. I started thinking that I wasn’t good enough, that I wasn’t thin enough, that I was just too ugly.”

“I don’t remember hitting rock bottom. Perhaps I’ve blocked it out now. But I know I did.”

 “People don’t understand until they’ve gone through it. You don’t want people telling you that you’re beautiful. You don’t want people saying it’s a phase that you’ll grow out of. You don’t want people making fun of you for being chubby or being gawky looking when you lose a lot of weight. You don’t want to see all the pretty and thin girls in the magazines, you don’t want to see them on TV, you just want to be left alone and come to terms with how you look and gain that self confidence that you need.”

“I’ll never go back to that state. I don’t want to. But I have a long way to go before I will look at myself and see a beautiful person.”

Jane is now trying to gain weight, explaining that she is on medication for depression and talks about everything with her friends and counsellor. However, her face is still pale and mature beyond their years. She doesn’t think she’ll ever be the same again.

“I hope and pray for everyone else who is going through this too.” She says; her eyes full of courage and determination. “It is the furthest thing from easy that anyone could ever experience in their lives”

*Names have been changed for confidentiality reasons.

If you are suffering from any of the conditions or experiencing any of the issues featured in this article please contact someone for help. Counselling services and assistance is available at the following websites:

• Kids Help Line (or call 1800 55 1800)

• Reach Out

• Lifeline (or call 13 11 14) 

Miss X* is a statistic. She is apart of 70 percent of adolescent girls who don’t participate in normal every day activities due to lack of self-worth. She is one of the third that think they are overweight. She makes up the half that have fasted, gone on diets, used food substitutes, or smoked cigarettes to lose weight. She has appearance anxiety, like 86.9 percent of all teen girls and she is a part of more than 80 percent who say their parents or siblings have made negative comments about their bodies.

Miss X is like Mrs. Y and Mr. Z, and the other twenty-three letters of the alphabet. But Miss X is not common. She is beautiful, but she doesn’t know it.

^Name has been changed for confidentiality reasons.

*Miss X does not bear resemblence to any person real or fake. This is simply a representation of the statistics in regard to self-esteem issues in the Australian population as of 2008. Statistics are subject to change at anytime.

Concerned Sutherland Shire residents will raise funds for cancer research this week, through a host of ‘Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea’ functions.

Along with generous citizens, facilties such as Waterbrook Retirement Apartments and Hazelhurst Art Gallery will also donate time, space and money toward the cause across the 21st to 23rd of May.

Peter Wells, manager of Waterbrook, who has organised a tea, coffee and cake buffet says “the opportunity to support a wonderful cause and enjoy a delightful morning at the Sutherland Shire’s premier luxury retirement resort is too good to miss.”

The function will take place on Thursday 22nd of May in the Waterbrook Yowie Bay Lounge, 19 Wyralla Road, Yowie Bay. All are welcome, but numbers are limited. Cost is $15.00 a head.  

To book phone Waterbrook Reception on 9541 3000.  

For more information on local functions visit the Cancer Council Website for Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea.

Family man and Miranda resident, Dr Ron Sommers paid little attention to a heart-attack that prematurely forced him into retirement in 1988, sparking a 20-year interest in Papua New Guinea’s health system.

Sommers, with his nurse and wife, Rae, have been making the journey out of their own pocket to Kundiawa in New Guinea since first discovering the vital need for health professionals in the area.

The couple, who made the annual trip again in May this year, say they never know when they will stop, because each time they travel there, they think it will be the last.

“We began going when Ron’s cousin who was working in New Guinea at the time, as a Catholic minister, requested our help,” Rae said. “But once Ron got there and saw how poor the conditions were and how badly the doctors and nurses needed help, he decided a once off trip wasn’t enough.”

“When Ron had a cardiac arrest in 1988, he was told to cut down at the practice and lessen his load. Despite our devastation and shock, it came at just the right time; we closed down the place and looked at investing more time in the New Guinea project.” She said.

“Women are treated like possessions over there, and the mortality rate of children is so high that it is unbearable.” She said of the health conditions in Kundiawa. “Because of Ron’s obstetrician and gynaecology background, he was a God-send to these people and really made a difference.”

Since their first venture, the couple has gained funding from the Rotary Club of Sutherland, of which Ron is former president, and Rotary International, to help equip Kundiawa hospital. The donation of medical equipment and beds from Kareena Private Hospital has also assisted the Doctor with his work, leading to the performance of over 440 operations in 10 years.

However, the pair still require assistance, and suggest that many are poorly informed of the needs of our neighbours and of their own potential to help.

Dr Ron Sommers was honoured by the Red Cross and Sutherland Shire Council in 2005 for his some 20 trips to Papua New Guinea.

Would you like to get involved in this project? Contact the Rotary Club of Sutherland on (02) 8230 1078, or comment this post for email access to Dr Ron Sommers.

People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard – a very different thing.
– Walter H. Judd –

Peter Neame, mental health expert and author of four books, has become the voice of thousands of grief-stricken and traumatised Australians, with his work in White Wreath Association.

Turning early experience and education into a fight against one of the highest rated causes of death in Australia and New Zealand, it is hard to ignore the controversial and thought-provoking comments Neame presents on the issue of suicide.

Q: How and why did you get involved in White Wreath Association?
A: Fanita Clark was a mother who was first exposed to mental health and suicide in 1999, when her son Jason was newly diagnosed with schizophrenia and took his life. He was only 19. When he committed suicide she tried to find out everything she could and in part of that research she discovered my book Suicide and Mental Health in Australia and New Zealand (1997). When she read it she rang me and asked if I would help her set up White Wreath association. I am research and publicity officer, on a voluntary basis.  

Q: When and where was the first meeting of White Wreath Association?
A: The first White Wreath commemoration was in Canberra, where, then, Prime Minister John Howard, and then opposition leader, Kim Beazley, both spoke.  

Q: What does White Wreath Association do? And how does it go about it?
A: White Wreath acts to raise awareness of the tragedy that is suicide and was organised in remembrance of all victims of suicide. We have been trying on many levels to prevent mentally ill people from taking their own lives, and educate the public and governments alike on many misconceptions and fallacies about mental health. Though the governments are sympathetic to our campaigns, however, it is obvious that suicide prevention is treated as a diversionary/fiddling while Rome still burns activity. WE know from our personal experience and all those that write to us from around the world that suicide prevention is the single most important preventative activity that there is in mental health. Accurate front line assessment of suicide in every Accident and Emergency Department and every GP’s clinic has the potential to reduce suicide by more than 50 percent. Hundred of millions of dollars are spent on Road Safety Campaigns and other areas where there are fewer deaths than suicide. There is no standard approach in Australia, and like all voluntary organisations we are always strapped for cash, so it is up to the community to help us raise the much needed funds and together with us, build our much needed centres for those suffering this life threatening condition. 

Q: What do you think are some of the big issues surrounding suicide and how have you gone about counteracting them?
A: We tend to have wide public support, but it is generally the health profession and governments that I am gravely concerned about. Mental health training and mental health acts have emphasized “least restrictive practices”. This approach is clearly irresponsible and clinically incompetent when it comes to people who are suicidal, homicidal and seriously violent. Almost all police shootings in the last 25 years in both Australia and New Zealand have been of young, mentally ill males. This is a failure at every level – clinical, management of the mental health services, legislation, government policy, funding as well as policing. In this period of 25 years, 45,000 medium and long term mental health beds have been closed and the suicide rate in young men has risen 400% in Australia, 600% in New Zealand. In women the suicide rate has doubled. Why do governments decide to send the mentally ill back into the community without sufficient support?
I also think that the issue of causes of suicide are not addressed or even acknowledged in the community. Schizophrenia is the main cause, yet depression gets all the publicity.
There are quite clearly unacceptably high rates of suicide among Australians and New Zealanders, signifying the increase over the past twenty years. We need to provoke mental health practitioners to examine, evaluate and reflect upon modern philosophies, the care and treatment of the chronically mentally ill and the current alarming rise in suicide, murder suicide and mass killings.

White Wreath Suicide Awareness Day occurs on the 29th of May each year, with Neame explaining “silence on suicide serves the self-interest of the government, defensive mental health administrators and clinicians and obsequious coroners.” Get involved and serve the self-interests of the mentally ill.

Are you suffering from Depression? Do you have Suicidal thoughts? Or do you just need someone to talk to?

Contact LifeLine on 13 11 14 or Kid’s Help Line on 1800 55 1800 for help.

Signs of Mental Illness:

• change in behavior

• no interest in normal activities

• drop off in school, work or family life

• talking about death and/or dying

• family history of suicide/mental illness

• reckless behavior

• irritability

• depression

• disturbed sleep patterns

• unusual eating patterns

• unemotional

• hygiene deteriorates

• bizzare behavior

Source: World Fellowship for Schizophrenic and Allied Disorders

The now nine-year-old organisation will once again attempt to educate millions of Australians on the 29th of May, as they commemorate those who previously took their lives in this country with National White Wreath Suicide Awareness Day.

“Fanita had never had any contact with mental health or suicide until her son become ill,” Paul Neame, voluntary publicity and research officer said. “When he committed suicide she tried to find out everything she could.”

Neame, who also wrote the book Suicide and Mental Health in Australia and New Zealand (1997), said “The sole reason for the organisation is to get suicidal people early help. Trying to manage dangerous people, that is, people who are suicidal, violent and homicidal in the community, costs thousands of lives each year.”

He also warned “There is no other life threatening condition where people are routinely refused admission to hospital as suicidal-mentally ill people are.”

With good community support, the association believes this year’s awareness day will be successful in trying to overcome some of these hurdles.

Mr Barry Collier, Member for Miranda, welcomed the event, explaining “[the area] is not immune to the tragedy that is suicide. Indeed, the Sutherland Shire has one of the highest youth suicide rates in Sydney.”

White Wreath Suicide Awareness Day will be held on the 29th of May, in association with White Wreath’s “Sock it to Suicide” events.

For more information or to get involved visit the White Wreath Association Australia website.

Are you suffering from depression? Do you have suicidal thoughts? Or do you just need someone to talk to?

Contact LifeLine on 13 11 14 or call the Kid’s Help Line on 1800 55 1800 for help.