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Rosemary Lester, what should people in Morwell be doing to avoid the smoke?
It's important for people in Morwell, particularly those who are in the most vulnerable groups
-- so that's the people with chronic heart or lung conditions, children, the elderly,
pregnant women and smokers -- it's important that they take breaks away from the smoke
as much as possible. So, if they can get away and stay with a friend or relative, that's
ideal. If they're not able to do that, the can attend the community respite centre in
Moe.
It's important to minimize any physical activity out in the smoke. Asthmatics should be following
their personal asthma plan and people who are on medication should take that strictly
as prescribed by their doctor.
How would you describe the conditions here in Morwell today?
Unfortunately, the air quality in Morwell is not good today and is particularly poor
in Morwell South, slightly better in the other parts of Morwell.:
And why is it that people haven't been relocated or evacuated? What's the situation there?
We believe that the best health advice at the moment is for people to take short breaks
away from the smoke if they can. If they can relocate, that's a good thing to do, but we
believe that this is the appropriate health advice for the conditions that we're seeing,
and remember, it's those groups that we've talked about that are most susceptible to
the severe effects of the smoke on their health.
You've been here a few times now. What's been your take on what's going on?
There's no doubt that the conditions are very smoky, and that must be very distressing for
people who are living here all the time. We are hearing reports of increased demand at
GP surgeries for some respiratory conditions, but nothing that's too significant.
What's most comforting is that we're not seeing an increased demand for ambulance call-outs
for respiratory or heart conditions, and the local hospital has not seen any demand, any
increased demand at all. The local hospital has not actually had a hospital admission
which is due to the smoky conditions.
We've seen a lot of facemasks around the place since we've been here. What's your advice?
Do they work?
Facemasks can work to filter out the particulate matter in the air, but to do that, they need
to be fitted properly. So, they need to get a very good fit around the nose and mouth,
and that can be quite difficult for some people to achieve that good fit. If they don't fit
well, they won't filter out the particles and therefore, they won't work.
It is also important to remember that they are quite difficult to wear. They're very
hot and they restrict your breathing. So, people with heart and lung conditions should
speak to their doctor before they wear one.
We've seen an expansion to the health assessment centre here in Morwell. How important is that?:
I think the health assessment centre is very important. It provides a place where people
can go and have basic health checks and receive the sort of health information advice that
we've been giving, and that's somewhere they can go where they don't need to be taking
up time and other health services such as GPs or the community health centre, and I
think people have very appreciated those basic health checks and the accurate health information
that's been given out.:
What's the level of cooperation among the various agencies who are involved here? It's
not just Health on its own, is it?
That's right. I think there's been a terrific level of cooperation from the CFA fighting
the fire; the Department of Human Services, who are supporting people if they need assistance
to relocate; the various health agencies around town, so the GPs, the Latrobe Regional Hospital
and the community health centre; Ambulance Victoria, of course, are playing a very key
role in running the health assessment centre for us; and the local council, I think, are
doing a terrific job in terms of supporting the community through this.