Here today - gone today for joint surgery patients

A program piloted at Grafton Base Hospital from September is enabling day-only hip and knee replacements for local patients. In what may be a first for the Australian public hospital system, advanced surgical and anaesthetic techniques and better postoperative pain management have reduced the length of stay for patients having major joint replacements, when clinically safe and appropriate.

Dr Sam Martin, orthopaedic surgeon and program lead, said the pilot program, expected to run for six months, is based on research that suggests patients can have successful outcomes given the right care and support in their own home, without the added stress of a hospital stay.

“There is compelling evidence that for many patients, a day stay joint replacement is safe, with equal or better results compared to a longer hospital stay, in terms of the patient’s return to function,” Dr Martin said.

“We also know that getting moving again soon after surgery is shown to reduce the recovery time for patients. Within 3-4 hours of the surgery, under the care of our physiotherapy team, patients can begin moving and will remain in hospital for at least six hours before they go home.

“This is a significant achievement for a small regional centre like Grafton. This

One critic is Sally Townley, a Coffs Harbour City councillor, who said land clearing could be added to the ‘‘litany of issues” generated by the industry, not least because farmers don’t need to lodge a DA for so-called intensive plant agriculture under the local environmental rules: ‘‘Almost every other form of development requires consent,’’ Dr Townley said.

‘‘So if you want to build a house, shed, pool, et cetera, you apply for consent via a DA.’’

Key recommendations of the SCU study include: • Planting native vegetation on both sides of creeks to reduce the amount of nitrogen entering the creek. Up on their feet… patients Susan Robertson Halil and Sandy Van Veluewen were the first to receive surgery through the new program.

program is really the culmination of an outstanding team effort, from surgeons and anaesthetists, to nursing staff, and allied health staff who support the patients before and after surgery.”

Many aspects contribute to a successful day-stay total joint replacement, including a streamlined preoperative physiotherapy and education program, a focused operating theatre unit, tailored anaesthetic slowly release this water to the creek. • Reassess the use and suitability of nitrogen-rich recycled sewage on farms in coastal catchments.

Where has all the taste gone?

Bluntly put, most blueberries sold in Australian supermarkets are small in size and taste bland, at best, or even sour. They are part of a species-wide trend in fruit and vegetables produced for the commercial market. Strawberries have become bigger but are almost always sour, while ‘tasteless tomatoes’ are often the modern norm.

Chasing answers I approached longtime ‘fruitologist’ Alex Coronakis who runs Tropicana in Lismore’s central Keen Street. First, he offered me a taste of what he regards as the best blueberries on the local market, grown not on the steep hillsides around Coffs Harbour but in the and surgical techniques and nursing by staff skilled in shorter stay surgery.

“Patients will be supported through telehealth and face-to-face specialist care to review pain management and wound recovery, and also have regular physiotherapy sessions in the weeks following their surgery,” said Dan Madden,

Has a superfood become an enviro-vandal?

General Manager Clarence Health Service. red soil of nearby Wollongbar by one of the region’s best-known horticulturalists (and philanthropists), Ridley Bell.

Mr Bell is a farmer par excellence who has worked on improving the size – the Big Blueberry, indeed - and the taste of his crop through DNA enhancement. There is no doubt that his product is superior to that commonly sold in the major stores (although some of it does find it way to supermarket shelves), and at nothing more than a slight premium price increase.

Clearly, a high-quality product can be produced, and without a deleterious impact on the environment.

Further south, the future of the Coffs Harbour blueberry industry lies in the hands of the scientists, the regulatory authorities and ultimately, in the hands of the growers. Let us hope that a favourable resolution can be found.