Consider it showing my newer subscribers some earlier “quality” posts.

So my ten most popular posts are:

1. “A Drive in The Country: It took this truck driver and his truck 18 hours. Bogged three times in sand. That’s a lot of wheels to dig out. And some pretty big holes. I guess that is something to look forward to as I drive out next week”.

2. When Remote Australia and Mining Australia meet: This surprised me coming so high in the ranking. My view on how mining companies in Australia seem to disregard and damage the remote communities near their sites.

3. A Little Bit of Rain: With plenty of photos and video it showed what Central Australia can be like after rain.

4. Remote Weather Report was a report I sent out to people who may be travelling in our area which I later posted. Describes what can happen when heavy rain hits - particularly for a very mobile population

5. Can Bush Tucker Reduce the Burden of Heart Disease and Diabetes? Here I commented on an Article in the West Australian Newspaper and talked about food and prices out bush.

6. Kunmarnanya my Lord, Kunmarnanya. I’m known as Robbo almost everywhere I go. I started using my nickname for cultural reasons. This explains why.

7. A Snake in the Hand is Worth…. is a little story about a snake on my fence: I race to the gate and instead of placing my hand on the expected tubular frame it landed on something sinuous, scaly and muscular.

8. Oodnadatta Track is a Pleasant Sunday Afternoon story with a picture of a stop sign in the desert. Believe me. That is all that is there.

9. You Have Peak Hour Traffic and I Have…… was a video looking at the traffic obstacles I have on my way to work. Camels and lots of them.

10. CRANA Opens its Doors where I commented on Council of Remote Area Nurses of Australia opening membership to other professions with some comments on other bodies representing those out bush.

Well that’s it for another year!

CRANA’s aim is to “promote the development and delivery of safe, high quality health care to remote areas of Australia and her external Territories”. This is enshrined in their constitution.

At their just completed conference CRANA members voted overwhelmingly to change its constitution and accept other health professionals as members.

The Central Australia Rural practitioners Association (CARPA) has long been a loose association of all health professionals whose aim mainly has been the CARPA Standard treatment Manual which is the main guidelines followed by Remote Area Nurses.

CRANA runs a lot of training courses and of course the CRANA Procedures Manual is a mainstay out bush.

We then have SARRAH - Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health, which is recognised as a peak body representing rural and remote allied health professionals. SARRAH is a ‘grassroots’ organisation whose membership consists of individual allied health professionals across rural and remote Australia.

I guess we’ll all fit into remote health. The CRANA press release is below.

MEDIA RELEASE : CRANA Comes of Age
Members of CRANA, previously an organisation solely representing the remote area nurses of Australia, have overwhelmingly voted to open the doors to other health professionals.

CRANA recently proposed sweeping changes to its constitution, copies of which were widely publicised and circulated to members. This lengthy process was followed by a postal vote seeking approval to make the changes that would change the face of CRANA and welcome all remote health professionals wishing to join.
At the 26th Annual Conference just last week, votes were counted, unveiling a massive 98% approval for change.
In line with that direction, members later also voted for our first Indigenous non nurse Board member. Jo Appoo is an Aboriginal health worker who has worked extensively in remote areas and is a staunch supporter of the Aboriginal Health Worker Program.

“We are very excited to have Jo on the CRANA board of Directors”, said Christopher Cliffe, President of CRANA, “she will bring a whole new perspective to the organisation and help us expand our training for this group of health professionals.”

Carole Taylor, CEO commented that there is currently a review of the plethora of organisations working in rural and remote Australia, and CRANA has been approached by a number of organisations from the rural sector seeking various forms of amalgamation or co-location.

“We have thought about this for some time and made the decision that, as the only organisation with purely a remote focus, we have a responsibility to widen our scope and embrace all remote health professionals”, she added, “there is a need for the remote health sector to be treated differently as the remote workforce has very different pressures than other sectors.”

“Our members work in the most challenging and geographically diverse locations to be found anywhere. Our members work in remote Indigenous communities, in the mining industry, on remote islands, holiday and ski resorts and on ocean liners. They are very often resource poor and have limited or no access to GP’s or specialists,” Ms Taylor said.

Ms Taylor continues, “Remote people are our specialty and remote training and support our focus. We may not be in a position to join permanently with our rural colleagues, but we will continue to work with them when the need arises. What we can now do, however, is represent all those dedicated health workers working in remote Australia and ensure that this sector continues to have a strong voice and an organisation that fully understands their needs.”

For further information, contact Carole Taylor, CEO 0429 649 226

- I write the occasional drug newsletter for CRANA and I am on the CARPA executive. -

The National Drugs and Poisons Scheduling Committee (NDPSC) determines what “poison” schedule a medication is to be classified in. If a medication is in Schedule 4 it is available only on prescription and will have “Prescription Only Medicine” on the packaging.

Oseltamivir is one of the drugs being stockpiled around the world in case of an influenza pandemic. This drug is used to treat both human and avian influenza. It needs to be taken preferably within six hours of developing symptoms and no later than 48 hours of the initial symptoms for it to be effective.

A recent meeting determined that Tamiflu (oseltamivir) was to remain prescription only.

If the medication was made available through pharmacy on a “test and treat” basis the medication could be supplied in a timely manner and prevent severe illness or worse, without burdening the health system further. This is the opinion of Dr Graeme Laver - former professor of biochemistry & molecular biology at the Australian National University. Dr Laver has been arguing for ‘Tamiflu’ to be more easily available to prevent an epidemic from occurring.

The reasoning of the NDPSC to keep this medication prescription only included a possible reduction in influenza vaccination rates. let me say that again. The committee which supposedly looks at scientific evidence thought that oseltamivir being available through pharmacies may potentially decrease vaccination rates.. Good science that.

However, having oseltamivir available through pharmacies right now would ensure training and familiarisation with protocols rather than the alternative, which seems to be to throw us in the deep end should an epidemic/pandemic arrive in Australia.

The influenza vaccine is only about 70% effective but this does increase with regular yearly injections. However even the testing for this can vary between 6 to 720 fold depending on where and what test is used.

The influenza vaccine approved for use this year contains three new strains. Sanofi Pasteur in a press release in the USA called this “unprecedented“. Each year there are warnings on the tele to try and increase the number of vaccinations, but in the last couple of years it appears the virulence is increasing, with some children in Western Australia dying last year from influenza.

What this decision really means is that patients are more likely not to be treated effectively within 48 hours in areas where there is a scarcity of medical practitioners and hospital resources.

The country.

But then after bashing my head against a brick wall about rural health issues I am beginning to think we don’t count.

Here’s a little more at Lab Tests Online AU

Oh - and do get the “flu needle”