Skin Check Truck to visit 124 Dandaloo Street
Free skin checks will be available in Narromine on Tuesday, 14 July, when the Skin Check Truck visits the Narromine Shire Council car park at 124 Dandaloo Street from 8am to 4pm.
Rabobank’s NSW Client Council has partnered with the Australian Skin Cancer Foundation to provide the service for the Narromine community.
The Skin Check Truck is Australia’s first mobile skin health programme. It brings specialist checks to communities that may not have easy access to similar care.
Staff on the truck also educate visitors about skin cancer and preventive steps.
Narromine’s event has been spearheaded and funded by Rabobank’s Rabo Client Council, a group of the bank’s farming clients who volunteer their time on projects for rural and regional communities.
Lucy Knight highlights farmer cancer risk
Lucy Knight, chair of Rabobank’s NSW Client Council and a sheep and cattle producer from Gunning, described skin cancer as “the farmer’s cancer”.
Australia has one of the world’s highest skin cancer rates. Australian Skin Cancer Foundation research found farmers have a 60% higher melanoma death rate than the general population.
Among farmers aged over 65, skin cancer deaths are double those of other Australians. Knight argued the council wanted to back a programme that responds to those figures.
She also linked the partnership to one of the council’s main goals, improving rural health and wellbeing.
Because the truck will be in Narromine on 14 July, local residents can get checked without driving hundreds of kilometres. Knight said easier local access can reduce delays in diagnosis and treatment.
Knight urged farming families in the district to bring workers along for a check and take a proactive step on a common bush health risk.
Skin Check Truck launched in June 2023
The Australian Skin Cancer Foundation launched Australia’s first mobile National Skin Check Truck in June 2023.
Since June 2023, the truck has carried out more than 26,600 individual skin checks and identified almost 300 suspected melanomas.
Foundation founder and chief executive Jay Allen said people in regional and rural communities too often put their own health last.
He pointed to work, family pressure and long distances to healthcare as barriers to regular skin checks in places such as Narromine.
“Between work, family and the distance to healthcare services, many simply don’t get the opportunity to have regular skin checks. That’s why taking these services directly into communities like Narromine is so important,” Allen said.
The clinic will run for eight hours on 14 July, from 8am until 4pm, at the Narromine Shire Council car park on Dandaloo Street.
