Jo Skinner
Verified
News journalist for @abcnews My views, not the ABC's. Retweets are not endorsements.
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Jo Skinner
Old Brisbane: the Kedron corner store built a community
Human connection is imperative to survival. When we were hunter gatherers, being banished from your group spelled almost certain death. These days, doctors report seeing many anxious and lonely people. A quarter of Australian households are occupied by one person and the ABS predicts this will increase to close to one third by 2046. As our lives are dominated by a relentless pursuit of profit and technological advancement, we are losing the connections that give our lives meaning.
A fine balance - Medical Republic
When you look after your own wellbeing, your patients will thank you for it, you will enjoy work more and will have the time to explore other passions. A few years ago, I had lunch with a friend and GP, Fran, after she was discharged from hospital following surgery for ovarian cancer. She was pale and had lost weight but was in good spirits and keen to chat.
How small acts change the world
There was a lake forming at our feet and torrential rain nearly drowned the speakers out (both literally and figuratively), but it was inspiring to hear Esther Anatolitis, Thomas Mayo and Jennifer Mills share their experiences of addressing injustice. It reminded me that the small things are the big things, that one-on-one human connection is still the most powerful way to initiate change.
The therapeutic tool of kindness
There are benefits for both the giver and receiver, out of proportion with the size of the effort needed. This week I had a very special visitor come over from Adelaide to stay with me. Helen is someone without whom I would never have completed my medical degree. She turned 90 this year and is still as fit and sharp as when I first met her many years ago.
The therapeutic tool of kindness
There are benefits for both the giver and receiver, out of proportion with the size of the effort needed. This week I had a very special visitor come over from Adelaide to stay with me. Helen is someone without whom I would never have completed my medical degree. She turned 90 this year and is still as fit and sharp as when I first met her many years ago.
Under the microscope
She has a slight temperature but there is little else to find. I suggest I write a sickness certificate so she can take a few days off work and advise her to keep away from the nursing home until we get the results of her swab for COVID and other respiratory infections. ‘I can’t afford to take time off work and Mum has her eye appointment tomorrow.
The art of medicine keeps us sane and well
When we live our own lives in line with holistic health values it translates to better care of our patients. Recently I attended a very special art exhibition – Art of Medicine – at the delightful Woolloongabba Art Gallery in the heart of Brisbane. Sponsored by Doctors’ Health Queensland, it was an opportunity for doctors and medical students to showcase their creativity and share the passions that inspire them when they take a respite from the demands that medical work make on them.
The standard consultation with a GP is a mere fifteen minutes. In that sliver of time, it is expected that we address the problem the patient has presented with and, ideally, check that they are up to date with their preventative healthcare. This means that discussions about end of life are left very much until the end of life, and often this is too late as the patient has lost decision-making capacity.
Violence against women still goes unchallenged
Attitudes haven't changed enough for victims to speak up. Twenty years ago, I worked in a regional town in NSW and volunteered to be on call to do the forensic examinations of women who had been sexually assaulted. It meant carrying a pager with me 24/7, but in the two and a half years I did this job, I was only called up six times. Given we know that nearly a quarter of women have been the victim of assault, I was shocked how few presented. Not one of the six pressed charges.
Are we diagnosing the human condition?
There is now a much broader acceptance of mental health disorders, which has rightly reduced stigma and encouraged robust discussion about conditions previously considered shameful. But a recent study undertaken by the University of Melbourne suggests there is an increasing tendency to pathologise normal emotions and experiences. Words matter.
A doctor who writes, or a writer who docs?
A childhood illness inspired her career choice, but medicine always had a rival … At the primary school I attended, there was a plinth in the foyer with a statue of an ANZAC soldier poised on top. One day, the school was advised that there was a time capsule hidden inside and the entire school gathered around the plinth for a ceremonial unveiling to see what it contained.
The quiet crisis in childhood vaccination
However, it is Dr Edward Jenner who is regarded as the pioneer of vaccination when he realised that people infected with cowpox were immune to smallpox. In 1796, he famously inoculated an-eight-year-old, James Phipps with material from a cowpox sore. Two months later Jenner inoculated James with smallpox. James did not get infected and is considered the first human to be vaccinated.
Cyclone Alfred exposed a health system in disrepair
I pulled the pin on work when Alfred’s arrival became imminent and waited at home with my family, our emergency plans in place. When Alfred reached the suburbs, the streets were soon awash, with trees felled by wind and power cut to 300,000 homes. We got off lightly — no power and no internet for two days. Others waited a week or more for power to be restored, while many lost their homes and personal possessions. It was back to business as usual the following week.
Preventive Medicine: The Importance of Regular Health Checks
Our busy lives often stop us from taking life-saving tests. Yet routine preventive practices can not only have a profound impact on our individual wellbeing but on the health of society as a whole. I saved a life last week. I encouraged Mel to do a bowel cancer test and she rolled her eyes.
The power of narrative medicine
Unfortunately, a standard medical consultation is only fifteen minutes and there is pressure to make a diagnosis, to examine a patient, arrange appropriate investigations and to initiate a management plan during this brief period. With most surgeries now forced to charge a gap fee, patients are reluctant to attend for several sessions so there is a limited time frame in which to learn about each patient as a person and to provide good, comprehensive care.
Hippocrates was the first person who studied how the environment influences disease and coined the terms endemic (for diseases found in some populations to the exclusion of others) and epidemic (diseases seen at some periods of time but not others). However, it is John Snow who is considered the father of modern epidemiology when he mapped an outbreak of cholera tracing it to a contaminated water pump on Broad Street in the mid nineteenth century.
Climate change is fuelling teen despair. Here's what to do
Home Vol 35 No 3 Climate change is fuelling teen despair. Here's what to do 19 February 2025 He misses his friends but sees no point in school. ‘Why study? Everything is going to shit.’ Sylvie planned to take a gap year after school. She wanted to travel and work overseas, then changed her mind. Her mother is worried because Sylvie has lost eight kilograms, ceased menstruating and is no longer sure she wants to study at university; ‘I don’t want kids anyway, so who cares about my periods?
A doctor who writes, or a writer who docs?
A childhood illness inspired her career choice, but medicine always had a rival … At the primary school I attended, there was a plinth in the foyer with a statue of an ANZAC soldier poised on top. One day, the school was advised that there was a time capsule hidden inside and the entire school gathered around the plinth for a ceremonial unveiling to see what it contained.
Chrono-nutrition: How to eat in tune with your biological clock
The concept of the body clock, an internal biological mechanism that regulates body temperature, sleep, metabolism and hormone levels is a familiar one to most of us. You may have experienced the consequences of a temporary mismatch between your external environment and your own biological rhythm when you fly overseas to a different time zone. There is that short period where our wellbeing is affected as our body adjusts to a new biological rhythm.
AMA says anti-vaccination stall inappropriate at healthy living expo
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) says an anti-vaccination group has no place at the Sunshine Coast Healthy Lifestyle Expo. The Australian Vaccination Sceptics Network will host a stall at the Caloundra expo to be held later this month. However, AMA Queensland president Shaun Rudd says the group should not be allowed to have an exhibit. "It's a healthy lifestyle expo so they should not be anywhere near that expo," he said.
High Sunshine Coast-Gympie asthma rate still a mystery
Doctors say more research is needed to understand why the Sunshine Coast-Gympie region has the third highest rate of asthma in Australia. Almost 12 per cent of people across the area have been diagnosed with asthma, that equates to about 42,000 people. The chairman of Sunshine Coast Medicare Local, Dr Peter Dobson, says it is still not known why the region has such a high prevalence of asthma. "We don't really know," he said.
Union airs Gympie Hospital ambulance ramping fears
The union representing ambulance officers says the Gympie Hospital emergency department has been at capacity during the recent school holiday period. Mark Denham from United Voice says ambulances have either been turned away to other hospitals or forced to wait for hours for patients to be admitted. He says it is unacceptable and is particularly concerned about the Gympie Hospital which has regularly been on 'extreme' capacity.
Health service studies ways to boost low Sunshine Coast vaccination rates
The Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service says it is working to develop a strategy to reduce the region's low vaccination rates. The coast currently has the lowest immunisation rate in Queensland, with just 89 per cent of five year olds fully vaccinated - more than 3 per cent below the state average. Dr Mandy Seel from the Public Health Unit says a 12-month research project is underway to investigate boosting vaccination rates.
Schools to embrace Daniel Morcombe safety scheme
The Daniel Morcombe child safety program will be introduced into schools across Queensland in April. Students between prep and grade nine will learn about child safety as part of the school curriculum. Daniel Morcombe disappeared on the Sunshine Coast in 2003 and a man was charged with his murder last year. His father, Bruce Morcombe, says the child safety program will be phased in.
Morcombes continue child safety tour
The parents of Sunshine Coast teenager Daniel Morcombe will visit schools in central Queensland and the South Burnett today to promote child safety. Bruce and Denise Morcombe will visit schools in Biloela and Proston to educate children about ways to improve their personal safety. Daniel Morcombe's remains were found recently in bushland on the Sunshine Coast Bruce Morcombe says the couple is trying to visit as many schools as possible to spread the child safety message.
Plans to save the Mary River
The Federal Government is developing a recovery plan to protect threatened species in the Mary River. The Environment Minister quashed the Traveston Crossing Dam in 2009 and said more needed to be done to protect the river's fragile ecosystem. The Mary River Threatened Species Recovery Plan is the first of its kind in Australia to focus on a river and will protect the Mary River Turtle, Cod and Lungfish as well as the Giant Bard Frog.
Sunshine Coast council begins second bid to disperse Coolum flying fox colony
The Sunshine Coast council has today begun a second attempt to disperse a problem flying fox colony near homes at Coolum. In May, the council used noise, smoke and lighting to disperse the bat colony but the roost returned to the Elizabeth Street bushland area on Monday. Councillor Jenny McKay said she hoped it would give relief to residents impacted by the smell and noise. "Last time we were successful, this will be continued over a period of about seven days to try and disperse them," she said.
Candidate urges crab pot crackdown to save platypus
The Greens' candidate for Longman on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, Dr Helen Fairweather, want new laws introduced to protect the vulnerable platypus. Dr Fairweather is a senior lecturer in environmental engineering at the University of the Sunshine Coast. She says at least seven platypus have drowned in crab pots near Caboolture in the past year. Dr Fairweather says crab and crayfish pots should be banned in all freshwater creeks across Queensland.
Noosa Council considers how to handle bat influx
The Noosa Council says it will work with Tewantin residents to address concerns about a flying fox colony that is roosting in the area. Residents in Riverstone Court say the colony of bats has dramatically increased in size over the past year and is causing a pungent stench. Noosa councillor Tony Wellington says the council will do what it can to alleviate the problem.
Sunshine Coast sailor has eye on Antarctica records
A sailor from Queensland's Sunshine Coast is planning to attempt to become the first female to circumnavigate Antarctica, solo, non-stop and unassisted. Lisa Blair, 29, will leave Western Australia in December in a 15-metre yacht for the 16,000 nautical mile voyage. She is training at Mooloolaba with Bruce Arms, who managed Jessica Watson during her quest to become the youngest around-the-world solo sailor in 2010. Ms Blair says she will be sailing in the world's toughest ocean.
Mary Valley Belli Park property to be handed to Sunshine Coast council as Labor rethinks sale
The State Government has had a change of heart and decided not to sell a Mary Valley property, in the state's south, that has been used by an Aboriginal group for cultural heritage and education activities. The Belli Park property was bought for the Traveston dam project and had been leased by the Mimburi Upper Mary Aboriginal Association for the past three years. The group was forced to leave last month when the property was listed for sale for $1.3 million.
Soccer juniors' bonjourno to world stage
A Sunshine Coast junior soccer team will take on 23 of the world's best junior teams in Italy this weekend. Some of the boys channel the gladiator spirit at the Collesseum in Rome (BWFC:contributed) Local champions Buderim Wanderers under-13 team is representing Australia at the Junior World Masters in Rome. Manager Jason New says while the team and its supporters may be nervous they have the potential to raise the championship trophy.
Coroner rules pilot error caused 1950 Sunshine Coast crash
A coroner has set aside the findings of previous inquiries into a beach plane crash on Queensland's Sunshine Coast more than 60 years ago. An RAAF Wirraway single-engine plane was on a routine shark patrol when it crashed onto Maroochydore Beach in December 1950, killing three children and injuring 14 people. Two coronial inquests in 1951 found the pilot was not negligent, despite witness reports from the time stating that he was flying too low, too slowly and directly above the beach.
Experts focus on shark attacks at ecology forum
The science and politics of shark attacks will be discussed at an ecology forum on Queensland's Sunshine Coast today. Four of Australia's most respected global environmental experts will address the 'Where the Cities Greet the Sea' forum to discuss ways to protect coastal biodiversity. Marine scientist Daryl McPhee says he will talk about the pros and cons of shark nets and drum lines to protect swimmers. "Shark attacks globally are increasing," he said.
Water supply leak detection scheme to be extended
UnityWater has extended a program to reduce costly leaks in its water supply network across Queensland's Sunshine Coast and Moreton Bay regions. The innovative software program monitors and reports real-time information and alerts about inefficiencies and water losses caused by leaks across the network. It also helps to find hidden problems like leaks into sandy soil, pressure problems and water theft.
F1-11 jet trucked into Caloundra
One of Australia's decommissioned F1-11's has arrived on the Sunshine Coast. The long awaited fighter jet is set to be placed on public display in the Queensland Air Museum (QAM) at Caloundra and will be the only one in Queensland. It was due to arrive earlier in the year but was delayed due to weather conditions. Museum President Cameron Elmes is happy to finally have the aircraft on the Sunshine Coast. "We're over the moon," he said.
Beach-goers warned to ensure camp fires extinguished
The Queensland Fire Service is warning of the dangers of not properly extinguishing beach camp fires. A seven-year-old girl suffered severe burns to her feet at Rainbow Beach, in the state's south, when she ran over hot coals in a fire pit that had been covered with sand. It is one of several serious incidents in the region with campers this year. The region's Acting Area Commander, Brian Riley, said dousing a camp fire with sand was not enough.
Maroochydore MP demands harsher penalties for alcohol-fuelled violence
Maroochydore MP Fiona Simpson is calling on the Queensland Government to introduce tougher penalties for alcohol-fuelled violence. A 26-year-old man has walked free from court with a suspended sentence after violently assaulting a man at a taxi rank on Ocean Street last month. Fiona Simpson told State Parliament, it was the man's second violent attack in a week and more must be done to tackle alcohol-fuelled violence.
New partnership promises better Mary River water quality
Seqwater says a new partnership with the Noosa and District Landcare Group will improve water quality in the Mary River. Seqwater yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with the group to conduct a three-year program to revegetate riparian corridors in the Upper Mary, Six Mile, Yabba and Obi Obi catchment areas. Mike Foster from Seqwater says the works will reduce water treatment costs and also benefit the environment.
Lasertag champs blistered and drained after world title week
Running around shooting lasers may seem like child's play, but on the Sunshine Coast this week it's been taken very seriously by adults. Teams from across the globe zapped and buzzed during the World Laser Tag Championships. This is Kyle Nowak's or "ACE's" first world championships for the US Legends but he's played Redzone 2010 Solo Lord of the Rings. It's a first for Lance Snell "LoLance" from the Canberra Dragons as well.
66yo man dies in Alexandra Headland road crash on Sunshine Coast
66yo man dies in Alexandra Headland road crash on Sunshine Coast By Jo Skinner Updated October 29, 2015 14:08:03 Police are investigating the death of a Coolum Beach man after a road crash on the Sunshine Coast.The 66-year-old's car veered off the road and hit a tree on Alexandra Parade at Alexandra Headland about 2:00pm (AEST) yesterday.Staff from the Alexandra Headland Surf Club rushed to help before paramedics arrived, using a defibrillator, but could not revive him.He was taken to the...
Mary River crocodile search near Tiaro scaled back
Wildlife rangers says they are still looking for a small saltwater crocodile in the Mary River near Tiaro, in southern Queensland, but the search has been scaled back. The 1.2 metre crocodile was captured on camera on June 29 by the local Landcare group studying turtles in the river. Department of Environment and Heritage Protection wildlife manager, Adam Northam, said the daily searches had been reduced to weekly, so they were only looking in the best conditions.
Doors close on Sunshine Coast's Katie Rose Hospice amid pleas for ongoing funding
A Sunshine Coast hospice that cares for terminally ill patients has been forced to close its doors indefinitely. The Katie Rose Hospice at Doonan has been experiencing financial hardship for the past few months. Hospice chairman Dr Frank Lewins said emergency bail-out money of $100,000 was not enough, only funding its operations for six weeks. Dr Lewins said other hospices were well-funded and he wanted the same for Katie Rose cottage. "Unfortunately it's not enough," he said.
Sunshine Coast council's rate rise blamed partly on Noosa de-merger
The Sunshine Coast Regional Council in south-east Queensland says there will be a reasonable rate increase this year, due in part to Noosa's de-amalgamation. Councillors held a special meeting yesterday to finalise the budget, which will be handed down on June 25. Sunshine Coast Mayor Mark Jamieson says the council is also facing budget pressures relating to electricity price rises and reviewing its organisational structure.
Gympie TV viewers told to stay tuned for disruptions
Gympie television viewers will experience disruptions to all channels this week as technicians modify equipment on the TV tower ahead of a national retuning. Daytime outages will occur from today until Friday but services will resume from 3:30pm (AEST) day. The ABC's Kevin McAlinden says it is part of a national initiative to move some free-to-air channels to different frequencies. "Daytime outages are planned for ABC, SBS and commercial TV," he said.
Zoo celebrates rhino birth
Australia Zoo is continuing to expand its breeding program in partnership with zoos across Australasia. The zoo has announced the birth of its third baby rhino and the pregnancy of a giraffe. Terri Irwin says the breeding program creates new bloodlines and helps to ensure the conservation of endangered and threatened species. "Our breeding program is working with zoos throughout Australasia to make sure that we have these animals for the future," she said.
Low rainfall partly blamed for declining waterways health
The Sunshine Coast Environment Council says low rainfall and reduced riverbank vegetation are largely to blame for a drop in the health of local waterways. The latest Healthy Waterways Report Card shows the freshwater catchments of Noosa, Maroochy and Mooloolah have either declined in quality or stayed the same. The health of the Noosa River also fell but the quality of the Maroochy and Mooloolah rivers increased slightly.
Gympie's heritage railway lobbies for Rattler steam train funds
The Mary Valley Heritage Railway at Gympie in south-east Queensland says it needs up to $2 million to repair damaged tracks and get the Rattler steam train fully operational again. The railway will resume limited passenger services with rail motors from June 9, but repairs are still being made to the Rattler and sections of track around the Gympie rail yard after two derailments last year. Sections of the track were also washed away in this year's floods.
Expert touts super strawberry benefits
A Queensland strawberry breeding program has identified a new variety of the fruit with superior nutritional value. Researchers on the Sunshine Coast have found a line of dark strawberries with up to twice the normal levels of phytochemicals. Agri-Science Queensland spokesman Dr Kent Fanning says phytochemicals in fruit and vegetables protect against heart disease, obesity and cancer. "In this breeding variety the levels of those compounds are double that of current commercial varieties," he said.
Show More
loading
Actions
Get in touch with Jo
Contact Jo, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack