Daniela treads the hard, hot yards to raise funds for River Downs Neighbourhood Watch.

Pink Parade Walkathon 

Hosted by Helensvale/Pacific Pines Cricket Club and supporting the McGrath Foundation as part of the ‘Healthy families … Healthy communities’ festival NHW Treasurer and past Secretary Daniela Hardwick together with the Pink Ladies participated in the Pink Parade Walkathon on Sunday 24th January at Helensvale’s Hession Oval. With NHW pledges of $362, Daniela did 35 laps of the oval over 2 ½ hours in the blistering sun so that 50% of these pledges will go to our River Downs NHW. The Pink Ladies also included Daniela's sister Diana who is a breast cancer survivor.  Plans to use the total of $181 include funding the current project of supplying all River Downs households with NHW stationery kits and plaques.

 The Helensvale/Pacific Pines Cricket Club wanted to raise awareness of the health issues in our neighbourhood and beyond.  The objectives of the Pink Parade Walkathon were:

• to educate, encourage and provide families within our community a platform to participate in an active and healthy lifestyle by joining in the inaugural Pink Parade.
• to raise funds for local community groups together with the McGrath Foundation.
• to raise awareness about chronic disease including cancers, obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

The weekend events also included a luncheon and 20/20 cricket with local and invited celebrities and all profits raised will now go directly to the McGrath Foundation and local community organisations that supported this initiative. By your support, you have the chance to make a real difference in many people’s lives – men, women and children
 For more information on these events please contact Ian Wade-Parker, President, Helensvale/Pacific Pines Cricket Club on 0414 730 480 or email: ian@wpclothing.com.au

Campaign launched to promote new Emergency Alert warning system

Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Emergency Services 
The Honourable Neil Roberts
17/01/2010

Campaign launched to promote new Emergency Alert warning system

A public awareness campaign to inform Queenslanders of the new national Emergency Alert telephone based warning system will be launched today.
Acting Premier Paul Lucas said Emergency Alert can send text messages to mobile phones and automated voice messages to landlines warning people of severe and imminent emergencies, such as bushfires and cyclones.  "Emergency Alert has the capacity to send 18,000 text messages and 1000 voice messages per minute in areas at risk of serious or life-threatening events," Mr Lucas said.  "It is another method, in an existing suite of measures, we can use to warn people before and during critical incidents," he said.

"Messages distributed through Emergency Alert will contain basic details of the threat, clear recommended actions and advice on where to go for further information."  Mr Lucas said while Emergency Alert was an important tool for sending messages to the community, he stressed it would not replac e existing warning systems.


"Our emergency services staff and volunteers will continue to engage the community during emergency events through traditional methods like local radio broadcasts and doorknocking," he said.  "Emergency Alert is another tool we have to warn Queenslanders, and we'll continue to use all those other methods as appropriate.
"It is important to remember that Emergency Alert is only a warning, and does not reduce the need for people to be prepared with their own emergency plan in place."  Mr Lucas said the system had undergone extensive testing to ensure it was functional and reliable for use during emergencies.


"The Department of Community Safety has advised me that initial issues experienced in a trial at Esk during December have now been addressed and subsequent testing has gone smoothly," he said. "The survey shows strong evidence that the trial was successful in getting the message across to the targeted Esk community."
Mr Lucas said the campaign would focus on creating awareness of Emergency Alert through television, print, radio and online advertising.  "The campaign is designed to let people know about the system and that messages delivered will direct them on what to do during critical incidents.  "The radio component of the advertising campaign will also be broadcast in a number of foreign languages to ensure these communities understand the new system."
Mr Lucas said Queensland had been working with the Federal Government and other states and territories through COAG on a nationally-consistent telecommunication warning system for a number of years.


The recommendation of such a system in the interim report into the devastating Black Saturday bushfires in February last year added greater impetus to the system's development.
 Anyone wanting to know more about the Emergency Alert system can log on to http://www.emergencyalert.gov.au/

Newsletter January 2010

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