Lions Lives Up to Its Motto 'We Serve'
New Milton Lions Club spearheads
awareness of Prostate Cancer for Men across The New
Forest.
With more than one man
every hour dying from prostate cancer and 40,000 new
cases every year and no national screening available,
The Lions Club of New Milton aims to facilitate a PSA
blood test to as many men as possible aged 40+.
One in eight men will get Prostate Cancer in their
lifetime and it is well proven that early detection and
treatment may vastly increase chances of survival.
Based on the success
of their 2019 Prostate Cancer Screening Day when over
300 men attended the Community Centre to be tested,
which due to Covid-19 cannot be repeated at this time,
The Lions Club of New Milton are working in partnership
with the Graham Fulford Trust to offer men a simple
finger prick test that can be done at home.
The home testing kits
are sent to a home address, a blood sample is taken
following the simple instructions provided, then it is
returned to a specified Laboratory for processing and
within a few days the results are sent to the
individual, with some guidance based on a
‘traffic-light’ system. Red means
high risk with advice to go and see their GP urgently,
amber for medium risk with advice to have another test
in a certain period and green for low risk, when no
action needs to be taken in the short term.
Speaking about this campaign, Peter Bousfield,
the Chair of the Welfare Committee of the Club
commented, “now that the New Milton Club encompasses a
much wider geographic area including Lymington,
Brockenhurst and Lyndhurst, we are offering a very
worthwhile opportunity for men across the New Forest to
look after a particularly important aspect of their
health. We hope to continue with this programme
until we are once again able to offer in-house and
Covid-secure face to face testing, similar to our 2019
screening event.”
A Home Testing Kit can be obtained very quickly
by visiting the newly enhanced website of The Lions Club
of New Milton at
www.newmiltonlions.org.uk and following
the links to Prostate Screening.
Multi-Agency approach feeds the Families
In a massive logistical
exercise, The Lions Club of New Milton has coordinated
the provision of over 1,000 food deliveries to needy
families with children, in New Milton and the local area
over the past 22 weeks.
Working in conjunction with
The New Forest Basics Bank, the schools who identified
the recipients and New Milton Town Council who provided
the transport; every Friday an average of 45 deliveries
to those who needed the assistance most during these
difficult times have been made. At the height of the
pandemic, some 70 odd family deliveries were being made.
At the same time, an Appeal
was made to its members, to local Town Councillors
and with a donation from the Lions Club of Great
Britain, it has been possible to present a Cheque for
£5,050 to help the
Basics Bank in its on-going day-to-day operations.
At a presentation made at the
Basics Bank in Lymington on Friday 11th
September, Oliver Stanley, the Chairman thanked all who
had assisted in this project and especially Peter
Bousfield, the Lions Club Welfare Chairman who ensured
everything went as smoothly as possible. He also thanked
those at the Basics Bank who had pulled out all the
stops to ensure that their normal operations were
maintained whilst this additional workload was handled
efficiently.
Lions Club ‘Certificates of
Appreciation’ were also handed to all those who had been
directly involved, including Mark Jeffries, the Estates
and Facilities Manager at New Milton Town Council and
his team of 6 ground staff who made the deliveries.
Whilst presenting the cheque
and certificates, Lions President Steve Merrifield
commented “the Lions Club was so proud to have been
involved in such an important project during the
Covid-19 pandemic and to have been able to also make
this financial contribution to the on-going work of the
New Forest Basics Bank. It is at times like these
that we need groups to come together to help those less
fortunate than most of us. It just shows what can be
achieved if the community works together with a common
goal’
The Lions Club of New Milton which has 26 members, is part of the world’s largest service organisation with more than 1.4 million members working in over 200 countries around the world. Lions President Steve Merrifield further commented “Lions Clubs try to respond to local needs as well as wider national and worldwide requirements, to work effectively and professionally, to make a difference and importantly, at the same time to have fun.
This
was a good example of how we work – and hopefully might
encourage others to come and join us.”