11 Oct 2025

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:24):
It's just gone. 5:00. As I walk in, you want
me to leisurely here on vicious Radio? Radio 1197 I'm
Adelaide online at Via radio via Radio Digital and Adelaide
to Darwin for a Community Radio Plus app, look for
Vision Australia, Radio Adelaide if you're listening on 103.9 FM

(00:45):
in Western Australia, hello to you. If you're listening to
the Reading Radio Network, particularly down in Tasmania, hello to
you and also wonderful support we received from Disability Media Australia.
You can find out much more about them including leisure
link at Power Media. Peter Greco saying so wonderful to

(01:06):
be here. Thank you for making time to tune in
this program coming to you from Ghana land. Come to
you very shortly, will catch up with Amy Purling, who
will tell us about the value of plasma donation and
the difference it's made to six year old Jack. We'll
also catch up with Damian Papps from See Differently. We'll
wrap up tech festivals. They talk about International White Cane

(01:28):
Day coming up and World Sight Day, which is also
held during the week. That's the news from the state
government regarding some changes or some buildings happening at Flinders.
Will it help people with eye conditions or indeed, how
much will it help? We'll catch up with Monique Power
talking about an organisation called Ripple Ability. Doing wonderful things
in Western Australia may be coming to near you, particularly

(01:49):
if you have a young child with a disability. Chelsea
marchetti from the Flipper Academy will join us. Physiotherapist extraordinaire,
talking about all the things that physios can do to
help you when you get home. Things like maybe crutches etc..
Rebecca Steiner will join us from, uh, doctors for nutrition.
They've got a symposium coming up. Your invitation to attend

(02:11):
is on the radio, and you don't have to be
a doctor if you're interested in nutrition. Rebecca's got some
great news for you. Also, catch up with Emily Pomper
from Resthaven. Emily's talking about a very sensitive topic. The
topic of palliative care. I'm sure we'll learn much from that. Also,
catch up with Jane, Brit Jane, who's the senior advisor

(02:31):
at the social desk and also a wonderful advocate. A
couple of things to chat to Jane about the review
into the Disability Discrimination Act. How is that coming along?
And there's a review at the moment happening as far
as education standards for people with disabilities. If you'd like
to get involved, we'll have those details. Well, we often

(02:58):
talk about the importance of blood donation and plasma donation.
Let's find out what sort of difference it can make
to a young child's life. And speak to Amy Perlin,
who's the mother of Jack. Amy. Lovely thank you for
your time.

S2 (03:11):
Oh, thank you for having me.

S1 (03:13):
Just a little bit about Jack and his story.

S2 (03:15):
Yeah. So Jack's a very fun little bubbly six year
old boy. Uh, he has been diagnosed with a what's
called common variable immune deficiency. Uh, so his body doesn't
produce the right antibodies to protect him from all the
usual viruses and bacteria. Um, so for the last. Oh, he's.

(03:38):
It's been a few years now. He has been on
what they call replacement therapy. So immunoglobulin infusions to help
boost his immune system and keep him healthy. He has
them weekly. And the immunoglobulins are a product of donated plasma.

S1 (03:53):
And how was that discovered? The original, uh, condition. Amy.

S2 (03:57):
Uh, so when he was young, he was a very
unwell little boy. So for the first couple years of
his life, he was in and out of hospital a
lot with, uh, infections. He had pneumonia, you know, every
couple of months as a baby. Um, always picked up
weird skin infections. And for a long time, we just
thought he, you know, was unlucky or that we were

(04:17):
missing something or, um, you know, that he would grow
out of it for a while. They just thought he
had an immature immune system, but eventually they, um, you know,
after a few years of testing, they, um, did some
genetic testing as well, and it showed that, yeah, he's
got a lifelong genetic immune deficiency. So it's something that
he will have for life. Um, and the infusions are
likely something that he will need for life as well.

S1 (04:40):
And I believe the condition is very, very rare.

S2 (04:42):
Look, it's what Jack has, isn't. It's one of the
probably more common types of immune deficiency. But there are, um,
it's still not, you know, I don't know anyone else, um,
myself that has, has it um, and I yeah. I,
it's not something that I've. Yeah. Know much about in
terms of how many people have it, but I definitely know.

(05:04):
Yeah that it's, it's rare but it's like I said
his is the most common type and there are so
many that are even more rare than what he's got
as well. And all of these immune deficiencies, well, a
lot of them need or rely on plasma donations. Um, yeah.
To keep, keep their immune system functioning correctly or at
the best it can.

S1 (05:22):
I say this a little bit tongue in cheek, Amy,
but when you got the diagnosis, did you do a
fair bit of googling?

S2 (05:27):
Oh, a lot. And I still don't understand it. Um, yeah.
And look, immunology, it's a whole nother ball game. We've
been through a lot with Jack. Medically. Um, obviously, but yeah,
this is something I did Google a lot. Something I
have spoken to his specialists about. You know, I've always
got questions. I'm always learning more. Um, and for a

(05:48):
little while there, we we weren't even on the infusions. Um,
just hoping that he, like I said, he would grow
out of the immune deficiency. Um, so there was always
even googling then about what might come and what the
infusions would mean. And yeah, lots of research in my
spare time, that's for sure.

S1 (06:04):
And when you talk about infusions, I believe you're the
one that actually delivers the infusion.

S2 (06:09):
That's right. So yeah, every week on a Saturday morning
we because Jack's at school now. So Saturday mornings are
when we do our weekly infusions. Uh I with the
help of my husband and Jack's big brother, we, um. Yeah.
Give him. It's two needles. So two tiny needles into
the subcutaneous tissue in his thighs. Um, and that goes

(06:29):
over an hour and a half the infusion. So he
can sit quite still while that's going in. Um, he
is able to walk around if he likes, but he
chooses not to, which is understandable. Um, so, yeah, he
just sits on the couch and we probably spoil him
a little bit, given what he has to go through
in that. In that hour and a half, he gets to, um, yeah,

(06:50):
gets a super duper and a few little treats each
week when that happens.

S1 (06:53):
I'm no psychologist, but I reckon he might play that
up more and more the older he gets.

S2 (06:58):
Oh, yeah. Look, it's, um, it already has started. The, um.
Now he wants little Hot Wheels cars every time. And yeah,
he knows what he's doing, that's for sure.

S1 (07:07):
So what about in terms of the difference? Do you
or does Jack kind of sets the difference straight away
or how does that kind of work? Or because it's a,
you know, a thing that he's sort of on a
level playing field.

S2 (07:19):
Yeah, absolutely. So when he it, it works pretty quick.
So when he first started on the infusions, we noticed
a difference within, you know, within a couple of weeks. Um,
he always had really horrible winters. We spent a lot
of our winters, you know, weeks in hospital over winter. Um,
and then the first winter that we had the infusions happening, um,

(07:40):
I reckon he only was in once, maybe twice, which
was really good for him. And now this winter, we
haven't had one hospital admission, which is just incredible. Um,
he had a year off of the infusions just to
see if we could, you know, he was at a
it was pretty traumatic at that stage. And he was
at an age where we were having a lot of
trouble getting them done. So we decided to have a
little break. And yeah, that winter he went downhill again.

(08:01):
So you can really tell the difference when he's on
the infusions. He's definitely his healthiest and best self, and
he is at an age now where we can explain
that to him and he can understand that it does,
you know, keep him healthy. He's able to go to
school now. He's not missing any school. Um, so yeah,
definitely can tell the difference quite immediately. And he, you know,
because they're weekly, it keeps his levels at a really good, um,

(08:23):
like level that they want them to be at. Um,
but it's a pretty quickly drops down if we stop them. Yeah.

S1 (08:29):
Yeah. What about for you, Amy, as the mother, I
guess as a family, you know, going through this, what's
it like? Because I guess, you know, you could probably
be doing something else on a Saturday morning for an
hour and a half. That might be a bit more
fun for all of you.

S2 (08:40):
Oh, absolutely. Look, it's something that we, um, you know,
as I said, we've been through a lot. Not just
this with Jack. And it's something that we. When when
we got this diagnosis, it was a little bit of
a why me moment. Um, felt quite sorry for ourselves
is the right word, but, yeah, it was a pretty tough,
tough diagnosis to receive knowing that it was going to
be lifelong. Long, um, and then, you know, starting the

(09:03):
infusions when Jack was so young and not being able
to explain it to him. Um, and there was a
lot of trauma for all of us, I think, especially
in those early days of having to do the infusions
before he became familiar with them. Um, so it has
been really difficult transition, I would say. Now, I don't
like to use the word normal, but it is. It's
become part of our life and it's part of our routine.

(09:24):
And it's one of those things, like I said earlier,
knowing that it keeps him healthy and keeps him out
of hospital, it helps us all probably live a better life.
In a strange, ironic way. Um, we're able to. I'm
able to work, we're allowed to go away on holidays,
and we can experience things that we probably wouldn't have
been able to in the past. Jack can socialize more,

(09:44):
don't have to keep him as all wrapped, um, and
away from germs as we did in the past. So
lots of benefits. But yeah, it is still tricky. It
is still challenging, especially, um, you know, nearly every Saturday morning.
It's still a it's still a little bit of a challenge,
but yeah, it's I guess it's worth it at the
end of the day and something we're very grateful for. Yeah.

S1 (10:06):
I'm without being too personal, I guess you haven't had
an experience in the kind of medical area, I mean,
in terms of delivering the infusion. Tell us a bit
about that. So you kind of had to go through
a bit of a learning process.

S2 (10:18):
Yeah. So the first couple of infusions we had done
in the hospital, and obviously the first infusion was done
by the medical team and the nurses. Um, it is
a blood product, so they have to watch you. Um,
you know, you essentially could react. Um, so we had
to have we had to be there for an observation
period afterward as well. So that was basically a full

(10:41):
day in hospital. Um, for Jack at that time, it
did require a little bit of sedation as well, because
he was quite, um, young and, you know, obviously didn't
want it, which is understandable. Um, so it was it
was a lot. And that first infusion I didn't help with,
but I watched and then the second one was kind
of like, all right, I was taught how to do it.

(11:02):
And then I reckon by the third or fourth one
I was, yeah, drawing up the medication and, um, popping
the needles in and doing the whole process. So I
do have, I will be honest and say I do
have a bit of a I've got a nursing background. Oh, okay. Um,
which I don't know if that's a blessing or a curse.

S3 (11:20):
Yeah. Because, yeah, it's still your child, isn't it?

S2 (11:23):
It is. So it's no different. Um, I think I
might have the, you know, I might be able to
draw up the medication quite easily, but the actual giving
the needles to your child, it's not something I'd wish
on anyone. And, um, my husband could do it. He
knows how to do it, but he understandably. Um, the
thought of doing that is really difficult. So, um, I

(11:44):
think as a nurse, I always like even even if
I wasn't a nurse, I should say this. Even if
I wasn't a nurse, I would still, you know, all parents, um,
like me in our situation, get the training, and they
do it themselves at home. I guess it's just a
bit of a benefit for me that I have that
skill and background, but yeah, no different. When it's your
own child, it's still very difficult. Um, yeah. Close to home.

S3 (12:07):
Sure.

S1 (12:07):
And I guess along similar lines, when you were in
your early days of nursing, if you like, I guess
you knew the importance of blood donation and plasma donation,
but you probably get a bit of a different appreciation
of it now.

S2 (12:19):
Oh, absolutely. And especially plasma. So obviously we hear a
lot about donating red blood cells. Um, most people that
go to donate blood will be donating red blood. Um,
and I think there's not as much awareness out there
about the importance of plasma plasma donation. I think the
stats say there's less than 1% of the population donate

(12:40):
pure plasma. Um, so I guess that's why it's really
important this week, raising awareness for plasma, given that it
is the most needed blood type, um, for donations as well. So, um,
I saw a lot of it. You know, I worked
in emergency. I saw a lot of mass transfusions. I
did see a lot of plasma transfusions being given, but
when it's yeah, like I said, when it hits home

(13:01):
and it's your own child, it, um, really makes you
spread the word. And, you know, I asked my family, obviously,
Scott goes out and donates plasma frequently. Um, I'm unfortunately ineligible. Um,
but my veins are too little, which is really sad. Yeah, but, um,
it does. It hits home a lot. And especially when,

(13:24):
you know, it's life changing for us. As I said earlier,
it's it's made a huge difference to our quality of life,
to Jax's quality of life. And, um, it's something that
he will likely need lifelong. So to think of the
thousands and thousands of people that that need to donate
just for Jax's little life, um, is pretty incredible.

S3 (13:44):
All right.

S1 (13:45):
Well, 131495 is the number to call or uh, lifeblood.org
is the website. We'll put those details up with our
show notes as well. Amy, thank you for sharing that.
it's obviously a very personal story, but also very powerful.
And you've spoken really well. So to you and your
family and in particular, Jacqui, we wish you well and
let's hope that the plasma donations keep coming. In fact,

(14:06):
they grow and people like Jack can have a very
full and happy life and you as a family do
as well.

S2 (14:12):
Thank you so much. It's yeah, really obviously a big
passion of mine. And I'm um. Yeah, very passionate about
raising awareness. So thank you so much for taking the
time to talk to me.

S1 (14:21):
Thanks, Amy.

S3 (14:22):
Thank you.

S1 (14:23):
The mother of six year old Jack, who received those
plasma donations every Sunday morning for an hour and a half.
So maybe this Saturday morning we can all think about
what we're doing and what some people have to go through.
So let's write to the program. The executive director from

(14:46):
See Differently. Damian, perhaps. Always great to catch up. Thanks
for your time.

S3 (14:50):
Thank you Peter, great to catch up with you.

S1 (14:52):
Always plenty to talk about. We're having a quick chat
off here. I saw this beta release with the state
government said, oh beauty, they finally seen the light, but
it's not quite as it seemed at first. But some
interesting news regarding the Flinders Medical Centre and some work
that's going on down there.

S3 (15:07):
Yeah. Look, there is. And, uh, great. Uh, the government's, um,
seen the, um, opportunity and need to, uh, to expand
service down there. So they're putting in, uh, a number of, uh,
acute beds, I think, um, just under a hundred or so. And, uh,
a number of those beds will be available for eye
surgeries and the like. So, yeah. Positive news. Um, and we,

(15:29):
we do applaud it, but as always, we, um, we
would love to have a, um, hospital dedicated, uh, and
a facility dedicated to, uh, working with, um, blind vision impaired,
because that's a gap we have in South Australia, uh,
compared to, uh, the other states.

S1 (15:41):
Yeah, that's what got me in. When I first saw
the headline, I thought, oh, this is good. And then, uh,
as they reading into it, it's not quite as it seemed, uh, originally, but,
I mean, your predecessors and yourself and other organizations. You've
been talking about this for quite some time because Adelaide
is very much not part of the the bigger picture
as far as the, you know, sort of Australian scene goes.

S3 (16:02):
Yeah. Look, it is uh, and you know, in our hospital, um,
and particularly focused on, uh, on surgeries like cataracts, uh,
would make a huge difference. There's a long waiting list here.
We recognize there is a big strain on the health system.
Full stop. But, um, the area we see that could
really improve the experience for older Australians. And when you
consider that, uh, the, the cohort of older Australians that

(16:25):
are blind or visually impaired, 70% of them are over 65. So, uh,
there's a lot of work, you know, in the, in
the cataract area that can be done to improve people's lives.
If you're waiting for seven years, a lot of things
happen in seven years, Peter. And as your eyesight deteriorates, uh,
that can lead to a lot of unfortunate, um, risks
of falls and things of that nature. And so we

(16:47):
I firmly believe that the more work that can be
done in this area to treat preventable blindness and vision impairment,
the better, because it will enhance people's life, um, as
people age.

S1 (16:57):
That's a great point because in a sense, okay, you know,
everything costs money. We kind of realized that. But an
investment in something like this would be preventative and probably
pay for itself because, as you say, the the costs
that can, uh, associated with, uh, you know, people, um,
having falls or, you know, just their sight getting worse
and needing more services. Uh, I mean, it's probably incalculable

(17:18):
in a sense, how much you could save if you
were proactive. Not not you personally, but the government understand?

S3 (17:23):
Yeah, 100%, Peter. And and it also fits, you know,
with the with the federal government's strategies around people aging
in their homes because we all recognize that, uh, home
home is, is one's castle. Uh, it's also a familiarity thing,
particularly as people get older and perhaps, uh, early onsets
of dementia and things of that nature. It's very, very
important that people, uh, be given the opportunity and ability

(17:47):
to age, uh, in their homes. And it is economically
cheaper because you're not putting people into an aged care
or high care facility where they need a lot of attention.
You've got a lot of people can live in their homes,
but if they've got trouble with their vision, um, and
then that can just lead to issues with falls, um, independence,
the ability to move around and therefore force people out

(18:08):
of their homes. And then you force them into a
another system which all costs and puts more strain on
the health system. So it really is a a really
good preventative measure and certainly would save a lot of
money in on going forward health costs.

S1 (18:22):
Without putting words in your mouth. You're not giving up
on this just yet. Nope.

S3 (18:25):
We're not giving up on it. Um, and it's great
to have the support of, uh, our peak body Vision
2020 and others as we continue to seek a resolution
to it. Um, obviously recognizing that it's got to fit
into budgets, but we don't believe it's, uh, at the
stage of ignore it and go away because people are
getting older and need more assistance. And vision is a very,
very important part of that independent, ability to live.

S1 (18:48):
Damien, you talked about the demographics and of course, you
know what is out there for people who might be
blind or have low vision or indeed their sight might
be failing them. So an event like Tech Fest during
the week kind of highlights that as well.

S3 (19:00):
Yeah, Tech Face was great. And um, we were really
pleased with the, uh, the, the attendance by a lot of, uh, suppliers, um,
from overseas that came, came as well as Australian suppliers, uh,
really good opportunity to show the public, um, and the
health professionals, uh, technology. Um, there's one thing I think
everybody will understand, and that is if we look back,

(19:21):
you know, 20, 25 years ago where technology was and
where it is vastly different. And I don't have to
be Nostradamus to say that in the next five to
10 to 20 years, it'll it'll progress even further. Um,
especially with AI and how that impacts everybody's lives. So technology,
I think, is certainly a major part of the, um,
solution for people as their eyesight is deteriorating. Um, and

(19:45):
you've got wonderful providers like Apple and others, who are
really firmly entrenched in making sure that they are providing
for people with various apps and, um, other pieces on
the phone that will give people more independence. So great
to have all the technology companies here. Uh, all the
product is available at two, one two Perry Street. When

(20:05):
people want to come in of their own, have their
own leisure, and, uh, we'd be happy to show people, uh,
things that will help them in their house, whether in
the kitchen, whether it be in the office, whether it
be in their leisure time, um, wearables, um, all sorts
of things that, uh, can just improve people's, um, experience.

S1 (20:20):
If you take a balance, do differently because I'm not
telling tales out of school. But thanks to, uh, thanks
to Andrew, I should say that, uh, I see differently.
He gives me a lot of contacts for people to
speak to as we lead up to Tech Fest, and
both on and off, a lot of these people say, look,
this is fantastic. Coming to Adelaide. I wish other states
would do the same thing, but it seems like you're
a bit of a, uh, an outlier as far as doing, uh,

(20:41):
Tech Fest, and you've been doing it for 70 years
and doing it so well.

S3 (20:44):
You're very kind. And thank you. And, uh, I have
had quite a number of people say, can we run
it in a state? Um, we'd love to. We just
have to get through some logistics. Um, but it's certainly
on the drawing boards. I'd love to be able to
run it in Melbourne and Sydney and Brisbane and Perth, uh, because,
you know, we've we've got well over 300 people coming. Um,
we've had sorry, had 300 people come in and it
was just a great example to show people technology because

(21:07):
they just don't get to. Yeah, experience that normally um,
and actually talk to the suppliers and talk to them
about where they're going with the products and, and how
they're seeking to develop and also give feedback to the
developers about what, what people need going forward. So it
was a fabulous opportunity to get everybody together for sure.

S1 (21:24):
Fantastic. Well, long may it continue. Um, of course, World
Sight Day during the week as well. An important day
again to kind of raise the profile and sort of
put it out there for everyone to be aware of.

S3 (21:33):
Yeah, absolutely. Um, and and we think that, you know,
it continues to, to gain momentum. And a lot of
the work we're doing as well, Peter, is around people
thinking about prevention, you know, looking, getting your eyes tested.
So we really are encouraging people to get their eyes
tested at least every two years, perhaps if they're under 50,
but over 50 maybe every year. Um, just make sure
because there are early signs. Um, it's the same as, uh,

(21:55):
all of the other checks that the that are now available,
such as, you know, bowel cancer and all those sorts
of things. Nothing like prevention to just get on top
of it before it gets to a stage. And, and
the challenge with it's a bit like blood pressure. Nobody
knows necessarily. They got high blood pressure until you go
and get tested. And same with with eye conditions. Um,
you may not feel anything going on at all, but
you might have something going on. So we do encourage

(22:16):
everybody to get and see their eye health professional at
least every two years, just to get a checkup.

S1 (22:20):
And again, like every condition, uh, if you get it early,
you know, the prognosis is really good.

S3 (22:25):
Absolutely, absolutely. It is, you know, many, many forms of treatable.
But obviously, once, uh, things take, take hold, it gets
a lot.

S1 (22:32):
Yeah. Well, International White Cane Day coming up. Such an
important thing for people's independence and, uh, ability to be
able to get out and about independently.

S3 (22:40):
Absolutely. The white cane is not to be underestimated. And
it's interesting how many people talk to me and ask
me from outside the sector about the importance of white canes,
and they are a they are a fabulous tool. And we, um,
are also seeing developments in them. Um, there's ones now that, um,
have GPS in them. There's ones with lights in them.
There's ones that are made out of Kevlar, sort of, um,

(23:03):
you know, the Apple equivalent, if you like. It's, uh,
sleek and light. And so there's a lot of different ergonomics.
So people suffering from rheumatism and things of that nature,
there's a wide variety of canes available. And, uh, and
I suppose that also fits with the whole mobility piece.
And one thing we haven't talked about before, but we're
continuing to expand our guide and assistance dog service. So
we've hired a bunch of new trainers and instructors. Um,

(23:26):
and uh, we're getting more genetics in. But the piece
that's missing in our puzzle to grow it further, faster
is about volunteers. So we certainly encourage your listeners or
any friends and family that might be interested in, in, um, uh,
looking after a dog for a short period or a
medium period. There's many different varieties, even emergency boarding, which
might be once or twice a year for a couple
of nights when a when the owners are in hospital.

(23:47):
We just encourage people to contact us and see differently, uh,
to talk about how they might help us with the
volunteer service to help us get more dogs out.

S1 (23:56):
Well, a great thing. And of course, uh, you know,
if it's such an important role for the end product,
if I could put it crudely, you know, when the, uh, uh,
the guide and the patient or the client are matched, uh,
you know, it's due to that early days that make
it such a worthwhile thing and such a, uh, a
trusting thing.

S3 (24:13):
For sure, Peter. And it's interesting. Um, we went out
with some advertising, uh, 18 months ago and talked about
the fact that, you know, many people what's what's the
obstruction or the the thing that prevents them from, uh,
providing a volunteer service. And many people said they just
couldn't part with the dog, but once they get that
little hum, um, you go, well, and we've got people
have done 18, 20, 25 dogs.

S1 (24:34):
Yeah.

S3 (24:35):
What I've done for 25 people to give them independence,
the ability to do what they want to do when
they want to do it, whether it be down the
shops or visit the grandkids or go to the park,
whatever they might want to do is incalculable. What that
that is, you know, you can't just replace it with
a carer or somebody around. So the fact they get
that incredible good feeling for how they've helped their fellow

(24:58):
human being is extraordinary. So we do say that that
feeling is greater than than owning a dog. And, uh,
it's it's about the fact that one of the reasons
we've got some of the most successful dogs at schools
in the world is, is that they are with people
from day one. So they're born in a house. Um,
they're then at eight weeks of age, after they've been
go out to somebody's house and live with somebody, um,

(25:19):
do all their things, go to the shops, pick up
the kids from school, go to the doctors, go to
the to the movies, whatever it might be. So they
are socialised. So when they do go into service at
the age of around 19 to 24 months, the dogs
are so well socialized. And that's the difference between having
dogs with people and having dogs in kennels. And we're

(25:39):
a firm believer with the socialization of dogs to get
the best outcome.

S1 (25:43):
And people are thinking about it twice, they'll be reassured
that the staff from mercy definitely will give you great
support all the way.

S3 (25:49):
Absolutely. Yeah. We've got a volunteer advisory committee. We've got
a lot of training that goes on. We've got a
huge amount of support for people, and there is a
great network within the 300 plus volunteers that we have.
So they often ring each other up and just talk
about things, you know, but at X, Y or Z.
So there's a there's a lot of peer to peer
that goes on and and look the dogs, they've been
bred for this, they are well trained. They are, uh, healthy. Um,

(26:12):
that's why we choose the labs and the and the
lab crosses with the retrievers, um, because they've got a
fantastic temperament. Um, and they and they just love to
work and love doing it when they're off the off
the work day, then they're just a dog having fun, uh, for,
you know, the other two thirds of the day. So
it's a fabulous tool, companion, independent provider all in one. And, uh,

(26:35):
as you say, the value of that is extraordinary. So
we we just want to do more because the demand
is greater than supply. So we just encourage people, if
they know anybody that might want to come and talk
to us about volunteering, we'd welcome them to contact us.

S1 (26:47):
If you want to contact you about anything we've spoken
about today, how can we get in touch, give you
a website or visit?

S3 (26:52):
Yes, website is good. In fact, we just revamped the website. Um,
I'm not sure if Andrew told you, but it's.

S1 (26:56):
Yeah, we spoke about that. Yep.

S3 (26:57):
Yes. Well, I think we've had an accessibility rating is
somewhere in the 90s. So I'd try to to talk
what we preach. Uh, and so it should be interesting
your feedback when you've had a look, Peter. But there's
the website, there's the shop. Um, they've all been revamped. Uh,
so definitely, uh, and, uh, hopefully more accessible. We're happy
to take any feedback from people, but also take any

(27:18):
contacts that people might want to ring us up and, uh,
or send us an email and, uh, either get involved in, uh,
in volunteering or in, um, you know, providing product to
people and services.

S1 (27:28):
I mean, it's great to have energy on the program.
We'll speak again soon.

S3 (27:31):
Fantastic. Peter, you enjoy it. Cheers.

S1 (27:33):
David. Perhaps the executive director for See Differently. See differently.org
if you want to give them a call 1300 904 306.

S4 (27:43):
Hi everyone, I'm Allison Davies. I'm a registered music therapist
specializing in using music to support our brain to function
at its best. You're listening to leisure Link with Peter
Greco on the Vision Australia radio network.

S1 (28:03):
Let's find out about an organization called Ripple Ability. The founder,
Monique Powell, is on the line. Let's find out how
and why they do what they do. Monique, great to
meet you. Thanks for your time.

S5 (28:12):
No, thank you for having me. I feel very blessed
to be here today.

S1 (28:15):
Oh, you're very kind. Tell us about how you set
this up. You're one of these people that most of
us see a problem and say, why doesn't someone do
something about it? You're one of these people that says
there's a problem. I'm going to do something about it.

S5 (28:26):
Yeah, I'd like to think so, but I'm not. I'm
part of a group of an incredible network of very
passionate people. So I'm fortunate to be surrounded by such
a fantastic team all of us at ripple have been
working towards and on this initiative now for about four years,
but ripple originally started and founded from a place of
lived experience.

S1 (28:46):
That's your situation. You've got a couple of kids with disabilities.

S5 (28:49):
I have one daughter with disability. I'm a mom of
two little girls, and my eldest was born with quite
a rare lifelong disability, and she was later diagnosed early
on with a childhood disease to boot. So she had
quite a fair bit of medical complexity going on in
those early years, and it took me to a place
where I was living in and out of hospital settings

(29:10):
and navigating incredibly complex systems. Now, I come from a
background in political science, and I've worked in government my
entire career, but when my daughter was born, it just
changed the trajectory of my life, and I started looking
at the system from the other side of the table
and realized that they were incredibly challenging to access and optimize, understand,

(29:30):
and utilize when you're in the trenches.

S1 (29:33):
There'd be a lot of people that would agree with
you on that. So if someone said, well, that's what
the NDIS is for, what would you say to that?

S5 (29:39):
Yeah, no, I agree, and we're very lucky in our
country to have a fantastic government system for disability across Australia.
And we are big advocates for the NDIS here at
Rural Ability. But it's not without its shortcomings and unfortunately
it doesn't cater to everything in the complex space. Now,
when the NDIS was first put in place, it was

(30:01):
around supporting the most complex peoples in our community. But
with the advent of its introduction, many of the mainstream
service providers stopped providing supports in disability care. And one
of the areas that we see that as a key
issue is in that care space.

S1 (30:16):
So this is particularly for very young kids.

S5 (30:18):
Yeah. So at ripple we service paediatric patients. So all
of our families have kids between the age of 0
to 18. And early on in the piece, we were
having a conversation with a lot of those families, and
many of them said to us, look, for the first
five years of our child's life, we're not able to
really integrate into our societies and our communities because there's

(30:39):
no one available to care for our kids on the
day to day basis besides us.

S1 (30:43):
And of course, those kids, many of them would have
siblings as well. And you've obviously got a place in
your heart for them as well.

S5 (30:49):
Yeah. Of course. I mean, my family is an example
of how care operates in our country. My eldest daughter
was never able to integrate into a mainstream childcare setting,
so the first five years of her life were really isolating.
But my younger child, who's typically developed, she loved daycare
and she attended from 14 months old, and it enabled
me to be able to do what I do and

(31:10):
work in the capacity that I can, at the same
time as caring for my child with complex needs.

S1 (31:16):
It's so important, isn't it? Because, you know, obviously you
love your kids and you want to be with them,
but also there's an obligation to put meal on the
table and that sort of stuff. And if you've got employment,
you want to keep doing that as well. So they're
all quite reasonable demands from an observer's point of view.

S5 (31:30):
Yeah, you're right. One of the families that was really
instrumental in producing this vision, which became ripple Ability's biggest
systemic advocacy project to date, was of a young girl
named Layla. Now, she was unfortunately born with a palliative
diagnosis and two weeks before her first birthday, when we
were gearing up to celebrate, we lost her, unfortunately, and

(31:51):
her first birthday turned into a funeral service. And when
we attended, there were so many kids on site receiving
life saving medical intervention, and many of the families we
had some relationship to, or we had a discussion with after,
and every single one of them said to us, well,
where else was my child going to go? When we
questioned them about why they had attended in the first place,

(32:12):
that now, in hindsight, seems like such a strange phenomenon
to be present in Australia that these kids are so isolated.
But unfortunately, many of our kids with complex needs and
medical comorbidity just cannot integrate into a childcare space.

S1 (32:28):
Now you talk about maybe up to half a million
kids in this sort of position.

S5 (32:32):
Yeah, across the country. Yeah. You know, an increasing number
of children born with rare conditions. There are children with
co-morbid medical complexity that prohibit them from accessing childcare and
increased number of kids that need early interventions and life
saving medical pieces of equipment. And all of those things
are prohibiting factors to accessing mainstream services.

S1 (32:52):
Now, I kind of said to you a bit flippantly
before my neck, you've got the NDIS. But by the
same token, I guess if your kids with disabilities are
receiving NDIS funding for something like that, they're having to
pay a lot more than the child next door and
the childcare that they're accessing.

S5 (33:06):
There are massive discrepancies in how our kids with complex
needs get access to care. And you're right, it is.
The pay discrepancy is a marked difference. So on the NDIS,
particularly in the early childhood space, there's this real conscious
effort towards capacity building. But in some instances and when
you're talking about this level of complexity. It's not necessarily

(33:28):
about building capacity. It's more about providing stability and intentionally
working on opportunities so that that child's condition doesn't decline.
It's mostly about a sustainable focus around care, but the
NDIS concentrates funding into that capacity building space, and the
average plan sits somewhere around 30,000 in our country. And

(33:50):
if you consider that a support worker charges about $64
an hour, it's not feasible. Even if you could concentrate
all of that funding towards support, that you'd be able
to have adequate hours to get back to work or
study as a carer. And when you compare that to
the child care subsidy which millions of Australians use every day,
it costs about $20 a week to send your child

(34:13):
to childcare. When you look at that gap, it's about
11 times cost difference.

S1 (34:17):
And of course, once you've spent that $64 that comes
out of your bucket, you know, go with it for
anything else that you might want.

S5 (34:23):
Exactly. You're correct. But even then, those buckets, if you
were to use that analogy, they're not all accessible for support.

S1 (34:31):
Yeah, that's very true too. So, Monique, what about repeatability?
How do you make a difference? What do you do?
And are you just in Western Australia at the moment.

S5 (34:38):
We service nationally because luckily many of our systems are
Commonwealth funded. And so we have that opportunity to work
with families wherever they are. We have families in all
states and territories. At the moment. We are primarily based
in WA, which is why a lot of our initiatives
are piloted from here in the first instance. So I
am happy to tell you that we received funding this

(35:00):
year to implement a pilot where we look at alternative
models of care for children with complex needs, and that's
our intention. Post this pilot to see how something like this,
or a viable solution can be bolted on to pre-existing
early childhood, education and care settings across our country in
the very near future.

S1 (35:19):
How did you get the funding for the pilot?

S5 (35:20):
We were really lucky to be given this funding through
carers cares WA and the Gateway Program. And we've got
some incredible partners in Hannah's house, which is a team
of pediatric nurses. We've got some fantastic links with Goodstart
who have provided us with a senior educator and some
other future pilot partners coming up in the November and

(35:41):
January pilots.

S1 (35:42):
I guess what I'm saying is, in a sense, I
don't mean this in a derogatory sense, but you were
kind of lucky that the planets aligned. I mean, a
lot of other people might not have ticked all the
boxes along the way.

S5 (35:51):
Yeah, I mean, I do consider us to be an
incredibly fortunate organisation, but it's not without a huge amount
of work.

S1 (35:59):
Of course.

S5 (36:00):
Advocacy and many of the staff, the core team at ripple,
we volunteered in this capacity now for four years to
test trial these models in a technical sense on paper.
So it's fantastic to have the funding to put it
into a practical application.

S1 (36:13):
Don't misunderstand me. I wasn't in a sense being critical
at all. I'm just saying that you need a bit
of luck and you need things to fall into place and,
you know, luck on the right doors and the right
people to be listening to please like yours for sure.

S5 (36:24):
And also, I think it's such an opportunistic time in
our country to be looking at this under a microscope.
We've had so many incredible reforms and reviews happen recently,
so it does actually feel a bit serendipitous that the
stars have aligned, and there's never been a better time
or a political climate to be addressing. Health care and
childcare operates in our country, and especially with the provisions

(36:47):
to include those children that have previously been ostracized or
refuse access.

S1 (36:53):
Yeah, well, you're right, the landscape is changing, albeit maybe
slowly and albeit sort of at the edges, if you like.
But it's obviously a good time to maybe be campaigning
for changes. And how's the pilot going? Is it too
early to tell and what are the possibilities that it
could be extended?

S5 (37:06):
Oh, look, we are incredibly elated by our first day.
So pilot one just launched on Saturday, just gone. So
we had only one family unable to attend due to
medical reasons, but we had a full house. It was
a fantastic first day. Our families heard from a navigator

(37:26):
in the space who connected them to support services and subsidies,
and did a bit of system overview and literacy learning
around how do I communicate my needs to the relevant systems,
and who do I need in my team to be
able to get my child best supported? And then they
were given a presentation by an OT who took them
through the requirements of a functional capacity assessment. The kids

(37:49):
all had an incredible time. They had a play therapist
on site, the Goodstart educator was there, and a team
of Hannah's house nurses making sure that our medically complex
kids were safe. We just really could not have had
a better first day experience, and we are very hopeful
that this pilot will be extended. We're running one in
Stirling now for this month. Next month will be in Mandurah,

(38:10):
which is in the southern part of the Perth region,
and then we are back in the northern part, doing
a Joondalup pilot next year in January. But we are
actively in discussion with philanthropic organizations and funding bodies around
extending this pilot host January into the regions and potentially
with if the stars continue to align, then we will

(38:31):
get to partner with a big national early childhood education
and care provider to look at ways that this particular
pilot or iterations of this can be bolted on to
pre-existing centers.

S1 (38:42):
And just for people listening, maybe in South Australia, you're
talking about Stirling in Western Australia, aren't you? Because there's
a Stirling in South Australia as well.

S5 (38:48):
Yes. Sorry. All our pilots are in WA.

S1 (38:51):
Yeah. No that's alright. It's easy for people to get confused,
so I might try and find out more about what's
happening here. But we're going around Australia so where people
can be mindful of that. You've got a website of course,
that people can check out.

S5 (39:01):
Yes we do. You can find us at replaceability. Org.

S1 (39:04):
That is a very cool name. I've got to say Monique,
that gets you in straight away. So whoever came up
with that to a full marks.

S5 (39:10):
Thank you so much. I'll be sure to hand that
message on.

S1 (39:13):
Oh, so you're going to claim the credit?

S6 (39:14):
No, I won't claim the credit. We're we're a very
collaborative team.

S1 (39:18):
It was probably really well named, wasn't it? Because, you know,
the ripple effect, it does sort of spread and spread
and spread.

S5 (39:23):
Yeah, that's what we're hoping for. So even though we're
not located over there in your immediate area, we would
love to be able to support and service your families.
They can absolutely give us a call. There are things
that we can do to support them in system navigation
and get them better connected, and we really hope they'll
one day be in your location and providing services and
access to early childhood education and care opportunities.

S1 (39:47):
Not an easy thing to say, but the world needs
more people like you.

S5 (39:50):
Thank you so much.

S1 (39:51):
Thank you Charmonique. We wish you well. We'll put those
details up with our show notes.

S5 (39:55):
Thank you so much for having me on your radio station.
I really appreciate being here.

S1 (39:59):
That's Monique Power, the founder, the person there heading up
a ripple ability. We'll put those details up in our
show notes. And ripple ability may be coming to a
place near you rather soon.

S7 (40:08):
Hopefully you're in elite company. Listening to Leslie here on
Vision Australia radio on the radio, digital I ride along
and through the TuneIn radio app.

S1 (40:29):
Time to hear from our resident physiotherapist from the football Academy,
Chelsea marchetti. Chelsea. Always great to catch up. Thanks for
your time.

S6 (40:36):
No problem Peter always love catching up every month to
talk all things physio.

S1 (40:40):
Now you're going to talk about something a little bit different,
things that you can do other than your conventional visit
that someone might pay to you.

S6 (40:46):
Yes. This month we were going to chat about other
things that physios are involved in, mainly in equipment, prescription
and things that we can treat in terms of using
equipment rather than using, I guess, our hands or other
forms of treatment that we've discussed previously in our sessions.
Today we're going to talk about what physios do with

(41:07):
wheelchair prescription and frame prescription and all those sorts of things.
It's a really big area in physio that I think
not a lot of people think about when they think physio.

S1 (41:16):
Yeah. And I guess it's all things that cope with
one quality of life. Or if you're recovering from an
injury or an incident, these are all things that can
just make life a bit more liveable and have a
bit more independence.

S6 (41:26):
Yeah. And I think the main thing that we're involved,
the main reason that we're involved in this, is because
it's around mobility. If you're struggling to walk or get
from A to B, things like crutches or a frame
or a wheelchair becomes your main form of mobility. So
last time when we were having a chat, Peter, we
talked about post doc treatment and what physio post op.

(41:47):
So the one thing that we do a lot of
post-operatively across a lot of surgeries in the hospital is
we provide crutches. So when we're talking about Acl's the
other month, that's probably the first thing that we prescribe
is crutches and we teach people how to use them.
A lot of the time you're struggling to walk properly
when you first get your ACL done, some surgeries, you're
not actually allowed to put full weight on your leg.

(42:09):
So you've got to find a way to move around
and go to the toilet and maintain your quality of life,
like you were just saying before. So as physios, our
role with equipment is to work out what the best
form of equipment is for you so that you can
safely mobilise from A to B in the current condition
that you're in.

S1 (42:26):
So I guess safe is one thing, but also that
you do get around because it might be easy to think, oh,
it's all too painful to do it. I'll just keep
sitting down. And of course, as we've learnt from your
last couple of chats, it's kind of the worst thing
you can do is not to move.

S6 (42:37):
Absolutely. We need to keep our bodies moving and our
muscles moving, and we've got to do that in the
best way we can. And talking to that a little
bit as well, if we look more in the kids
population and your disability population, which a lot of the
population that I work in specifically, we're working with some
kids that are struggling to walk or stand, and that
might be due to their condition. And so one of

(42:58):
the things that we're involved in is looking at standing
frames or corner chairs for babies. So how we can
try and get them to sit up. What equipment can
we use to help them sit? Because sometimes if you've
got a baby that doesn't know how to sit independently
or they can't quite do that yet. One of the
things that they then become limited in is their ability
to look at their hands and engage in their play,

(43:19):
so then they lose that form of development as well.
One of the things that we do is go, okay, well,
how is this child moving? How are they sitting? What's
their posture? What's the best piece of equipment that we
can use to help them progress and build those muscles
to eventually do it on their own, or something that
they can use to support themselves in standing. To condition
their legs and maintain what they've got and still be

(43:40):
able to do other areas of their development, like play
and fine motor skills and social communication with other people
as well.

S1 (43:48):
That's fascinating. So you look just past the with the
little child that you talked about, you know, being able
to sit, sit up, but also to better see their
hands or look at their hands, they can play. That's incredible.
Because obviously that's really, really important, not just for the
sitting up stuff, but the personal growth, if I could
call it that.

S6 (44:03):
Yeah, absolutely. And we know that kids are motivated by
play and explore. So child's not going to move if
we can't get them engaging in what the world's happening
around them, so being able to at least get them
engaged in play can then make them want to be
up in that position and then build the muscles to
eventually get to that position for some conditions and for others,
it just allows them to have that opportunity so that

(44:24):
they can be in that position.

S1 (44:26):
Chelsea not just kids that like play.

S6 (44:30):
Very true, very true. We do do it for adults
as well, where your wheelchair stuff can come into play.
So we work closely with occupational therapists on wheelchair prescription,
both for adults and children, so that they can also
have those opportunities to engage in the world around them.
It might be that you have different wheelchairs that are
required for different things, and it's actually quite a complex

(44:50):
setup in terms of the ability to make sure that
someone is placed in the correct wheelchair, that is for
their center of gravity, so they can balance and and
all those sorts of things. So I guess an example
of this from, you know, personal experience is when we
look at amputees in the hospital, you know, what they
can do initially in those acute stages, Ages, and obviously

(45:11):
they're not going to be ready for a prosthetic leg
straight away. A lot of their rehab is involved in
transferring to wheelchairs. But then when you think about the
wheelchair that they're in, they can't just have a standard
one because they have less mass on one side. So
you have to think about how much of that weight
distribution is even for them on the wheelchair, so they
don't tip over because they're asymmetrical. So there's quite a

(45:34):
lot of thought process and physics, I guess that goes
into trying to understand what the best fit for them
is long term, because you think about that's their main
form of mobility. So they need to be comfortable and safe.

S1 (45:44):
Because we've talked about playing, but also comfort is important
and indeed preventing an accident because if you do tip
over or whatever, I mean, that will destroy your confidence
and psychologically to be caring for someone if things like
that go wrong.

S6 (45:56):
Yeah, absolutely. And they don't want to move into the
chair anymore. Yeah. Their leg, they don't want to go
into the next stage of their rehab. And that can
just one step forward five steps back.

S1 (46:04):
So yeah.

S6 (46:05):
It's really important that we keep all those things in
check and monitor them really closely as people go through
that process.

S1 (46:10):
So you touched on something a bit earlier. You talked
about using crutches properly. Do you want to expand a
bit on that?

S6 (46:15):
Yeah, absolutely. I think it's really interesting that you bring
that up, Peter, because a lot of people will go, well,
what do you mean? You teach people to use crutches? Yeah.
You use crutches are not easy to use. They're quite difficult.
And especially when we're navigating things like stairs. Yeah. So
one of the things that I used to be involved
in when I would look at ACL rehab postdoc, mainly
in the acute stages, we'd be teaching kids how to

(46:36):
use their crutches safely and how to make sure that
they're keeping their leg safe as well. So we fit
them to the right height, because if you have them
too high, then your shoulders are kind of hunched up.

S1 (46:46):
And.

S6 (46:47):
And, you know, you end up with not a very
good position. It really hurts under your arms. But then
if they're too low, you're actually leaning forward and you
can hurt your back, or you can get really sore
back or a sore neck because you're kind of looking down,
you're not able to look up. So the measuring of
them was really important. And then it's about making sure
that we've got the crutches, but we're not actually swinging
our leg off the ground if we don't need to.
some post-ops will have like a non-weight bearing precaution, which

(47:10):
means they don't want people to put any weight on
the leg that's been operated on. So we have to
teach people how to use the crutches in terms of
bringing them forwards, pushing their weight into them and then hopping,
and you need a good amount of strength to be
able to do that as well. So that comes into
play on our assessment as to how well someone can
do that. And if we find that someone can't do that,

(47:31):
then we look at a different form of equipment. So
we might look at a frame because a frame has
four points rather than. So there's more stability there just
going on to the toe touch, weight bearing or weight
bearing as tolerated, which is when we can put our
foot on the floor. We want to teach people what
foot they need to lead with. So you want your
crutches to help you with the foot that's sore, not

(47:51):
help you with the foot that's not sore, and then
you end up putting all your weight through that foot.
And I think the biggest one that everyone misses is
how to use your crutches up the stairs. And this
was a big one that we do with kids at
the Women's and Children's is we'd work through going up
at least three stairs in the hospital with crutches, and
if they could do that, they could go home. And
you'd be surprised. Peter, it is quite a tricky skill

(48:13):
because most people will bring their crutches up onto the stick,
and that's actually not what you're supposed to do. What
you are supposed to do is push down into crutches
and you hop up the step first, or you take,
you know, your good leg up first and then you're
not so good leg. Then you bring your crutches up.
So the reason that we do that is because if
you bring your crutches up onto the step, you don't
have enough stability. If you bring them down, you've got

(48:36):
your two prongs next to your foot, and then you
can actually push through them. You're in the best position
in your body to actually use the weight through the
crutches and actually ascend the stairs. And similarly, when you
go down the stairs, you want to bring them forwards
so that you don't fall forwards. You've got that stability
there to hold yourself to then support that injured leg.
That's probably going to go down first or hop so

(48:57):
that you don't fall. So that's probably the trickiest thing
with crutches. So um, when we're talking about post-op anything
it's adults or All kids really. But kids are probably
more so likely to use crutches than adults just because
they're a bit younger and stronger. So they're the things
that they have to pass. They have to be able
to use their crutches for ten meters to go to
the bathroom properly and safely, and they have to be
able to do three stairs up and down, at least

(49:18):
with someone next to them. So that's kind of a
bit of an insight into how we actually teach people
to use crutches, because yeah, it is. There is more
to it than I think. What meets the eye, much
like a lot of things we do in physio.

S1 (49:28):
Well, Kirsty, that's fascinating. I think we might have to
come back to this topic in future occasions because we're
out of time today, but that's tremendous. Now, if people
want to contact you, particularly at the football academy, for
the wonderful work that you do, especially with young kids
with disabilities, and it's very much one on one, how
can we get in touch with you?

S6 (49:44):
Yeah. So you can hop on to our website, WW Academy.com.
And on there we have a little contact Us form.
And we've also got an email on there that you
can inquire with us on. So that email is enquiries
at academy.com. Are you.

S1 (50:03):
Sure? You're amazing. Thank you for sharing this news with us.
And if nothing else, at least we're kind of a
bit more aware of what if someone we know goes
through this sort of stuff? If they're complaining or if
they're finding it a bit difficult, I think we can
all be a little bit more empathetic.

S6 (50:14):
Absolutely. We can all, you know, try and be in
someone's shoes for a minute. I think it's good to
have some quality information.

S1 (50:20):
Catch up next month. Chelsea.

S6 (50:22):
Thank you Peter. See you next month.

S1 (50:23):
Chelsea Carey there from the Flipr Academy. Absolutely fascinating. Hope
you enjoyed that. This is a topic you'd like us
to cover. You can always get in touch with us
and we'll ask Chelsea to do it. Let's catch up
with Rebecca Steiner, who's the CEO for doctors for nutrition.

(50:47):
A big event happening in Adelaide very soon. Rebecca, great
to catch up again and thank you for your time.

S6 (50:53):
Yeah.

S8 (50:53):
Thanks, Peter. Thanks for having me back on again.

S3 (50:56):
Yeah.

S1 (50:56):
Well, what have you got coming up? When and where?

S6 (50:59):
Sure.

S5 (51:00):
So we.

S2 (51:00):
Have a.

S5 (51:01):
Very exciting event. It's called the Nutrition.

S8 (51:03):
And.

S5 (51:03):
Lifestyle Medicine Symposium.

S8 (51:06):
Be held here in Adelaide on the eighth and 9th
of November. Um, it's across two location, so I don't
know if you know, but the Christmas pageant is on
the same weekend. Um, but it shouldn't affect us too much.
So the eighth is a full day symposium. So basically
it goes through the pillars of lifestyle medicine. So the

(51:28):
includes nutrition but also physical activity, sleep stress management, avoiding
things like alcohol and tobacco and positive social connections is
also really important as a part of the whole lifestyle
medicine practice. So, um, the full symposium is held on Saturday,
followed by Sunday. We have an optional workshop. It's called
Culinary Medicine. Um, and it'll be a hands on experience

(51:50):
where we'll get to, you know, create some delicious food.
We'll have a doctor and a dietician with us present, uh,
who'll be talking about the different ingredients. Um, as a
part of this Sunday, There's also an exam, basically for
people who've registered for the lifestyle medicine certification that we offer.
So yeah, it's over those two days, but the full
symposium is on the eighth and people can just attend

(52:13):
that if they want to. They don't have to go
to the workshop the next day.

S1 (52:18):
Who is it aimed at?

S8 (52:20):
It's aimed at everyone, to be honest. Uh, we have
obviously a lot of medical practitioners coming along, which is
great because if they can recommend lifestyle medicine to their patients,
then we can avoid or, you know, prevent, but also
manage a lot of chronic diseases out there. So but
it is priced basically that anybody can attend. So it's

(52:40):
not like a medical conference where the general public are
not encouraged to attend. We're encouraging anyone concession card holders, students,
general community who are interested in health and wellbeing are
welcome to come along.

S1 (52:53):
Okay, so you don't need a medical degree to come
along or indeed to kind of understand what sort of
things we talked about.

S8 (53:00):
No, definitely not. And that's one of the things that
we aim to do, is to be able to present
this information in a way that's digestible, if that's the
best word by everyone, because, you know, it's obviously as
doctors for nutrition, we were set up to educate medical
professionals about nutrition because they just don't get it in

(53:21):
their medical degree. But many general public follow us. So
people who might have been diagnosed with a chronic illness
or are worried about, you know, something that runs in
their family, they find out information as well. So we
really want this information to be, um, accepted and delivered
by our speakers to the whole audience.

S1 (53:41):
Fantastic. And you talked about preventative, but you also talked about,
you know, people with chronic conditions. I mean, that's really
important as well, because, Rebecca, one of the things I've
kind of heard people say over the years when they've
been diagnosed with a condition or, you know, be it
a really serious or just chronic but nuisance. Um, I'd
like to be able to do something about it myself
rather than, you know, go to the doctor or go

(54:02):
to the specialist every 3 or 6 months. But in
between times, what can I do to kind of, um,
you know, manage it and maybe even improve it sort
of long term?

S8 (54:12):
Yeah, definitely. Um, I did experience a diagnosis myself. Uh,
ten years ago, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. So
that's a pretty serious condition. And I was a scientist
at the time. And I started to do the research,
and I found that my lifestyle was very much contributing
to the disease. So, um, I very much, uh, looked
into diet, exercise, getting enough sunlight, getting enough sleep, which

(54:35):
was difficult because I had a toddler at the time.
But I managed to change a lot of things in
my life. And, you know, I'm living symptom free today,
so I'm. I wouldn't change a thing now. Um, but
having said that, I think that it many, many chronic
conditions can be helped, if not completely reversed. I mean,
I talk about my condition that, you know, it's probably

(54:57):
in remission, but it can definitely come back. Um, but
a lot can be managed. And we're not talking about
not doing the conventional treatment as well, but adding these
lifestyle medicine components to your life can definitely help improve.
So we talk about eating a more plant predominant diet,
a whole food plant based eating pattern, physical activity, um,

(55:17):
stress is so linked to many chronic conditions, so avoiding
that as much as possible. Um, yeah, there's quite a
lot of things that people can do. And it's amazing
because it helps you take control of your illness. And
I think a lot of people like that when they're diagnosed.

S1 (55:33):
And you don't have to go to the bank and
get a big loan, it's not going to be an
expensive thing as well.

S8 (55:37):
No. Definitely not. I mean, the good thing about eating
this way is I eat an abundance of food, so
I never go hungry. I'm always, you know, eating quite
substantial amounts, but it's like the rainbow of colors. So including, uh, fruits, vegetables,
whole grains are really important in their whole form rather
than processed grains, some nuts and seeds, and also legumes.

(55:59):
Some of the longest lived populations in the world have
legumes in their diet, so having an abundance and a diversity.
And they're also cheap, especially if you're buying things in season.
But you know, a bag of rice or a can
of beans, you know, those sorts of things are very,
very cheap and definitely avoiding the processed foods.

S1 (56:16):
I mean, in Australia, we complain about a lot of
things and, you know, often that's justifiable. But we are
pretty lucky in terms of the quality of food. And
so the the quantity of food and, and also the
access to it in terms of it being reasonably locally
grown as well. And that's yeah, that's something we should
be grateful for and hopefully try and access as much

(56:37):
as we can.

S8 (56:37):
Yeah, definitely. Um, I think, you know, we have here
in Adelaide, we have the Central Market and you can
go along there and find some bargains of locally grown.
And so locally grown also means it's high in nutrients.
Hasn't been, you know, in cold storage for a long time.
And eating in season is really important to so. So
we hope that this, um, the symposium that we have

(56:58):
coming up is going to talk about nutrition in all
the other pillars of lifestyle. So, you know, for example,
if you did a lot of running and still had
a bad diet, that could still lead to a chronic disease.
So nutrition is one of the pillars that is incorporated
in many of them. So sleep you need to be
able to sleep well to eat well. But if you're
eating well you should sleep better. So everything is sort

(57:19):
of related in that sense.

S1 (57:21):
What about as far as, um, the, um, the social
connection that you talked about? We actually spoke to a
professor last week in the area of, um, dementia. Uh,
cognitive memory, etc.. And he was making the point that, uh,
you know, there's drugs out there, which is great. And
I think a new one's just come on as far
as being approved by the TGA goes. But that social

(57:42):
connection is really important. And not just sort of doing
crosswords or, you know, that sort of thing, but, you know,
talking to people, you know, that that kind of having
that human contact is really, really important as well.

S8 (57:54):
Oh, definitely. Um, it's. Yeah, it's definitely been shown to
be benefit for not only physical but also mental health.
Just having connections with people. The lonelier people are the
the higher risk they are of different chronic health conditions.
So um, yeah. And hopefully this symposium will provide people
with a new network, you know, like there are people

(58:15):
out there interested in lifestyle medicine. So yeah, it's it's
a great, great thing to do.

S1 (58:21):
Connecting with like minded people is certainly a great thing.
And you're the third person in three programs in a
row that have talked about loneliness and its impact. So
I think that kind of speaks a lot. And all
of you volunteered that word rather than being pushed on it.
So I think that, you know, in all seriousness, it
says a lot. And, you know, again, I talked about
being lucky living in Australia, but by association, uh, given

(58:41):
our population and the situation that we have, there are
a lot of people who, sadly are very lonely, which
is again a bit of a reflection on society, but
that might be a topic for another day. What about
in terms of registering for the symposium, Rebecca? Do people
need to register? I guess they do. Otherwise, you just
don't know who to cater for.

S5 (58:59):
Exactly. Right. So yes, you can.

S8 (59:01):
Head to our website. I'll provide you with a link
so you can share it with your audience. But we
have a symposium website. There's a registration link and you
can go through and select. We actually have it's really
good timing. We have a two for one offer. It
was my birthday last week so a gift to everyone.
We got a two for the price of one offer
for the registration. So you can click on that and, uh, yeah,

(59:23):
bring a friend along. Um, there is an option to
choose your catering as well. So to keep the ticket
price really low, we've managed to find an amazing caterer.
So they'll be providing lunch boxes. So that's like a yeah,
an optional one. People are bringing their own lunch as well,
which we're totally okay with. But yeah, we there's a
way of registering. And you can also do a free

(59:44):
meditation session which will be first thing on the day. Um,
and the optional Culinary Medicine workshop the following day. So
all of those things are outlined in the registration form.
And you can also see our speakers on our website. Um,
some amazing sponsors that we have on board. We've just
got um, Mushroom Health Science Australia. So they're going to

(01:00:06):
be actually at the symposium exhibiting and talking all about
the benefits of mushrooms. Um, so yeah, definitely go along
to the website and find out all those details.

S1 (01:00:16):
Rebecca, did we say where it's being held? I don't
think we did. Maybe I didn't ask.

S2 (01:00:19):
Okay, so.

S8 (01:00:20):
The symposium is being held at the Adelaide Health and
Medical Sciences Building, which is, um, on North Terrace towards
the west end of the city. So being aware that
Father Christmas is coming to town on Saturday the eighth,
we need to. Yeah, sort of make sure in that
sort of western side of the city. So that's on
the Saturday, the culinary medicine workshop and the lifestyle medicine

(01:00:42):
exam are held at a place called Impala, which is
at the Wyatt Benevolent Trust on Frome Street, but we've
got the address details on our website as well. Um,
so yeah, it's a smaller venue and, um, a lot
more intimate and there'll be opportunity to sort of get
your hands dirty, basically.

S1 (01:01:01):
And wash them before you eat. Rebecca, I hope it
goes really well. We appreciate you spending some time with us.

S8 (01:01:07):
Yeah. Thanks again, Peter, and I'll send those links through
to you now.

S1 (01:01:10):
Yeah, we'll put them up with our show notes. Rebecca
Stoner there. Who's the CEO for doctors for nutrition. That
event coming up the eighth and 9th of November. And
as I mentioned, all those details up with our show notes.

S7 (01:01:27):
On the Vision Australia Network through your favorite podcast service
on 1190 7 a.m. in Adelaide. You're listening to Leisure Link.

S9 (01:01:49):
Come on in.

S10 (01:01:51):
We open our doors to people we trust and care about,
and for over 90 years, South Australians have been opening
their doors to Resthaven. In turn, we've been opening doors
to an easier, better life at home from personal care
to help with the shopping and social outings. You'll welcome
the care that Resthaven brings.

S1 (01:02:11):
Time to catch up with our wonderful friends at Resthaven.
And this time under the spotlight is Emily Pompa, who's
the manager for Clinical Services. And we'd love to meet you.
Thank you for your time.

S11 (01:02:22):
It's okay. It's good to be here.

S1 (01:02:23):
Yes. Now you're going to talk about, I guess, the
topic that is very sensitive and maybe people don't like
talking about it too much. Palliative care.

S11 (01:02:31):
Mhm. Yeah. So, um, I guess a topic close to
my heart, I um I've worked for many years, you know,
primarily as a registered nurse. I guess I started my
career as an intensive care nurse and had lots of
experience looking after patients and families who might have died

(01:02:51):
or were end of life. And, you know, I guess
it was really evident to me that it is so
important to get our end of life care right. And
I think that it is a right for people. It
is like a human right. People are entitled to good care, um,
at the end of life. So it is a topic

(01:03:12):
that is close to my heart and I think obviously
really relevant because everyone will face it at some stage
in their life.

S1 (01:03:19):
Very true, isn't it, Emily? Without being too personal, I mean,
you said this is quite a while ago. I mean,
you don't sound very old now. So for a young person,
a young nurse in that area, they in a sense,
would be pretty confronting, but also would leave an impression.

S11 (01:03:32):
Absolutely. And I think it does leave an impression. Um,
but I, I guess, um, it was other experiences as
well that I guess have, um, you know, I feel
like they've kind of brought me to this place in
Resthaven where I am at the moment, you know, not
just that role in intensive care, but I did go
on to do, you know, I think, numerous years as

(01:03:54):
an organ donor coordinator. So, again, working closely with families,
primarily families and loved ones of people who had died
in circumstances where they could donate their tissues and organs. So,
you know, again, it's so crucial that you just get

(01:04:16):
that right for people and get it right so that
it's in accordance with that individual's wishes as well. Because
of course, these people that are donating their organs are
doing so in accordance with their wishes, you know, and
some some of the other more recent work that I've
done is, um, in voluntary assisted dying. So, you know,
I think I've had all of these experiences where I've

(01:04:39):
assisted people at sort of end of life. And yeah,
it's just really evident to me that we, um, really
do need to to get it right.

S1 (01:04:48):
And palliative care is a very broad term in a sense,
isn't it? Because I guess without being too flippant about it,
we're all in palliative care, as you said. We're all
going to end up going at some stage. But, uh,
you know, it can be days, weeks, or it could
be quite a long time in terms of how long
someone might be receiving palliative care.

S11 (01:05:07):
Yeah. That's right. So really palliative care, end of life care,
they're sometimes used interchangeably. But really um, palliative care is
the time from which somebody has sort of a terminal illness.
And it's that whole time frame within which someone has
a terminal illness and is receiving, you know, the care

(01:05:28):
and support that they need during that time. Um, so
it could in fact be, you know, many, many months
or a year or more. So that's where it's different
to that period of time within, you know which someone's
at end of life care, which is much more likely
to be months. So yes, palliative care can be quite

(01:05:49):
a sort of longer time period.

S1 (01:05:51):
And I guess, you know, with the advance of medical science,
the treatments or the care that people can have can
be improved so much in terms of their quality of
life towards the end of life.

S11 (01:06:04):
Yeah, I guess there are always improvements happening of people
who are at end of life are weighing up whether
those treatments are, you know, what they they want to pursue.
And sometimes it results in improvements. Sometimes it comes to
a point where people decide that they don't want to

(01:06:25):
pursue those treatments. And, you know, take take the approach
that they want to focus on their comfort. And that's
a lot of the work that I did in, um,
voluntary assisted dying as well. It's, um, you know, people
who have have made that choice to pursue, I guess,
what they see as a more comfortable, favorable choice for them.

(01:06:49):
It's very personal, but that, you know, that is what
they want to do, and that ability to make that
decision for themselves is very important to them.

S1 (01:06:58):
It should be respected at all times. Emily, what about it?
What about in terms of particularly resthaven? Of course. They've
got a a wonderful reputation as an aged care facility.
Also their community services. But are they the majority of
people want to have that end of life care at home.

S11 (01:07:15):
So yes, obviously we have residents in our care facilities.
We have um, clients in our community setting. I think
that irrespective of where people are, they want to die
in place. So there is often a sense that they
do not want to be conveyed to hospital because, you know,

(01:07:36):
that can can often result in. I guess it can
result in some discomfort. It can result in, you know,
sometimes having to wait for access to care, depending on
their triage category. Um, and it also means being taken
away from what is their home. So, uh, it is

(01:07:57):
often preferable for those people to, um, be looked after
where they are. So having the services that Resthaven has, um,
some of them, including our specialist palliative care nurses who
are within my team, um, having them, um, available to
be able to see residents and clients where they are,

(01:08:20):
I think is of crucial importance. And not only not
only our specialist palliative care nurses, but, you know, a
whole a whole range of clinicians working within the resthaven setting. Um,
and that that's in that's in addition to a whole
other range of experts as well, such as we've got
nurse practitioners, wound care specialists, dementia and mental health specialists.

(01:08:45):
So they all work really closely together, collaboratively. And, um,
you know, really provide comprehensive care to people at end
of life.

S1 (01:08:55):
You talked about the family, uh, kind of, um, you know,
them being involved and obviously being in the forefront of
your mind. I mean, I guess once you know, the
life of that particular person is over, there's a great
sort of sense of gratitude that particularly when things are done. Well,
if I could put it like that.

S11 (01:09:14):
Oh, absolutely. And I guess, um, you know, these are
the experience of families around the care of their loved
one at end of life is something that they often
remember for a very long time. So again, it's really
crucial that we get it right. You know, I think
it's just, you know, it's it's respectful. And again, going

(01:09:35):
back to that sort of human right component, that it's
something that the individuals and their families are entitled to,
that their loved one, they know that they got the
right care at the right time. And you know that. Yeah, that,
that they had everything that they were entitled to.

S1 (01:09:52):
And probably one of those things they're talked about, you know,
think about afterwards. And I guess on reflection and maybe weeks, months,
years afterwards, you know, that that that time is even
more precious in a sense, you know, when you reflect
back to it.

S11 (01:10:07):
Yeah, absolutely. No, there's there's no doubt about that. Absolutely. Peter.

S1 (01:10:11):
Emily, we've barely scratched the surface, but we appreciate you
spending some time. This is a serious topic, but I
guess the other thing is, just as we wrap up, yeah,
important for people, kind of, regardless of what stage of
their own life they're in to talk to family members
about things like this, whether it's organ donation or how
they'd like their end of life to be treated. You know,

(01:10:31):
if you're in that sort of, uh, you know, it's,
you know, time zone, if I could put it that way. Uh,
it's important to talk to family members about it.

S11 (01:10:39):
Oh, that's right. I think, um, irrespective of the stage
of life that you're in, I think it's crucial to
talk to your loved ones about what you would and
wouldn't like to experience. End of life. And sometimes those
conversations can be really quite difficult. But sometimes it helps
to start by talking about the things that you wouldn't want. So, um,

(01:11:01):
you know, for example, I think even talking about things
like would, would you or wouldn't you want to be
an organ donor because it is your family that would
be asked, um, what you would want? Um, because often,
you know, as, as, as you would know that, you know,
the individuals often not in the situation to be able
to ask those questions. Mhm. Um, so yeah, talking about

(01:11:25):
those sorts of things, those sorts of um, important things
at end of life are really important. Documenting it in
an advanced care directive is a really good idea. Again,
irrespective of an individual's age, it's always a really good
idea to document what you would want at end of life. Um,
so in that way, your loved ones really are left

(01:11:48):
in no doubt of what you would want.

S1 (01:11:50):
It's a great message. Emily, thank you for speaking to us.
And voluntary assisted dying. We haven't had a chance to
really talk much about that, but I know you're passionate
about that, so we'll have to hopefully cover that another time.

S11 (01:12:01):
I would love to talk about voluntary assisted dying. I
think that, um, you know, it's just another choice for
people at end of life. And, um, yeah, I'm always,
always happy to talk about, I guess, things that promote the, um, independence, autonomy,
rights of people at end of life.

S1 (01:12:20):
And we thank you for your time.

S11 (01:12:22):
Pleasure. Thanks so much, Peter.

S1 (01:12:23):
Thanks. Emily. Who's the manager for clinical services at Rest
over a sensitive topic, but a really important topic. And, Emily,
I think it can cure for the few minutes we've
spent with it, with much empathy and certainly a lot of, uh,
personal care for other people.

S12 (01:12:41):
Hi, I'm Louise Sauvage, Paralympic medalist, and you're listening to
Leisure link with Peter Greco on the Vision Australia radio network.

S1 (01:12:51):
Let's find out how the review of the Disability Discrimination
Act is going, and speak to senior consultant and advisor
at the social desk, Jane Brett. Jane, always good to talk.
Thanks for your time.

S13 (01:13:01):
Yeah. Thank you very much for having me, Peter.

S1 (01:13:03):
Now, last time we spoke to you, you were actually
in Tasmania. What were you doing there and how did
that go?

S13 (01:13:08):
Yeah, we were doing the Tasmanian Hybrid Forum for the
Disability Discrimination Act review. So we were in Hobart and
we did a face to face session there, as well
as people connecting online with us at the same time
from all over Tasmania to hear what they had to
say about their experiences of the Disability Discrimination Act to
date and where it's going to from here.

S1 (01:13:29):
How has it been so far? We'll chat about what
are you doing sort of concentrating on in a second.
But how's it going in terms of number of responses
and if I can say sort of quality of responses?

S13 (01:13:39):
Oh, it's been incredible really. We've had responses from all
over the country, and we have been to every single
capital city so far. We've heard really extensive information about
not just what's happening on our sort of national level,
but also down to unique experiences that are happening in
each state and territory that are relevant for this particular review.

S1 (01:13:58):
And how's it all going? Is it kind of civil
because the Royal Commission into Violence, abuse, neglect and Exploitation
of People with disabilities, some harrowing stories were told. How's
this panning out? I guess it's kind of a different environment.

S13 (01:14:10):
Yeah, very much so. In some respects. I mean, certainly
a lot of the similar experiences that were shared with
the commission are being shared as well. But now we're
sort of at the phase of reporting where we are
compiling the information that we heard and as well as
received from online, and that is going through to the government,
the Attorney-General's Department, and they'll be the ones making decisions

(01:14:32):
about where things go to from here, as what does
get updated inside the Disability Discrimination Act to help make
it a more preventative measure for people with disability.

S1 (01:14:42):
I guess for those that missed our chat a few
weeks ago when we first spoke to you this review,
if you like a lot of that is through recommendations
from the Royal Commission.

S13 (01:14:50):
Yeah, absolutely. It's come about through that. There was 15
recommendations made by the Disability Royal Commission. And so this
is stemming from that and the experiences about discrimination that
were heard during the commission to make sure that the
different parts of the act, like the definitions of discrimination
of disability, how amendments happen and how unjustifiable hardship claims

(01:15:10):
go through those sort of elements that are related to
the act, how they're operating on the ground. We've heard
the experiences of different people about how that is working,
as well as some of the state legislation where things
are already implemented, like Positive Duty, and how that's been
working on the ground in those particular areas. This is
now leading to other consultations that are stemming off from this.

S1 (01:15:32):
And one of the impressive things that you're doing is
you're kind of focusing it on different areas of life,
if I could put it that way. And at the moment,
education is kind of under the spotlight.

S6 (01:15:41):
Yeah.

S13 (01:15:41):
So that's how new consultation that is underway. It has
just opened up the 2025 review of the Disability Standards
for education. And those education standards sit under the Disability
Discrimination Act. And so now we will get to hear
from people around the country about their experiences of education

(01:16:02):
and how the standards might be updated to ensure that
they get inclusive and accessible education experiences.

S1 (01:16:09):
And this is obviously very wide reaching in terms of
the people who are saying that as far as what
role they play in education, it's not just the students,
if you like or not, just the teachers. It's quite
a broad brush approach.

S13 (01:16:20):
Oh, absolutely. You know, this will involve educators involved, disability
and family, peak bodies and advocacy groups will hear from
people all across the schooling system, as well as the
tertiary sector and of course, from students themselves about their
experiences of encountering education and what it's been like for
them in terms of getting the things that are under

(01:16:41):
the standards, like adjustments in the classroom and and similar provisions.

S1 (01:16:45):
And I guess a little bit of a nuanced approach,
if you like, in more recent years, would be the
ability and the facility, if you like, for people to,
to learn online as well.

S13 (01:16:54):
Absolutely. And that will come into this, I imagine. I
imagine people will have feedback because as we know, the
pandemic changed the landscape all kinds of ways in education
and employment. Obviously we are chatting via link today and
that's how we are in this modern day and age.
So I can imagine that there will be quite a
bit of feedback about how online systems are interacting here

(01:17:15):
and and how inclusive and accessible they are for students
receiving an education.

S1 (01:17:19):
Yeah, well, actually go too much off into the weeds, David.
I saw an ad the other day from the University
of Adelaide, talking about the fact that you can now
apply to do a course 100% online. You don't have
to go to the uni at all. So I guess
it's obviously appealing to maybe interstate and international students, but
it's kind of 2025 and beyond, isn't it?

S13 (01:17:38):
Yeah, and I think it's also a market beyond that
for people with disability. It makes it more accessible. There's
some reasons that they may not be able to get
into campus. It does enable them to be able to
receive an education in a format that is accessible to them.
So I think, you know, the reach is really great
for families as well, who may have time pressures of
not being able to attend class particular schedule. So I

(01:17:59):
think this is the future we are seeing, you know,
education expanding in all kinds of ways. And that does
include the online classroom.

S1 (01:18:06):
And obviously, of course, also for people in regional and
remote areas hoping that their internet holds up well enough
to be able to do it.

S13 (01:18:13):
We are certainly going face to face in a number
of regional locations across Australia for this consultation, so we'll
be heading into the northern rivers of New South Wales,
Launceston and Burnie and Tassie. Alice Springs and Tennant Creek
in the Northern Territory and regional South Australia.

S1 (01:18:28):
How have you enjoyed it? From a personal growth point
of view, Jane? I mean, you've been involved in advocacy
for a long time. How has this experience been for you?

S13 (01:18:35):
It's been truly an outstanding moment in my career, especially
going up into the Northern Territory and hearing the experiences
on the ground there. It is such a unique environment.
They're such beautiful country as well, but it's been really
heartening to hear from the community around that, the level
of advocacy that is occurring across the country, we're in
really good hands. There is so many people coming out

(01:18:57):
in droves to share their experiences and, you know, advocating
for themselves and others to make sure that we have
a future that is accessible and inclusive.

S1 (01:19:05):
So, yeah, we don't want to pin you down or
sort of put the responsibility on you people that are
making submissions, if it's online or if it's via an email,
I think even people can call in. So obviously the
attorney general is going to hear or read all of those,
but someone will.

S13 (01:19:18):
With the respect to the review of the Disability Standards
for education, that is, by the Department of Education that
that is happening under at the moment, as an offshoot
of the first consultation that we talked about. And there's
a way that people can have their say, which is
to go to the website. The 2025 review of the
Disability Standards for education consultation that is on the Australian

(01:19:40):
Government Department of Education website. I was able to bring
it up today by googling, so it should come up
with quite a lot of ease. And people can make
submissions until the 21st of November, and that will be
at 5 p.m. on that day. People will be able
to put in their information in different ways so they
can attend the engagement events. As I talked about, make

(01:20:01):
an online submission or complete the survey and comment or
share thoughts on the ideas for the feedback. For all
of that, as I said, will close on the 21st
of November. So there's still, you know, really good time
before then for people to get in and have their say.

S1 (01:20:15):
Alright, you've actually sent me that link, Jane, so we'll
put that up with our show notes so people can
go straight to an aquatic center. I've had a fairly
quick read of it, but it seems quite accessible and
quite easy to follow, so thank you for that. We'll
put that information up. Jane, always great to catch up.
Thank you so much. I know you're very busy, but
we appreciate you making time. And certainly these initiatives are
hopefully going to stand or people with disabilities today, but

(01:20:36):
also going into the future in much better stead, which
is good that we can have a bit of a
long term view as well.

S13 (01:20:41):
Yeah, it's very much the hope. Education is obviously really important.
Knowledge is power and it does lead to the ability
to be able to have economic security and employment and
really be able to access the community in an accessible way.
So it's really foundational thing for people to be able
to access. So this is really a critical review.

S1 (01:20:59):
Great to catch up.

S13 (01:21:00):
Thank you very much, Peter.

S1 (01:21:01):
Jane, a tremendous consultant in Jane's own right, and certainly
plenty going on in that consultancy field, which is great.
So if you're able to get some feedback, please do,
and we'll put the link particularly to the education standards
up with our show notes. And you can check it out.
As always, if you have any difficulties, give us a
call here at the radio station. A quite and a

(01:21:23):
fun fact. Before we go. Alex has sent through a
quote from the state of Maine in the US, a
quote from Charlie Munger that, uh, famous investor that sadly
is no longer with us got to 99. Charlie's quote is,
show me where I'm going to die, so I won't
go there. Okay, thanks, Alex for that. And a fun

(01:21:45):
fact from Jinder, the greatest taxi driver in the world,
as he's about to start a busy Saturday night, he
said to me during the week, you'll be interested in this.
Your listeners will be interested in this. The new model
of the Tesla no Am or FM radio in it. Well,
don't bother buying that, folks. So thanks to Jinder for
sending that through. And if you're out and about tonight

(01:22:07):
either with taxis or rideshare, please be courteous and please
be kind. A couple of birthdays before we go. Amanda
Jane Jennings, one of our fabulous Paralympians. Having a birthday
as two, does Samantha Schmidt grant you Samantha from Queensland.
Very proud. First Australian and a wonderful Australian athlete. So

(01:22:28):
Samantha and Amanda, happy birthday to you and also very
happy birthday to Daniel Baird, a very astute punter from
years gone by, was involved with an organization called Leisure
Link who did similar work to what we did. But
we were here first. Anyway, Daniel has moved on to
greener pastures and so has that leisure link. This leisure
link stays the same. So happy birthday to Daniel Baird.

(01:22:51):
That's it for the program. Sam. Richard, thanks so much
for your help. Pam Green, thanks so much for your support.
Kevin James, thank you so much for your wonderful work.
Put in the program to where it's very much appreciated,
reminding you that the link is available wherever you get
your favorite podcast. And if you like the show and
if you don't, please tell a friend. Always great to
have more listeners on board. Speaking about listeners on board,

(01:23:15):
you're on board right now and you stay on board.
If you're listening through 1190 7 a.m. in Adelaide, coming
up very soon. Vicki Cousins with the Australian Geographic. Be
kind to yourselves, be thoughtful and look out for others.
All being well, let's look back at the same time
next week on Vision Australia Radio and the Reading Radio Network.

(01:23:37):
This is leisurely.

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