Latest news with #AlbanyVolunteerFireandRescueService
West Australian
08-05-2025
- Health
- West Australian
Psychs on Bikes to make first stop to Albany RSL to deliver free mental and physical health checks
A group of medical practitioners aiming to destigmatise the mental health of regional men will roll into Albany on their motorbikes for the first time on Sunday, in the second stop of a 12-day regional tour. The 15 members of Psychs on Bikes will attend Albany RSL on May 11, where psychiatrists, psychologists, and mental health nurses will perform free mental and physical health check-ups. Sydney-based psychiatrist Joe Dunn started the initiative in 2012 and has since covered roughly 100,000km of road on his bike with the team. He said Albany, which has yet to be a destination on the POB trail, has been on his agenda for a while. 'I was yearning to go to that part of the world, that great big slab of beautiful Australia on the South West coast,' he said. Dr Dunn said though anyone can attend the visits, which aim to address the 'four silent killers' of high blood pressure, diabetes, alcohol, and depression, a primary focus was on destigmatising men's mental health treatment. 'A lot of what we do is aimed towards men as they have a suicide rate four to fives times higher than woman,' he said. 'Wherever we go, people need our services but one of the sadnesses is we can't treat people ongoing, but we can help people learn what's available and what they should do and put a label on their distress. 'We explain what is anxiety, panic attack, grief, how do you know if you're drinking too much, what to do if you're feeling suicidal. 'Then we ask if they'd like to sit down with psychs and apart from the educational aspect, half the point is to desensitise men to the idea of sitting down with a profession and see it's not scary or invasive or a shaming process.' Alongside the mental health discussions, attendees can have their blood pressure, blood glucose and BMI/weight checked out by the nurses. After Albany, the tour will travel to Esperance and Kalgoorlie, before heading across the Nullarbor where the tour will end in Dubbo. The group will be at the Albany RSL sub-branch from 4-7pm this Sunday in conjunction with the Albany Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service who will be attending with their fire truck.
West Australian
28-04-2025
- West Australian
Salmon Holes rescue: Beach closed as police divers resume search for man who slipped off rocks into the ocean
Salmon Holes beach was closed on Monday as authorities resumed their search for a man who slipped off rocks into the sea on Friday. Albany police officer-in-charge Sen. Sgt Carlos Correia said rescuers had not given up hope. 'The search is continuing to locate the missing person,' he said. 'The family is aware. 'They saw the person leave the rocks and disappear, so we are making all efforts to try and find him. 'There may come a time when we cannot do anything further, but that time is not yet.' Emergency services were called to the rescue at 1.35pm on Friday with crews from Albany SES, Albany Career Fire and Rescue Services, Albany Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service, and St John WA attending. Two boats from Albany Sea Rescue along with police divers, drones and other surveillance equipment were used in the search over Friday, Saturday and Monday. Though the beach reopened on Sunday, it was closed again on Monday to allow divers to work without distraction from the public, Sen. Sgt Correia said. He said he was not sure when the beach would reopen. Witness Esmatullah Akbari, on holiday with his family from Perth, said he saw someone who had been fishing slip off the rocks into the water. The beach is a popular fishing spot near Albany and notoriously dangerous. A 29-year-old woman was swept out to sea while fishing on the rocks in March last year with a bystander swimming to her rescue. Experienced fisherman Paul Smetham, of Little Grove, said it was time the rocks were made off limits during the Easter holidays. 'People should not be allowed on the rocks during the Easter break,' he said. 'It doesn't take much of a wave to sweep you off your feet. 'They shouldn't be called the Salmon Holes, they should be called the 'drowning holes'. 'That might put people off coming there. 'Even if people have life jackets, it's not enough. 'They give you a false sense of security and a lot of visitors have no experience of them. 'There is a major rip and the rocks have razor sharp barnacles and shells.' Signs along Frenchman Bay Road exhort holiday-makers to 'fish safely, fish from the beach'. It was the second time in a week that emergency services were called to Torndirrup National Park after a female hiker fell down a ravine at Stony Hill on Easter Monday.
West Australian
25-04-2025
- Climate
- West Australian
Salmon Holes rescue: Emergency services head to Torndirrup National Park where person is in trouble in water
Emergency services have been called to Salmon Holes, a notoriously dangerous fishing spot on the south coast, where a person is in trouble in the water. Crews from Albany SES, Albany Career Fire and Rescue Service, Albany Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service and St John WA are responding to the incident, which was reported at 1.35pm on Friday. The beach is a popular fishing spot 10km south of Albany and notoriously dangerous — a 29-year-old woman was swept out to sea while fishing on the rocks in March last year with a bystander swimming to her rescue. It is the second time this week emergency services have been called to Torndirrup National Park after a female hiker fell down a ravine at Stony Hill on Easter Monday. More to come.
