Are trees part of our future?

Dear Echo News,

A City of Swan, ‘Branching Out’ brochure invites contributions from the public until the second week of next month.

A registry of significant trees within the City of Swan should be useful in identifying and protecting existing native flora and dependent fauna, regardless of which tier of government owns or manages the land.

An obvious example of this is the green space and native flora at the current Midland bus interchange, planned for destruction.

There’s no other way of interpreting the new interchange redevelopment’s impact on what is valued green space, native flora and associated wildlife.

A green space that provides welcome aesthetic from the ordinariness of its surrounds. Native trees that have not been adversely assessed.

It’s disappointing that the community reference group, established by Metronet, was not able to achieve a better environmental outcome for the new interchange.

Some CRG members who were able to attend meetings, have reported frustration and dissatisfaction with the group.

Discarding valuable and appreciated interchange green space for new planned vegetation and greenery is not a reasonable outcome.

Mention has been made before in this newspaper regarding civil engineering projects in the metropolitan area.

Instead of settling for a canine bone design interchange with the sterile appeal of recent completed projects, the challenge for project managers of the new Midland bus interchange is to include all current green space within the project.

Ingress and egress of all bus transport can still occur.

About 200 school children frequent the Midland bus interchange each school day.

They and others will miss the familiar green space of the current bus interchange and be entitled to ask, “are trees part of our future?”     

J Maas

Midland

Ways to combat strokes

Dear Echo News,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the communities who have once again embraced Stroke Week, which ran from August 7-13 this year.

It was heartening to see survivors of stroke and their loved ones embrace this year’s theme, Fighting Stroke Together which aimed to bring people together to share knowledge, support and resources to help prevent strokes from occurring and to aid in the recovery process for those who have experienced a stroke.

We heard heart warming stories of a wife saving a husband’s life after completing a first aid course only the day before his stroke, a man who had a life-changing stroke just moments after crossing the finish line of Parkrun in first place, and of a toddler who has survived multiple strokes and subsequent brain surgeries.

Their stories prove time and time again that strokes can happen to anyone, at any time, and research tells us the number of working aged people having strokes is increasing.

Behind these figures are people, including mums, dads and children.

Stroke is always a medical emergency, there is never time to waste.

Every minute during a stroke results in 1.9 million brain cells dying and we just cannot turn that time back.

Treatment can, however, mean a full recovery, or at least a significant reduction in the degree of disability.

I encourage the community to keep spreading the F.A.S.T. message all year round.

Knowing about F.A.S.T. and sharing it with your family and friends can be the first step in saving a life and avoiding ongoing disability.

It may be your own life or that of someone you love.

The F.A.S.T message will help you recognise the most common signs of stroke:

Face – Check their face. Has their mouth drooped?

Arms – Can they lift both arms?

Speech – Is their speech slurred? Do they understand you?

Time – Time is critical. If you see any of these signs, call triple zero (000) straight away.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped us share our information this Stroke Week.

Your generosity, time and dedication has a genuine impact and is very much appreciated.

We can fight stroke together! Thank you.

L Murphy

Stroke Foundation