The “Silver Bullet” is Skin Check Champions’ mobile pop-up clinic. Photo: Skin Check Champions.
You may know it from its recent appearance at Coledale RSL, where it shuttled experts who saved half a dozen Illawarra locals from skin cancer – but now the Illawarra’s “Silver Bullet” needs our help finding a more permanent parking spot.
The huge Airstream with its distinct mirror finish is the mobile pop-up clinic for Skin Check Champions, a non-profit charity working to make skin cancer history by improving access and awareness for early detection.
When it’s not carrying out its lifesaving work, it usually rests out the back of Skin Check Champions founder Scott Maggs’ home on Lawrence Hargrave Drive in Coledale. But the Silver Bullet has been handed its rolling orders.
“Someone complained about us parking it out the back of our house. We thought it was totally legal, but parking inspectors have insisted because it measures over 7.5 metres, we need to move it from residential areas,” he says. “As we’re still renting, we don’t have much space to spare.”
The hunt is on for a safe local parking spot or warehouse where the Silver Bullet can park legally. Ideally it would be undercover for preservation, but Scott says it’s not a deal-breaker.
“I’d love to keep the stainless steel sparkling and the chassis rust-free, but we do have a cover I can put over to keep it all immaculate,” he says. “If not, then a safe/locked spot, and ideally somewhere close-ish to Coledale would be wonderful, but we’d be grateful for a place anywhere in or near Wollongong.”
The Silver Bullet is the latest weapon in Skin Check Champions’ multipronged approach to improving Australia’s early detection deficit, which also includes a search tool connecting users to Skin Check Champions’ network of recommended specialists and the training of nurses in rural and remote areas as “nurse dermoscopists” to grant access to these vulnerable communities.
The non-profit focuses on early detection, which rockets skin cancer victims’ survival rates to 98 per cent.
Skin cancer takes the lives of more than 2500 Aussies every year – about one every 3.5 hours.
The prevalence of melanoma skin cancer is 120 times higher in surfers than in the general population, 60 times higher in swimmers and 80 times higher in regular walkers/runners, which perhaps explains the high skin cancer rates in coastal regions like the Illawarra.
The Silver Bullet brings free lifesaving skin checks to these high-risk regions and other regional and remote communities.
“It’s more than just a vehicle; it saves lives,” Scott says. “Every year we check over 8000 people in high-risk, remote communities, and find hundreds of skin cancers. We just finished a recent skin check campaign at the Wollongong Aquathon and have more Illawarra skin check days coming up.”
If you have a space for the Silver Bullet, or a lead on one, email Scott at [email protected] or direct message Skin Check Champions via Instagram.
Loading ...
