2 September 2010

Mid North Coast residents are being urged to help look after the health and wellbeing of CoastOut patrons by volunteering to become an ACON Rover for the upcoming gay and lesbian surfing festival at Coffs Harbour.

ACON (formerly known as the AIDS Council of NSW), is NSW's and Australia's largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) health and HIV/AIDS organisation.

The ACON Rovers are teams of ACON volunteers who provide health promotion services at major gay and lesbian community events.

Each ACON Rover is trained, supervised and equipped to carry out a variety of tasks such as helping patrons who require medical assistance to access medical help, providing harm reduction services to patrons such as providing water and encouraging breaks and providing party information to patrons.

ACON Rovers are not security and are only concerned with people's health.

Following a request from CoastOut organisers, ACON has agreed to provide ACON Rovers for some of the festival events.

However, there are no existing ACON Rovers in Coffs Harbour, so ACON is holding a Rover training session in Coffs Harbour on the Sunday 12 September from 10am - 5pm.

The training is free and lunch will be provided.

ACON Regional Services manager Shannon Wright says being a Rover is a great way to help build the health and wellbeing of the GLBT community.

"Being an ACON Rover is particularly suitable for people who enjoy a party atmosphere, are interested in people's health, are able to communicate well and have a good dose of common sense," Ms Wright says.

If you're interested in becoming an ACON Rover to assist with the CoastOut festival, please contact Anabell Thoener at ACON's Coffs Harbour on 66516017 or athoener@acon.org.au