Rural Health Appeal

Please help people in rural NSW gain better access to heath information

The shortage of health services in rural NSW is well known to people who live with arthritis. The lack of support can delay diagnosis and treatment, impacting people’s financial, social and physical wellbeing.

You can give people living in rural areas the chance to empower their own lives by supporting Arthritis NSW’s Rural Health Program. Since 2018, we have been visiting rural communities to deliver free education seminars in country towns. From Mudgee to Macksville, our Health Team has enabled audiences to manage their condition using nutrition and exercise. Many have acted on our advice to reduce their pain and regain mobility, and reclaimed their family and social lives, and their independence.

There are many more rural centres to visit. Once the pandemic restrictions are lifted, Arthritis NSW will resume our Rural Health Program schedule of seminars in country NSW in 2021. Your gift will make a big difference to the lives of people living with arthritis in rural and regional areas of NSW.

Steve’s Story

These farmers need your help, but would never ask for it…

Steve, from central western NSW, has been living with osteoarthritis in his knee for 20 years, and YOUR help has changed his life. Over the years, Steve’s condition gradually impacted his ability to do the physical work he wanted to do. After a day working on his property, he would have to apply an ice pack to his knee and rest the next day. As with many men who live in rural areas, Steve didn’t talk much about his difficulties. He took the low grade anti- inflammatory prescribed by his doctor and just got on with what he had to do, whenever he could.

Steve attended Arthritis NSW’s seminar in Parkes, and listened as the audience was given strategies to improve their condition through nutrition, exercise and pain management. He put his new knowledge into practice and lost eight kilograms! This reduced the weight on his knee and, with it, inflammation.

As Steve told the ANSW Health Team a year later at the Bathurst seminar, after a day’s work on his property he was now mobile and could get on with things. And he no longer needed to take the anti-inflammatory.

You can be sure that your gift is helping audiences as the Health Team revisited Bathurst 10 months after the first seminar and many, such as Steve, were happy to return and report on the positive impacts of adopting the health strategies.

There are many more people like Steve living in rural NSW who need YOUR help to access practical information that they can use to both change, and get on with their lives. Arthritis NSW is able to run the rural health seminars thanks to YOUR kind donations to our Christmas Appeal each year. The funds raised enable our Health Team to go out on the road and deliver the seminar as a free event.

Please help to deliver the Rural Health Program in 2021 by making a donation today. Simply complete the form below.  Your generosity will make a big difference to the lives of people living with arthritis in rural and regional areas of NSW.