Fun out of the sun with SUNBusters grants for South West Queensland

Injune State School, Charleville State School and Roma State College will build shade structures alongside their sporting and playground areas thanks to the latest round of Queensland Health SUNbusters grants.

Health Minister Stephen Robertson said today the three schools, along with a local sporting club and a community organisation, will share in $10,000 in grants from the South West Population Health Unit to help establish good sun protective practices.

“Providing shade for children while they play is an important responsibility for schools, sporting clubs and organisations which cater young people,” he said.

“The SUNbusters grants enable the purchase of high quality fixed or portable structures to provide that shade.

“All funding applications, of up to 50 per cent of the total cost of the structure, or to a maximum of $2,500 (excluding GST), were assessed on merit.”

Under the latest round of SUNbusters grants (excluding GST):

• Injune State School will receive $1,136 to purchase two portable shades to use on its oval, around its pool and for a range of sporting matches.
• Charleville State School and Roma State College will each receive $2,500 to construct fixed shade structures over playground areas.
• The Roma and District Little Athletics will receive $1,650 to build three fixed shade structures at its long jump area, sprinting fields and discus area.
• Enable Lifestyle Support in Roma will receive $2,500 to construct a fixed structure to cover its new outdoor arts and crafts area.

“All Queenslanders are encouraged to lead an active lifestyle, but should take care to protect themselves from the sun when outdoors,” Mr Robertson said.

“Queensland has the highest incidence of skin cancer and invasive melanoma in the world and two out of three Queenslanders will develop skin cancer in their lifetime.

“Children are more exposed to the sun than many other age groups and it is estimated that up to 80 per cent of a person’s lifetime exposure to UV is received before the age of 21,” Mr Robertson said.

“Frequent sun exposure and sunburn in childhood sets the stage for high rates of melanoma later in life.

“Skin cancer could be prevented if children were adequately protected from UV radiation and were encouraged to learn sun smart behaviours early in their lives,” he said.

“Many schools already have a sun safe policy, which could mean there are measures such as a ‘no hat, no play’ rule, provision of shade structures and/or varied breaks to limit the amount of time children spend in the sun between 10.00am and 3.00pm.

“These measures combined with regular application of sun screen and the use of suitable hats, which shade the neck, shoulders and ears from the sun, will help prevent skin cancer later in life,” he said.

During 2007, Queensland Health’s South West Population Health Unit worked with schools, early childhood facilities, other childhood settings and community organisations to develop and implement sun safe initiatives in line with the Queensland Skin Cancer Prevention Strategy.

Fact sheets on sun safety are available from the Queensland Health and The Cancer Council Queensland web sites at www.health.qld.gov.au and www.cancerqld.org.au.

29 January, 2008

MEDIA: Amanda Froude 3225 2680