Telethon Kids Institute members at the Bidyadanga Community Pool barbecue
Bidyadanga welcomes Telethon Kids Institute
During the week of 22-26 March, a team from the Telethon Kids Institute visited the remote Aboriginal community of Bidyadanga to educate community members about lung health and wet cough.
Bidyadanga Community Pool Manager, Royal Life Saving WA’s Bernie Egan, assisted the team by hosting a community event at the pool to help get the message out. “The team have been setting up a mobile unit around the community to do some testing of lung health and decided an afternoon barbecue at the pool would be a good way to share their message,” she said.
“By taking the testing process out of the clinic and into the outdoors it makes the Telethon Kids Institute more approachable and not so scary for the community kids,” said Bernie. “The Bidyadanga kids are always happy to have a chat with visitors to the community, especially when it can be nice and relaxed by the pool.”
“The important message that they were sharing is that ‘if kids have a wet cough that lasts four weeks or more, they should attend the clinic and get it checked out’,” she said. This was the Institute’s second visit to Bidyadanga, and will use the data collected during this visit to compare to the previous visit's data.
“Last time they came the pool was closed for winter, so they didn’t get a chance to swim and enjoy the Community Pool,” says Bernie. “All were very impressed with the facility and some of the staff even jumped in for a bit of a splash with the kids.”
“They thought it was funny that the locals thought it was getting too cold for swimming. The pool has dropped down to 27 degrees as we come to the end of wet season and head into ‘cold’ time,” said Bernie. (Incidentally, 27 degrees is actually considered an optimum pool temperature!)
Bernie says visits such as these help to cement the importance of the pool as a hub for gathering in the Community. “While our remote pools are important for water safety and swimming lessons, we are always happy to welcome visitors to the pool to share equally important healthy messages.”
Learn more about the work of the Remote Pools managed by Royal Life Saving WA at the link below.
