The Lithgow leg of the Just Transition bus tour will be on November 24. There are plans for a public meeting with the Lithgow Environment Group. Details to be announced. For more information visit http://www.transitiontour.wordpress.com/.

Protest walk begins Saturday, November 28, 2009, 8.30 am. From Blue Mountains Hospital, Great Western Highway, Katoomba. Organised by Blue Mountains Hospital Equity & Access Lobby (HEAL). Visit http://heal-saveourhospital.blogspot.com/ for more info.

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Yes, it is a bl** dy long way to Nepean Hospital, particularly when you are sick or need to visit a loved one who has been transferred off Mountain for hospital services. In fact, it’s 53.1 kms from BMDAMH to Nepean Hospital via a highway that is both busy and a permanent construction zone.

Just think – Mountains residents who require dialysis, chemotherapy or general surgery are all required to travel to Nepean Hospital for services. And because of the unstable service provision at BMDAMH, Mountains residents are often transferred to Nepean to give birth, have a fracture attended to or to have emergency surgery.

It’s a Bl**dy Long Way to Nepean Hospital! is HEAL’s new campaign. And, to underscore the distance that Mountains residents are required to travel for basic, primary health care services, we are going to walk from Blue Mountains hospital to Nepean hospital.

Walk!!?

Yes, we want to highlight how far it is to travel to Nepean Hospital and what better way of doing that than by walking and talking to the community as we travel through each village.

The walk

When: Saturday, November 28th 2009

Start Place: Blue Mountains Hospital

Start Time: 8.30am

Finish Time: when we get there! (an overnight stay along the way may be required)

Villages that we will pass through: 13

At the completion of the walk, we will hand a letter to the NSW Minister for Health (or her delegate) that asks that Blue Mountains Hospital be reclassified as a rural hospital (this will enable higher pay rates and improve our ability to attract and retain clinicians); that the Minister reviews current service/bed closures at the Blue Mountains Hospital and prioritises their re-opening and that the Minister commits to the future of the Blue Mountains Hospital.

What Can You Do?

There are plenty of ways that you can participate in the It’s a Bl**dy Long Way to Nepean Hospital! walk.
* You can participate in the walk for any distance. Join us for the whole walk or part of the walk. Walk from your village to a neighbouring village.
* Be a member of the support crew. We need people to drive the route and provide support and assistance to the walkers.
* Donate bottled water.
* Gather your family and friends; meet us along the route and cheer us along the way.
* If you live along the highway, offer us a cuppa or put a support sign in your front yard.

If you think the walk is a crazy idea then consider this:
* If we sit back and do nothing, services at our hospital will continue to decline.
* 5 much needed beds in the Mental Health Unit that were closed in May 2009 will never re-open.
* 8 beds in the Rehabilitation Unit that have been closed will remain that way.
* The kiosk will never re-open.
* The Breast Screening Clinic will never fully function.
* Mountains residents will continue to be sent to Nepean Hospital for basic, primary healthcare services that CAN be locally provided at Blue Mountains Hospital.
* Staff morale at the hospital will continue to plummet.

On the topic of staff morale, if you haven’t visited the “Who Will Speak For Us” blogspot, please do so. http://whowillspeakforus.blogspot.com/. This blogspot highlights the very real frustrations of staff at Blue Mountains Hospital and asks us, the community, to speak up and fight for the hospital.

In closing, I seek your support for the It’s a Bl**dy Long Way to Nepean Hospital! Walk.

If you would like to join the walk or can support the walk in any way, please send me an email.

Visit our blogspot http://heal-saveourhospital.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, November 25. Gearins Hotel, Katoomba. Ph 0401 466 831 for more details. Part of the Just Transition tour.

The next Blue Mountains East Timor Sisters garage sale will be held on Saturday November 28, 2009. 66 Wentworth St, Blackheath.

We are seeking donations now -- perfect time to spring clean and give away those treasures that we can turn into cash for water tanks, scholarships, community development projects and safe houses for women experiencing violence.

Contact Gail for more information on 4787 6310

‘POETRY AT THE PUB’ IN KATOOMBA (established in August 2008)

Let yourself be entertained and enthralled. This is one of the highlights of the month in Katoomba – where you can listen to some of Australia’s best poets and perhaps share your poems.

WHERE?

BLACKBURN'S FAMILY HOTEL, 15 PARKE STREET, KATOOMBA (http://www.katoombahotel.com.au)

WHEN ON?

ON THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTERNOON OF THE MONTH, FROM 4.00 PM TO 6.00 PM

2009 DATES: Sunday 12 April, 10 May, 14 June (six days before Katoomba’s Winter Magic Festival), 12 July, 9 August, 13 September, 11 October, 8 November and 13 December

ALL FORMS OF POETRY (PLUS SOME MUSIC AND STORYTELLING)

FREE ADMISSION EVERYONE WELCOME

IN HONOUR OF AUSTRALIA'S POET LORIKEET,

DENIS KEVANS (1939-2005)

AND IN THE SPIRIT OF POETS' BREAKFASTS AT THE BLUE MOUNTAINS MUSIC FESTIVAL

The Family Hotel’s Bistro is renowned for its delicious Sunday Roast evening meals, from 5.30 pm (meal bookings advisable, tel. 4782 1106)

Enquiries: Denis Rice tel. 4782 6623

You can buy Green Left Weekly every Saturday morning in Katoomba, 10 am-1pm, on the corner of Hapenny Lane and Katoomba Street, near the Fresch Cafe and the Food Coop.

Green Left Weekly is now on sale at Three Sisters secondhand bookshop (open Tues-Sun, Noon-6pm) in Bathurst Rd, Katoomba (opposite the pedestrian crossing outside the railway station). The new issue will be available every Thursday. It is near the front counter -- if you can't see it, just ask. Now you never need to miss an issue!

GLW is still available every Saturday in Katoomba, 10am-1pm at Hapenny Lane (near Fresh cafe and the Food Coop), but if you can't make it at that time, or miss an issue, please drop in at Three Sisters bookshop and pick up your latest copy there.

Of course, you can also subscribe. Go to http://www.greenleft.org.au/subscribe.php for freecall 1800 634 206.