If your job has, or has had, you working with dust, make an appointment at the Lung Bus when it rolls into town next month.
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The Insurance and Care NSW (icare) Mobile Lung Bus is visiting Ulladulla from August 21 to 23 to provide specialised lung health assessments to current and retired workers who are at risk of developing a workplace dust disease, such as mesothelioma, asbestosis or silicosis.
On board will be a medical screening team including an experienced general practitioner who can provide a lung health assessment, a radiographer performing chest x-rays and a certified respiratory scientist performing lung function tests.
The full examination is just 25 minutes.
The Mobile Lung Bus is free of charge to Ulladulla retirees who were possibly exposed to hazardous dusts such as asbestos and silica during their working life.
It's also free for those who were previously employed in an at-risk industry but have now moved into a different occupation.
"At-risk industries include excavation and demolition, road construction, stonemasonry and some construction related activity like abrasive blasting and brick cutting which are common avenues for hazardous dust exposure.
- Nick Allsop
icare Group Executive, Care and Community Nick Allsop said it's important those who worked in at-risk industries get checked out.
"At-risk industries include excavation and demolition, road construction, stonemasonry and some construction related activity like abrasive blasting and brick cutting which are common avenues for hazardous dust exposure," Mr Allsop said.
"If during your working life in NSW, you regularly carried out this type of work, we really encourage you to contact icare to arrange a free lung health assessment.
"We recognise that it's difficult for people in regional or rural areas to access specialist health services - they often have to travel long distances or experience lengthy wait times for an appointment - so that's why we bring the Lung Bus to communities like Ulladulla."
The Lung Bus is also available to assist high-risk employers to meet their regulatory obligations to provide health monitoring for employees exposed to hazardous dusts.
There are currently more than 6000 people employed in high-risk industries, such as construction and manufacturing, in the Ulladulla area.
"We want to make it easier for NSW employers to meet this obligation, so we bring the service to them, and offer it at a subsidised rate of $100 plus GST per person," Mr Allsop said.
If you live or work in Ulladulla and you are interested in taking advantage of this mobile lung screen service, contact icare's Dust Diseases Care team on 13 94 44 or visit icare.nsw.gov.au/lungbus/
If you are diagnosed with a dust disease as a result of harmful dust exposure in a NSW workplace, icare Dust Diseases Care will provide financial support to you and your family. In 2017-18, the Dust Disease Care scheme provided support and care to 4,609 past and present workers with dust diseases and their dependents.
