Member for Newcastle, Tim Owen

announced in September funding which

will secure the future of the Hunter

Prostate Cancer Alliance (HPCA) for a

further 3 years, and allow the Alliance

to spread further afield into the Hunter

New England Region with the Rural

Outreach Program.

HPCA Chairman, Nick Sovechles

acknowledged the hard work the local

government representative put in to

secure the funding for the HPCA.

“Unfortunately we missed the funding

boat with the previous Labour

Government, but the new Liberal

Government has really stepped up,” said

Mr Sovechles.

“In particular Tim Owen and Chief

Executive of Hunter New England Health

Michael Di Rienzo have recognised the

significant need for this service to exist

in the Hunter and New England region

and fought hard to secure this funding,

and the future of this vital cause.”

HPCA CEO Cary Lee is excited to now

have the opportunity to provide much

needed support to a greater number of

people in the Hunter New England

Region, particularly the rural

communities with this program.

After a recent trip with the HPCA Mobile

Information Unit gifted by the

Newcastle Permanent Charitable

Foundation into the Hunter New

England Region, it was clear that the

more remote areas of this region are in

desperate need of our attention,” said

Mr Lee.

“We look forward to working closer with

the Community Health Centres in these

regions to ensure they have the support

they need to promote awareness and

regular testing of prostate cancer in

their local communities, and provide the

support to the men and families

affected by this insidious disease.”

HPCA provides a free Counselling and

Information service which is focused on

the Hunter New England Region,

covering 130,000kms square,

representing a physical land mass

greater than England, and a population

of approximately 825,000.

Plans are in place to participate at the

Guyra Men’s Health night on

Wednesday 12th October in the Mobile

Information Unit to kick off the Rural

Outreach Program. HPCA had a full

calendar of awareness, educational and

fundraising events this Prostate Cancer

Awareness month to help in the fight

against prostate cancer in the Hunter

and New England.

BE

LO

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BE

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1

Patron Tim Owen Secures Future

CORPORATE

CHRISTMAS CARDS

Find out more inside!

Jo Heard, HPCA Chairman Nick Sovechles, Erica Graham, Member for Newcastle Tim Owen and Lizzie Watkin

Cnr T

urt on Rd &

St atio

n St, W

aratah

1300 881 826

www.hpca. org.au

\\...\Nick Photo.jpg\\...\Nick Photo.jpg

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facebook!Search for: ‘Hunter

Prostate Cancer Alliance’

on Facebook and click

the ‘Like’ button

Chairmans

AddressWhat a relief it was to hear that

the much anticipated funding for

the Counselling and information

Service had been secured at the

beginning of Prostate Cancer

Awareness Month. We have

Member for Newcastle Tim Owen and Chief

Executive of Hunter New England Health Michael Di

Rienzo to thank for this who both went in to battle

for HPCA and produced this sensational result.

Thanks to these men, the free Counselling and

Information Service can continue and spread further

afield into the Hunter New England Region. Tim

Owen and Michael Di Rienzo are truly saving their

fathers, brothers, mates and colleagues lives.

Prostate Cancer Awareness Month (September) was

a huge month for HPCA. We were blown away by the

generosity of the Newcastle Herald who helped us

kick off the month with a BLUE edition of the paper,

with 10c from every paper sold donated to HPCA.

$5,000 was generated from sales on the 1st of

September and donated to HPCA. A very special

advertising feature was published and we would like

to thank the following organisations for advertising

their support of the Hunter Prostate Cancer Alliance:

Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation,

Xstrata Coal, Tomago Aluminium, McDonald Jones

Homes, JSA Group, The Herald, Australian Motor

Homes, Bliss Tiles and Bathrooms and the University

of Newcastle.

We would like to sincerely thank the Newcastle

Herald for their commitment to helping prostate

cancer awareness in the Hunter.

\\...\Nick Photo.jpg ‘Winne and the

Newcastle Permanent

Winnie’, HPCA’s Mobile Information Unit, proudly sponsored by

The Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation, visited several

local Branches during Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.

The first stop was Newcastle Permanent Head Office, King Street

Newcastle where HPCA received a warm welcome from NBN

and NPBS staff who helped us distribute our information.

Later in the month, HPCA Fundraising and Marketing

Coordinator Jo Heard visited Greenhills, Maitland and Waratah

and VIP Grahame Cook joined Jo at the Toronto and Warners

Bay Branches. The month concluded with visits to the Wallsend

and Jesmond Branches, accompanied by VIP’s Jeff Hughes and

HPCA’s newest VIP Noel Smith, both of whom shared a wealth

of knowledge and experience with the locals.

Jo Heard, who coordinated the branch visits found the

experience to be most rewarding and discovered how important

and valuable this service is to the Hunter. “The feedback from the

community was overwhelmingly positive, but there is still a lot of

work to be done in raising awareness of this insidious disease”,

said Mrs Heard.

“Thank you to Erin Geise and Jason Bourke, both from the

Community Marketing Team of the Perm, for their assistance in

the co-ordination of our visits to several of their Branches.”

2

\

The Drayton’s ‘Little Prick’ red and

white wine is an initiative of Drayton’s

Family Wines to raise funds and

awareness of prostate cancer in the

Hunter.

Make a toast to saving local men’s lives

and purchase a bottle of the Drayton’s

‘Little Prick’ Semillon Sauvignon Blanc or

Merlot. Keep an eye out for this label at

yor local bottle shop or contact the

Alliance for an order form 4968 9455

admin@hpca.org.au

NPBS customer and VIP Grahame Cook

The Herald Turns BLUE!

To launch Prostate Cancer Awareness Month the

Newcastle Herald turned blue with advertising and

features on

Prostate Cancer

awareness. 10c

from every blue

edition sold was

donated to the

Hunter Prostate

Cancer Alliance,

raising $5000 in

total!

Knights Charity GameThe Newcastle Knights played for prostate

cancer on Friday 2nd September at Ausgrid

Stadium as they ran on to the field in light blue

shorts and socks for their last home game

before the semi finals. Fans showed their

support at the game with donations made in

the HPCA donation buckets.

Stockland Glendale Community Presentation

Stockland Glendale played host to the Hunter Prostate Cancer Alliance on Tuesday 6th September with

a community presentation for shoppers by Volunteer Information Provider Vaughan Marten. The

interactive presentation aimed to increase awareness and encourage men to get serious about their

health this Prostate Cancer Awareness month.

Xstrata Wollombi Wild Ride

On Saturday 3rd

September, H-

events and HPCA

hosted an

exciting

mountain bike

event for

professional and

amateur cyclists

– the Xstrata

Wollombi Wild

Ride. The Wild

Ride is a popular annual family event held on the Fathers Day

weekend, which attracted novice to experienced riders with three

course distances: 15km, 30km and 60km. The event began at

Wollombi Tavern, Wollombi.

‘‘Little Prick'

Wine Launch

Saturday 24th September marked the launch of

Drayton’s Family Wines ‘Little Prick wine’ in

support of the Hunter Prostate Cancers Blue

September, with an evening of fine dining and

dancing. The night was a joint celebration of the

launch of Drayton’s new wine as well as the new

partnerships formed between the HPCA, Drayton’s

Family Wines and The Waratahs Rugby Club.

3

Hunter British Ford Group strip bare!

Members of the Hunter British Ford Group

stripped bare this Blue September posing

nude with their cars for the 2011 Prostate

Cancer Awareness calendar.

The daring calendar raised $7,500 which was

presented to the Hunter Prostate Cancer

Alliance on Monday 5th September.

Turn BLU

E for Se

ptember

Prostat

e Cancer

Awareness M

onth

Medical Breakfast As we observe National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month

at HPCA, we stand by the fathers, brothers, husbands, and

sons battling prostate cancer, as well as their families and

the health care providers, and advocates who are working

to combat this disease and save lives.

Whilst there are many fundraising events held around the

Hunter to raise funds for our awareness and support

services, at HPCA we like to ‘give something back’ to the

primary health carers and specialists who work with

prostate cancer patients. By working together to raise

awareness of prostate cancer, we can continue to make

progress against this devastating disease. In addition, HPCA

teamed up with the local PCFA support group this year.

This year we held our annual Medical Breakfast on the

western side of Lake Macquarie. Lake Macquarie is one of

the areas within the HNE Health district, which latest

statistics indicate, has a higher than average detection rate

of prostate cancer compared to the rest of NSW (Cancer

Registry). Medical practitioners in this area are therefore

seeing more patients affected by prostate cancer.

This year featured perspectives from men sharing their

varied experiences with prostate cancer, and also guest

speakers. HPCA patron Tim Owen also addressed the

audience with great news that funding for the HPCA’s

Counselling and Information service was to be renewed by

the NSW government.

Our first speaker was Dr. Phil Katelaris who has over twenty

years experience in the management of erectile dysfunction

utilising medical management, penile injection therapy and

penile prosthetic surgery. We learned that even with

increasing treatment

sophistication and

therapeutic diligence there is

still a significant number of

men who experience issues

with continence and erectile

dysfunction. However, help

and support in overcoming

these treatment side effects is

available. Dr Katelaris

explains that a man must be

offered a comprehensive

plan of rehabilitation whilst

concurrently being provided

with appropriate emotional

and psychosocial support.

Eileen Lavis was our other featured speaker. She is an

experienced physiotherapist who holds Post Graduate

qualifications specializing in Continence and Pelvic floor

Rehabilitation. Eileen owns the Rathmines Physiotherapy and

Sports Injury Centre located on the western side of Lake

Macquarie and has developed a multidisciplinary

rehabilitation clinic with a strong focus on individualised

evidence based rehabilitation. Eileen explained that pelvic

floor muscle training prior to any prostate cancer treatment

speeds up recovery of continence after surgery. Eileen had us

all up on our feet practicing the pelvic floor lift.

If you would like further information on the HPCA

Counselling and Information Service or information on

prostate cancer rehabilitation please contact us on 02

49689455 or 1300 881 826.

JENNIFER RICHARDS Senoir Counsellor, B.Ed.,Adv.Dip Psych.,

Grad.Cert.Couns., M.Couns,

ARCAP,CMACA: 3599

4

Counsellors Corner

Are you a registered rider? Fill out the registration

form at killerk.org.au and join the fun Saturday 12th

November. More information at www.killerk.org.au

HPCA’s Jim Hayes