13 Sep 2025

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:13):
Hi, I'm Matthew Brumby and I'm in the middle of
my preparation for the 2026 Winter Paralympic Games in Milano Cortina.
And you're listening to leisure link with Peter Greco on
the Vision Australia radio network.

S2 (00:48):
It's just gone 5:00 and with footy finals fever, I'm
also at fever pitch because I get to work in
mutilation link here on Vision Australia Radio 1190 7 a.m.
Adelaide online at radio via Radio Digital Adelaide in Darwin
through the Community Radio Plus app. Look for Vision Australia,
Radio Adelaide, also the Reading Radio Network. Our friends listening

(01:11):
through 103.9 FM and Esperance in Western Australia, and also
thanks to the great support from Disability Media Australia. Find
out much more about them, including Leslie, at Powered Media.
Media Peter Greco saying great to be here and thank
you so much for making time to tune in to

(01:31):
this program. Coming to you from Wonderland. Come to you
very shortly. We'll speak to Matt Brumby, hopefully getting ready
for the Winter Paralympic Games. As they draw ever closer,
we'll meet the winner of the APM Employment League competition.
The man who kicked the winning score will find out very,
very soon. We speak to Reggie Bird about the blind
Australian of the year. Of course you can still nominate someone,

(01:55):
so stand by for more news about that. Chelsea marchetti
will join us. Our resident physiotherapist from the Flipper Academy.
Talk about knee replacements. We'll speak to Andy Davies with
your personal invitation to attend Techfest October 9th this date.
Put in your diary. Stay tuned. Also, catch up with
Andrew Beagle, who's just back from the World Transplant Games.

(02:17):
A great story for Andrew to tell. We'll hear from
Shannon Hutchins from Resthaven. Talk about meal preparation and the
nutrition and its importance for people in residential aged care.
And also, Alexandra morse will join us music therapist to
talk about the decision to put music therapy back on
the list for NDIS participants. Is the news as good

(02:40):
as it seems? Well, the Winter Paralympic Games draw ever
closer day by day. Let's catch up with a person
who's had a really good season in the winter here
in Australia as off overseas to prepare for hopefully Cortina
next year. Matt Brumby Matt, great to catch up. Thanks
for your time and welcome.

S1 (03:00):
Thanks for having me. Peter, how are you doing?

S2 (03:02):
I'm going very well. Maybe not as good as you,
but that's good because you want to get to the
Paralympic Games.

S1 (03:07):
Oh, that's the ultimate goal. We, uh, we had a
pretty good season. Australia had some great snow this year, comparatively.
You know, the last 5 or 10 years. So it
was really good for all of us athletes, you know,
heading into the games next year, not just the cross
country and biathlon, but you know like all the alpine
guys as well. So you know, the better snow we
have in Australia, the best chance that we have of
leading into our European season come November December.

S2 (03:29):
Matty, we caught up with Ben Troy a few weeks
ago or maybe a few months ago now, and he
was very excited about the fact that the, uh, team
that was going away was going to be probably the
biggest thing for quite some time, maybe ever. Does that
kind of permeate through the the whole team that there's
a bit of extra excitement around the place?

S1 (03:46):
It definitely does. You know Ben's leading a great team
and you know Paralympics Australia. And they're super supportive of
moving into these games. We have, as you said hopefully
the biggest team that we're ever going to have taken
to a Winter games and potentially our first ever Nordic team.
We've had athletes go before with a single arm amputee
in James Miller and a and a skier from Tasmania.

(04:08):
Dominic Monypenny went in, uh, cross country, but we've never
actually had like a full team. So hopefully this will
be the first time in in 20 years that we'll
have potentially, you know, four athletes going to represent Australia.

S2 (04:19):
And how's your prep been going. You said uh we
said you've had a good winter. You're happy with the
way you're on target.

S1 (04:24):
Yeah we are. We had a bit of a crash
at the beginning of the year. We had a really
good season last year, doing all the World Cups and
World Championship events. And then three days before I came home,
I had a bit of a crash and broke a
few ribs. Uh, so yeah, last year was pretty slow.
That took a while to get over being a higher
level paraplegic. It takes a bit longer for stuff to heal,
but then a really good month in New Zealand with

(04:46):
the team. Another really good month with the supporters that
I have in Australia. And then yeah, so we're back
on track now. We've just been inducted to work with sassy.
So the South Australian Sports Institute here in Adelaide. That
was a really good meeting I had yesterday. And that's
just some more support that we're getting for the whole
team leading into Milano next year.

S2 (05:04):
Yeah, we caught up with Emily Bourke last week, the
Minister for sport and, you know, extra funding, which is
always a welcome. I'm sure.

S1 (05:11):
It does. And it trickles down very quickly, you know,
up until now. I know you've had Tarin on the
program before, you know, as our our only female and
visually impaired athlete for the last few years. You know,
her and I have really been really trying to grow
the sport, and it costs a lot of money for
her and I to travel overseas. And, you know, he
had one of the best coaches in the world from
from Canada that was really helping out as well. So

(05:33):
now when that money starts to trickle down, it like
it just helps all of us out. And with Dave
coming on board now, you know, and then potentially Laura
it's it's great. We've got an actual team now. So
we're all looking to support each other and get as
many people to the games next year as possible.

S2 (05:46):
So if your career then Matt, what got you involved?
I mean, you know, there's, I don't know, 3 or
400 athletes that go to a summer games. So a
handful that go to winter games. So why'd you choose
the winter route.

S1 (05:57):
Yeah. So just really quickly, I, you know, I'd been
in the wheelchair for ten years. Back in 2010, I
met a guy who was doing triathlons, so I started
racing triathlon. I missed out on Rio a little bit
unlucky there. And then I did a bit of a reset.
Went and started racing some Ironman races. Did you know
the 70.3 World Championships? Did Hawaii the big one? Then

(06:17):
after that I moved to Adelaide and two weeks later
Covid hit. Uh, and then I was kind of lost
for a couple of years of like trying to train
ready for an Ironman again, not training, training, not training.
And then I met a guy who had an organization
called Viessmann, and I was like for veterans and emergency
services personnel to do para biathlon. Uh, and I was
hooked as soon as it was, oh, I can shoot

(06:37):
and ski and. Yeah. So like cross country skiing as
an individual sport is probably one of the hardest things
to learn, especially with a spinal injury, because there's no
breaks and there's no steering. I mean, at least in
all the other sports that I've done with handcycling or
wheelchair racing, you've got breaks and you've got a steering device,
you don't have any of that on the snow. And then,
you know, you try and figure out how to learn

(06:58):
to ski, and then you come into a range and
you've got to put all that aside. And then now
you're a shooter. And then same thing up off the
ground and and off you go skiing again.

S2 (07:06):
Now reading a bit about what you've done and sort
of the challenge, I guess it's kind of managing your
heart rate as well. That's an important part.

S1 (07:13):
Totally. You want to you want to come into the range. Uh,
and it's very interesting. You actually don't want to come
into the range and drop your heart rate too much.
It sounds a bit counterintuitive, but basically when you come
into the range, you just need to be at a
heart rate where you can maintain your breathing rhythm for shooting. Um,
because if you drop your heart rate, like really quickly,
when you get up off the mat, you've got to
start skiing again. You know, it's another two and a

(07:35):
half K loop potentially. They want to try and really
increase your heart rate again. You kind of want to
stay kind of like find a happy medium basically.

S2 (07:42):
And is that the breathwork that kind of controls it
or manages it best?

S1 (07:46):
100%. So when you come in, people do it like differently.
Most people take, you know, short, sharp little breaths, get
a bit of oxygen in, and then there's always a
natural pause when you're breathing out, and then that's when
you want to squeeze the trigger and you try and
get that rhythm for. For every five shots you shoot
five times when you come into the range. So ultimately,
you know, lay down on the mat, get yourself sorted
and then hopefully shoot clean and see all those little

(08:07):
targets drop.

S2 (08:09):
Now, as you said, we spoke to China a few
weeks ago who's a vision impaired and talked about the
audio signal she gets from the target. So I guess
for someone with sight, apart from the position that you're
in when you shoot, it's kind of a conventional shooting,
if I can call it that.

S1 (08:23):
Yeah, that's exactly right. It's same thing looking for the
same sight picture every time you're looking down the sights,
getting your elbows in the same triangle. Uh, and that's
the hard part for a sitski, you know, because we're
stuck in our buckets. So there's a lot of us
that have to, like, twist and lay down. Kind of
like on your side to be completely prone. But it's
just the same thing the more that you do it. Repetition, repetition,

(08:44):
and the best guys and girls in the world can
shoot from that position and shoot clean. So it's just
a matter of practice.

S2 (08:50):
It's probably the wrong word, but it's part of the
fun of it. And I'd say it's probably in quotes. Uh,
the fact that the two kind of disciplines that are
so different from each other.

S1 (08:59):
Yeah. Again, you're on the ball, mate. It's exactly that. You,
as the coach says to us, he goes as soon
as you come into the range, you're a shooter. Nothing else.
Whatever has happened on the course matters. You're now a shooter.
Concentrate on shooting. And the second that you get up
and off the mat and you start skiing out of
the range, you're now a cross-country skier. So he's two disciplines.
And you could be good at one and not good

(09:21):
at the other. And that'll show, especially if you're missing
targets and you're doing penalty loops or getting time added
for penalties. You definitely notice that when you're out on
the course and then, you know, like I get a
bit frustrated sometimes and you've just got to put it
behind you. If you've if you've shot badly, well then
you've shot badly. You've got to ski now and then
focus on the range when you come in the next time.

S2 (09:39):
It's probably easier said than done because the, the, you know,
maybe human nature is to oh, I mucked that up.
Now it's on your mind for the next few minutes.

S1 (09:48):
Yeah. And that's exactly what I do. You know, sometimes,
you know, like I had a the first race we
did at nationals was pretty good. The second one Not
so good. I, you know, like we shot 20 times
and at least nine targets. And then it was just frustrating,
you know, like you miss, you know, four out of five.
And then I came in, I shot and hit all five.
And then I came in. I missed all five. And

(10:08):
then I came in and hit all five. And that like,
I found that extremely frustrating because I couldn't understand what
I was doing wrong. You know, like, obviously I'm doing
something wrong. I'm the targets aren't being hit. And then yeah,
that's I you know, I luckily had a good I
had like an assistant coach here in Australia. That helps
out a lot Damon. And yeah. So he just basically
ran beside me on the course and you know, told
me to suck it up and get over it. Uh,

(10:29):
and it really helped me. I was not happy, you know, like, I'm. Yeah,
I dropped my rifle instead of, like, placing on the ground.
And it was just frustrating. It's like, how can I
shoot so well and then all of a sudden shoot
so badly and then shoot so well again. Um, but yeah,
he was great. Just ran. Concentrate. You got a ski?
Now you're a skier. Uh, and then. Yeah. So it
all comes down to the support you get, which, as

(10:51):
I said, you know, Australia's been fantastic to us. They
really have snow. Australia's coming on board and Paralympics Australia
have been fantastic. And to let you know mate, so
we are we're the only nation that has it separate.
So all the other nations they're Para-nordic program is under
one umbrella, whereas in Australia like so we do biathlon
through Biathlon Australia and we do cross country through snow because.

S2 (11:15):
Yeah.

S1 (11:15):
It's a little bit different for us. But at the
end of the day, the two organizations are starting to
work really well together. Um, and ultimately that's what that
works best for us athletes.

S2 (11:25):
Now you're off overseas shortly.

S1 (11:27):
Yeah. November, mid November. We all we all head overseas. Um,
first World Cup is the first week of December. And then,
you know, hopefully we'll all get World Cup points. And
Australia has one male and one female slot locked in
for the Paralympics. And then there's four of us potentially
now another female and Dave and I racing. We'll see

(11:47):
what we can do in November in Canmore. Uh look,
keep it kind of all goes pear shaped there, which
we hope it doesn't. Hopefully we'll all get World Cup points. Uh,
but there is one shot left in January in Germany,
so if we, we'd like to get it all locked
in place and not have to go back overseas and
then only head over for, you know, the pre Pre-Olympic
camp in, in Austria. But again, you know, it's all

(12:09):
going to come down to what happens in, in Canmore.
And then what Paralympics decide of who ultimately gets the slots.
And then they're going to ask. They can ask for
I think it's called a bipartisan, you know, basically put
it to the Olympic Committee and say, look, we've got
other athletes. We're in your nation. If we've got World
Cup points, how well have we done at the World Championships? And,
you know, so it's not just the be all and

(12:31):
end all the 1 or 2 slots. There is potential
for us to have a whole team of four people
go and then, you know, we'd be able to put
a relay on and it yeah, I'd just be great
for Australia and the sport that the more of us
that go, the better it will be long term.

S2 (12:45):
Maddie, great to catch up. Thanks for a good synopsis
of how things are going. We'd love to keep in
touch and we wish you well. Thanks for speaking to
us today.

S1 (12:53):
Peter, thanks for having me on the show. Mate, we'll, uh,
we'll be in touch.

S2 (12:57):
You certainly will be. That's, uh, Maddie Brumby there who, uh,
hopefully is on his way, along with a number of
other athletes from Australia to the Winter Paralympic Games in 2026.
The APM Employment league, the Stanford competition, had their grand

(13:19):
final last week. Let's find out how it went and
speak to the captain of the winning team, Jacob Palkovics. Jacob,
great to catch up and thanks for your time and congratulations.

S1 (13:27):
Thanks, Peter.

S3 (13:28):
Thanks for having me. Yeah, it was a good win.

S2 (13:30):
What's it like a few days after still kind of
coming down from cloud nine?

S3 (13:34):
Yeah, a little bit. Sometimes, like, you get a few
articles pop up and you read them and it's like, oh, man. Like,
it doesn't feel real. But I'm glad it happened. I'm glad.

S2 (13:42):
Yeah. You were the star of the show, I believe.

S3 (13:46):
I wouldn't say that, but I definitely kicked a handy point,
that's for sure.

S2 (13:50):
First about that was that right at the end of
the game?

S3 (13:52):
Uh, yeah. I think it was about five minutes left
of the game or something like that.

S2 (13:57):
But yeah, that was it was a set shot or
a snap.

S3 (14:00):
Yeah, it was a set shot. So we got a
holding the ball tackle. So like Cody McKenzie tackled one
of the Kenilworth players on the 50. People were yelling
at him and like oh take the shot. Take the shot.
And he was telling me after the game he's like,
I didn't have the distance in me. So he sort
of just hit the barrel and I just got luckily
I just broke the like the tag I had and
got the like got the lead on and marked the ball. Yeah,

(14:21):
unfortunately I missed it. But yeah.

S2 (14:22):
The point bit like bit like David Swallow. Did you
see that last weekend.

S3 (14:26):
Yeah I did, it was quite fitting actually. It was convenient.

S2 (14:30):
Oh you did it first though didn't you.

S3 (14:31):
Yeah I did yeah. First I'll say he copied me.

S2 (14:34):
He copied you exactly. Uh, Jacob, you've had a good year,
I think, but haven't you?

S3 (14:39):
Yeah, we've had a very good year. Uh, we've been
surprising ourselves, I think, a little bit. I didn't think
we'd go out being undefeated all year. But we've put
the hard work in and it's paid off.

S2 (14:47):
What about, uh, you know, getting to the grand final undefeated?
I guess that brings its own sort of set of pressures.

S3 (14:53):
Uh, yeah. I think we were a bit over overconfident
at first. A lot of the boys will talk and
we're like, oh, yeah, we're easily going to get the win.
And we kept trying to like, well, I think we
were just too excited for being undefeated. But yeah, it
was definitely a lot of pressure on game day when
we wrapped up.

S2 (15:08):
Yeah.

S3 (15:08):
The coach I love Nick, I love him. Um, yeah.
He's a good he's a good coach. He's really like, well,
this is our fourth year. Like in 2022. We came
into it. We've had Nick from the start and he's
always just taught us the basics and like what it is.
He it's more of what it's like to be as
a team, like a family than so much football. And
he's really brought that into this team. And I think

(15:29):
that's why we're all so connected and close.

S2 (15:31):
Yeah, he's going to talk about that these days with
teams isn't it. That connection within the team.

S3 (15:35):
Yeah I think it really brings like the best out
of people like you. People are more like they're happy
to come to the club. They're happy to be around
each other, like support each other if something's not going
right outside or something like that. But it's been good.
It's a very good environment to be in.

S2 (15:51):
They kicked the point that put you a point ahead. Yeah.
What was the last few minutes like? Was it a
fairly kind of defensive and, you know, just kind of
milking the clock. How had the last few minutes play out?

S3 (16:01):
Honestly, it's a bit of a blur. But our full
it was it happened so fast. But we had it
in our 50. And I think we sort of had
it locked in there from the end. Like once we
got the point, I'm sort of like looking back now,
I think I'm glad it was a point and not
a goal, because I feel like they might have actually
gotten the clearance out and, uh, could have snuck one back. So.

S2 (16:20):
Yeah, it's a good point, isn't it?

S3 (16:22):
Yeah. It was. I think it actually worked out for
the best.

S2 (16:24):
Yeah. Because I guess, as you say, you're, um, forward area.
So if you can lock it in there, it makes
it a bit tough for the other team to, you know,
go the, the full length of the ground.

S3 (16:32):
Yeah. It made it very tough for him. So I'm
very thankful. It actually ended up being a point and
we locked it in.

S2 (16:38):
So you talked about everything being a bit of a blur,
which I think we can kind of understand. What about
when the final siren went?

S3 (16:43):
Oh, it was just relief. It was just all the
hard work we've done, all the like organizing everything, making
sure everyone's happy. Like just everything we've worked towards. Just
just a big relief. Was so happy.

S2 (16:55):
What about the support from the community and the club
in general? Jacob? What's that been like?

S3 (17:00):
Oh, the club's been amazing to us. Like they get
around us week in, week out. Like we always have
a like a big crowd at our games. They're always
cheering us on. Like when we sing this song, we
always have a big crowd in the rooms with us
and they sing it with us like they get behind
us a lot like Kilburn and we love it.

S2 (17:16):
What are your colours and what's your nickname?

S3 (17:18):
I honestly don't have a nickname. Some people just call
me Skip. So yeah, that's normally what I get.

S2 (17:25):
I mean, what are the colours of Kilburn?

S3 (17:28):
Uh, black and white.

S2 (17:29):
Ah, if I use the magpies.

S3 (17:31):
Uh, they call us the chicks.

S2 (17:32):
Yeah, well, I thought that, but I, I didn't want
to ask. I thought it might be a bit, uh,
I might have been off the mark.

S3 (17:36):
Yeah. I think the Kilburn chicks Chick. I don't get.
I don't fully understand that part of Kilburn. I've been
there for a while. I still don't understand why.

S2 (17:44):
I think we might just leave that alone in case
we get ourselves into trouble.

S3 (17:48):
Yeah.

S2 (17:49):
Well, I'll tell you what. You're the winning chicks anyway.
And of course, you know. What do you think? Maybe.
Is it a precursor for Collingwood, do you think or.

S3 (17:56):
Oh, I don't know. A lot of other port support.
I know a lot of people, uh, Kilburn are Collingwood supporters,
but they're a good chance this year, so I reckon
it might be.

S2 (18:04):
Oh, they're nearly there, aren't they. So you certainly put
themselves in a position to win. Jacob, just a bit
about your career, as you said, uh, with Kilburn for
four years. What about before then?

S3 (18:13):
Uh, before then. I played a lot of juniors, actually,
at Fitzroy, like Fitzroy Football Club. Yeah, but I stopped playing. Yes.
I was there for, what, three years? I think for
a while. It was a while ago. And then I
stopped playing for years and years and then, um, just
sort of fell out of love with the game. And
then my good mate Cody sort of was like, hey, like,
come back, like, come on, just come back. And I
was like, oh, all right, I'll do it. And yeah,

(18:35):
then I've been at Kilburn for since 2022. I think
it started. So yeah, I've been there since I played
my hundredth game on grand final day 50th for Kilburn inclusive.

S2 (18:44):
Oh brilliant.

S3 (18:44):
Yeah. And then 100 overall. So it was a very
special day. It was a good day.

S2 (18:48):
I gotta go. You're not going to quit after or
go retire are you?

S3 (18:51):
No, no, I'm still going.

S2 (18:53):
I'm still going. Yeah. Um, what about as far as
was there a best on ground named after the game?

S3 (18:58):
Yes. Ozzie Jones. Austin. He was, uh, amazing, like usual.
He he stepped it up. I said we all struggled
a bit in the first few quarters, I'd say. But
his last quarter was amazing. He just took the game on,
and it showed by getting the first clearance of the
first quarter to hit in the lead. He was he
was a major partner in our win.

S2 (19:18):
Uh, terrific. What about, uh, the best and fairest for
the year? Has that been named?

S3 (19:22):
It has been named. We have, um, a mini medal
count to celebrate the end of the year, and, uh,
Austin actually won it.

S2 (19:28):
Oh, terrific. Well, he's had a good year, too.

S3 (19:30):
Yeah, he had a he had a really good year.

S2 (19:32):
Yeah, I know last week, Jake, we caught up with, um,
Trevor Jarrett from the Woodville-west Torrens Eagles, the Navajo Wheelchair League,
and they took out the Grand final. He is looking
forward to the AFL Inclusion League. What about you? Yeah,
the National League in October.

S3 (19:46):
I know all the state won.

S2 (19:49):
The state won.

S3 (19:49):
Yeah, yeah, I'm keen to watch it. I want to
see how the boys go. And I think we've got
a few Kilburn boys going in it, so it'll be
good to watch on and support.

S2 (19:57):
You're not a member of that squad?

S3 (19:59):
No, not this year. I thought about it, but I
was like, nah, not yet.

S2 (20:02):
Alright, well we've we've done okay over the years and
of course it's in Melbourne, so it'd be nice to
beat the Victorians over there wouldn't it.

S3 (20:08):
Yeah, it would be good. Hopefully the boys can get
it done and bring it home.

S2 (20:13):
What did your wife and footy.

S3 (20:14):
Uh, just spend time with my daughter. I do some
study on the side. Yeah? Yeah, just the family. Spend
time with family. Do, like, work on my studies. So
that's really it. That takes up a lot of my time.

S2 (20:24):
How old is your daughter?

S3 (20:25):
She turned two this year.

S2 (20:26):
Okay, so maybe not quite getting what the grand final
win is about.

S3 (20:29):
No, she has no idea. She just wanted to run
off and play on the oval.

S2 (20:34):
Uh, terrific. Alright. Uh, Jacob, you and Kilburn and indeed
the IPM Employment League in general. We've been following it
for years and years and years. It just seems to
go from strength to strength and certainly, uh, what would
you get a grand final like that? It's kind of
good for everyone, isn't it? I mean, I know it's
a bit of a cliche, but, uh, football was the winner.

S3 (20:51):
Yeah, it really was. It was a great game, great watch,
great support, and I love everything about it. It was good.

S2 (20:56):
Terrific. Jacob. Congratulations. We'll, uh, touch base, I'm sure, with
the inclusion league later on the year. But, uh, great
to have a great wrap up of the grand final.
And congratulations on that winning point. Uh, that'll stay with
you forever.

S3 (21:07):
Stay with it. Thanks for having me.

S2 (21:09):
That's the Jacob Parker mix there. Nothing like a winner,
is there? And there's certainly a very gracious winner there.
Well done. Also to Kenilworth, who obviously a very, very
worthy runner up. But Kilburn, the winners for this year's
8 p.m. employment league.

S4 (21:23):
Hi, I'm Michael Roeger, Paralympic medalist, marathon athlete and multiple
world record holder. And you're listening to Leisure Link with
Peter Greco on the Vision Australia radio network.

S2 (21:35):
Well, the Blind Australian of the year, it's a wonderful
occasion and one of the stars that appears there on
the red carpet, Georgie Bird and Reggie Reggie always love
to talk to you. Thank you so much for making time.

S5 (21:46):
Thank you. Peter, it's always a pleasure talking to you.

S2 (21:49):
How much are you looking forward to this year? You're
a real hit last year. I know that for a fact.

S5 (21:53):
Ah, yeah. I'm really looking forward to it. Last year
was so much fun and I'm. Yeah. Can't wait to
get back on that red carpet again and meet and
greet people and, uh, have a good time.

S2 (22:05):
It's an interesting role you got, isn't it? Because I
guess sometimes people a little bit nervous, you know, maybe
being in a place for the first time, you know,
it's a big awards night, big glittering occasion. Maybe people
might be a little bit anxious. So to have someone
like you there to relax everyone, it's so important.

S5 (22:20):
Ah, yes. Definitely. Like because yeah, obviously there's a lot
of blind and vision impaired people who go to the awards. So.
And when you're always in a unknown new environment. You know,
I get anxious myself, so. But it's good to make
people feel welcome.

S2 (22:37):
Is there a trick to kind of coping with the anxiety, Reggie?

S5 (22:40):
Oh, gosh. No. I just get on with it, eh? It's. Yeah.

S2 (22:46):
It's kind of your life, though, isn't you? You've had
a few hurdles, but you just keep overcoming them.

S5 (22:51):
Yes I have. I've had a a this year especially.
It's been a tough one. Um, after having a knee
operation that went wrong and. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So I
was on crutches for five months and. Yeah, I've only
just got off the crutches so that it's been a
tough one, I tell you. And then I having both

(23:13):
my parents not well as well uh, like my mum
nearly passed away with pneumonia and, and now my, my
dad's got cirrhosis of the liver. So he's, he. Yeah.
He's not looking real good at all. So it's been
a tough one.

S2 (23:26):
No, it's That's tough time, isn't it? I think many
of us can identify with that. They might have older
parents or parents who are under the greatest of health.
It's it's an anxious time for us because we feel
so helpless. But we want to do something.

S5 (23:37):
Exactly. Peter, like, I so wish I could drive, you know, like,
if I could drive, I'd. I'd be home in a
flash to to be there and, you know, and help
mum and dad as much as I can. But where
they live down in Tassie, they live in the bush.
So there's no there's no public transport and it's it's
hard to get around down there. Yeah.

S2 (23:57):
You have a deep character, aren't you, Reggie? Because this
is such a powerful point, isn't it? Because transport is
an issue for, well, people with disabilities and people who
are blind or low vision. You know, when you can't drive,
you just can't jump in the car and go wherever
you want?

S5 (24:10):
No, no. And it's so frustrating like it truly is.
And that's where you do feel helpless. Like, yeah, it's
so hard and you know, and it's mentally draining as well.
Like because you feel guilty because you can't do anything
to help them. And yeah, it is. Public Transport's a
massive thing. Yeah.

S2 (24:31):
And of course, yeah, sometimes there's, uh, instances that happen
that aren't very accessible for people as well, which is
another issue that people have to cope with.

S5 (24:39):
Yeah, definitely. Yeah.

S2 (24:41):
Alright. Now people have got to be really quick to
nominate someone for the Blind Australian of the year. Blind
Australian of the year. Com is the website. We'll put
that up with our show notes. But the good news
is that, uh they can still book to come along
to the night.

S5 (24:54):
Yeah, there's still some tickets available, so if you haven't
got one yet, jump on board and, uh, get yourself
a ticket and come along for a fun night out.
And you're also supporting those who are blind and vision impaired,
which is even better.

S2 (25:07):
And I know that this year the state government has
got on board as far as supporting the event goes. So,
you know, that's a great thing because often governments cop
a lot of criticism for not doing enough or to
get on board with this event kind of adds a
bit to its prestige.

S5 (25:21):
Yeah. No, that's that's great that that's happened. So, you know, like, uh, people,
you know, many disability services and, uh, events and that know, yeah,
they don't jump on board to, to help out. So
this is really great that they've done that.

S2 (25:36):
Well, you talked about your year so far. Of course
it was the beginning of the year wasn't it.

S5 (25:40):
Yes. Yes. Yeah. Beginning of this year uh, January through
to February, I was on uh, on I'm a Celebrity
Get Me Out of here in the South African jungle.

S2 (25:50):
The, uh, knee injury have anything to do with that?

S5 (25:52):
Oh, no. I went into the jungle with, um, with this, uh,
horrible knee injury, but I got my knee injury from, um.
I can't remember if I told you I got mowed
down in Woolworths by an old fella on a big
mobility scooter a couple of years. Yeah, two years ago. And, uh,
the chondral flap detached from underneath my kneecap, and I

(26:16):
was waiting. Yeah. Nearly two years to have this knee operation,
and I had it done, and and and it didn't
go to plan. So it's, um. I've had a lot
of complications with it. Yeah.

S2 (26:27):
Okay, well, sometimes those things happen to the people that
are best positioned to be able to recover from it.
So maybe maybe it chose you because they know you
would be tough and come through.

S5 (26:37):
Uh, maybe. Peter, that's that's like, can you please stop?

S2 (26:41):
Yeah.

S5 (26:42):
Yeah.

S2 (26:43):
And of course, you know, we talked about, uh, transport.
But if you're not very mobile as well, then that
just adds to the complexity of things, doesn't it?

S5 (26:50):
You know what, Peter? I, I being vision impaired and
getting around on crutches has been the most challenging thing
I've ever done in my life. It's truly unbelievable. It's fascinating.
But the weird thing was, when I was allowed to
come off the crutches and I went back to using
my cane, when I went to the shops, I nearly

(27:11):
got ran over again and I oh my goodness, it was.
I sort of, in a way felt a little bit
protected having the crutches. It's bizarre.

S2 (27:20):
Yeah.

S5 (27:21):
Yeah. Because a lot of people don't spot the cane.
They don't see the cane. And and but being on crutches,
they did.

S2 (27:28):
So more obvious.

S5 (27:29):
Yeah. More obvious. Yeah.

S2 (27:31):
Oh, dear. I tell you what, uh, you know, they
reckon smoking cigarettes is a health hazard. Go to the
shopping centers, a health hazard.

S5 (27:38):
Oh, my. Oh, yeah. It's a it's a mission, I
tell you.

S2 (27:42):
And how about social media? Because I remember when we
spoke to you after I'm a Celebrity, there've been some
pretty nasty stuff on on the media. Now it's easy
for me to say avoid it or ignore it. But
is that kind of calmed down a bit now?

S5 (27:53):
Oh, no. I still cop all the time. Yeah, yeah.
Still cop. I still cop a lot of it. Especially
again about my blindness. You know, they they, um, you know,
I keep on saying, oh, you know, she's faking going blind.
She's been playing this for over 20 years now, they say. Yeah.
Same stuff, you know, but, ah, I try my best

(28:14):
to try and educate people and not, not fight back
at them, but, um.

S2 (28:19):
Well, not all, not all I conditions are the same
people site at different rates and that sort of stuff.
I guess, as I say, that's part of the education process.

S5 (28:27):
Yes. And, and um, there should be more education at
ground roots at schools to teach children about people with
blindness and disabilities in itself. Like there needs to be
more education. Like, I'd love to go around the schools, uh,
talking to the students. It'd be awesome.

S2 (28:45):
Well, I think they'd listen to you because a you've, uh,
got a profile and B, you've lived experience.

S5 (28:51):
Yeah. No, it would be good to, um, have a
role like that. It'd be awesome. Yeah.

S2 (28:56):
Someone from an education department is listening in. Get in touch, and, uh,
we'll put you in touch with Reg. Although you're pretty
easy to find on social media. Yes, they could offer
you a job.

S5 (29:05):
I'd be awesome. I need a job, Peter. I need
a job.

S3 (29:08):
Well, spoken.

S2 (29:09):
About that before as well. How difficult finding a job
is that?

S5 (29:12):
Yes. Yeah. Like even, um. Uh, well, I guess after
I'm a celebrity, uh, not much happened after that. And then.
But then I had this knee issue, that complication. So
now that I'm hobbling about now, I'm ready to hopefully
try and find some work.

S2 (29:30):
All right, well, hope the right people are listening and they, uh,
make it make you an offer you can't refuse.

S5 (29:36):
Yeah, it'll be awesome, Peter.

S2 (29:38):
Nothing else coming up on reality TV. Dancing with the stars.
That might be a bit tough at the moment.

S5 (29:43):
Well, well, they'll they'll start filming that again next year,
so who knows? By then, I could be. I could
be up dancing, but. Okay. Yeah, but Big Brother's coming
back in November this year, so I hope I'm hoping
I might be able to get some kind of gig
on that, so.

S2 (30:00):
Yeah, well, good luck, I reckon, just before you go.
And I always appreciate your time. Uh, we spoke to.
I might have mentioned this to you on air or
off air. I can't remember now, but we spoke to, uh,
Courtney Webb, the winner of last year's Australian of the year.
Lovely young lady.

S5 (30:13):
Yeah. She's beautiful.

S2 (30:15):
And I asked her about you and she said, oh, yeah.
I remember Reggie being on Big Brother this time around,
but the first time round, I wasn't even born yet.

S5 (30:24):
Oh, no. She wouldn't have been born. Bless her. Yeah.

S2 (30:28):
I thought that was kind of funny. Well, I thought
it was funny when you told me that.

S5 (30:31):
No, no, no, it's funny because, um, I met this
little girl the other day. Uh, she wanted to meet
me down the bowls club for lunch. Bless her. She
was only eight years old, but she was a big
fan of me when I was in the jungle. So
I got. I got fans from all kinds of walks
of life.

S2 (30:48):
All I did as well. Hey, Reggie white, Australia. Com.au.
If you're quick, you can nominate. If you don't want
to nominate, go along for the night because you get
to meet Reggie. And I think just a few minutes
with you brightens up. Our day and evening with you
will make our year. So thanks for speaking to us
and keep up the great work. Whatever you do, you
do it really well. And as I said, you really, uh,

(31:09):
make our day a little bit brighter by just having
a quick chat to say thank you for that.

S5 (31:13):
Sweet Peter, thank you so much. And, um, yeah, hopefully, uh,
we get a sold out night. It's going to be fun.

S2 (31:20):
Well, you'll be the attraction, along with Rachel and the others.

S5 (31:24):
Yes, true. Oh.

S2 (31:26):
Good on you, Reggie.

S5 (31:27):
Lovely. Thank you Peter.

S2 (31:28):
Appreciate it. So, Reggie, they want a character. And, uh,
what a what a personality. And certainly doing a lot
as far as awareness goes. And uh blonde Australian of
the year combo rather than the Queensland Government as well
for supporting it. Go along and have a great night.
You're in elite company listening to Leslie here on Vision

(31:50):
Australia Radio, VA radio, Digital, VA Radio.com and through the
TuneIn radio app. Let's catch up with our resident physiotherapist

(32:11):
here on Lesley from the Philippa Academy Chelsea market. Chelsea,
great to have you back with us.

S6 (32:16):
Thank you Peter, great to be back for another month
of physio information.

S2 (32:20):
Yeah. Last time we talked about knee reconstruction. So kind
of a follow on to that, which is probably not
really a follow on but knee replacements. Um, maybe even
more common than the reconstruction do you reckon?

S6 (32:31):
Potentially. Potentially. Depends on the demographic. Um, currently are in
the upper end of orthopedic surgeries that occur, especially in
the knee. Um, so definitely worth something to talk about
and something to discuss around, um, what the procedure is
and treatments and what physio does as well.

S2 (32:49):
I think I asked you last time for knee reconstruction.
So when does the patient first see the physio? Well,
what about for a person who's had a knee replacement.
When do you see the patient?

S6 (32:59):
The answer? Funnily enough, Peter remains the same. So we
see them on day zero. Uh, so as soon as
they get out of recovery and they come into the bay,
The physio. Once they wake up, is probably one of
the first people that they see behind the nurse because
as soon as a person comes out of their surgery
for a knee reconstruction, we really want to try and
get as much movement through that knee as we can,

(33:21):
because as soon as that anesthetic wears off, the pain
is going to impact movement. And if we can get
as much movement as we can in the first 48 hours,
that's going to set up the patient better long term,
as opposed to if we wait a little bit too long,
things will start to get stiff, muscles would be sore,
and then it's harder for the patient to move down
the track.

S2 (33:41):
Okay. So then I almost, you know, not be long
out of anesthetic and, you know, off you go with
your rehabilitation.

S6 (33:48):
Yeah. And look like when I'm talking about rehab on
the day zero for a knee replacement. So we talked
about with our ACL recons we are trying to stand
up with crutches. I guess with a knee replacement, we're
looking at a bit of a different format with that
and a different demographic as well because of that. So
what we're really looking at for day zero of our

(34:10):
knee reconstructions is getting just some gentle range of movement
through the knee, more like a bed exercise type routine.
We might start trying to get some gentle strength exercises
through the knee as well. If we can get the
patient sitting up on the edge of the bed, that's
a really great start. Um, but that would probably be
our upper end of the movement for that kind of day.

(34:31):
And then or day, either day zero or day one,
and then we'll kind of go from there. So we
want to try and get them standing up by day two. Um,
but might not necessarily be as quick as our knee
ACL reconstructions.

S2 (34:45):
Because it's one of those things where psychologically, if you
feel like you're on the road to recovery, that's got
to kind of be good for your overall health. I mean,
you know, in a sense you might not feel like
doing too much, but if you kind of, you know,
can stand up or sit up and maybe things like
eat and drink kind of with a bit of comfort,
that's got to play an important role on your kind
of emotional health as well.

S6 (35:06):
Absolutely. And we want to try and make you as
independent as possible procedures. So part of the goals of
standing up is to get is really in the hospital
setting when we're seeing patients initially is so they can
get to the bathroom independently.

S2 (35:20):
Yeah.

S6 (35:20):
Um and then that kind of feeds into a little
bit more complex things down the track when we look at, um,
scenarios such as discharge planning. So, um, we really look
at those first couple of days and to see how
much support the patient needs to do those tasks, because
if they are pretty independent and they just kind of
need someone around, then if they've got someone at home

(35:42):
that can be around for them for the first few weeks,
that makes that transition from hospital to home really easy.
Where things get a little bit tricky is when they
need a lot of support. And that's when we start
to look at, you know, bridging rehab services either in
the hospital or in the community that can help them
get to home. But the aim of all of this
stuff really is exactly what you're saying, Peter. it so
they can be, um, you know, as independent as they

(36:04):
can be with their daily living activities. And that's probably
why they ended up having the procedure in the first place,
because they weren't able to do the things that they
were doing before because of pain. So we really want
to be able to be part of that process and
part of that journey to help them do what they
need to be doing post-surgery.

S2 (36:20):
That's a really great point, isn't it? Because, as I say,
you know, I guess the knee replacement is, well, not
so much a a last resort, but I think it's
going to be pretty bad before you take that step.

S6 (36:30):
Yeah, yeah. We try we're trying now to push a
bit more of the conservative management pride in the surgical procedures,
just because, you know, there is so much that goes
into having the procedure and then coming out of the procedure,
there is high risk with any surgery. It is a
long process. So we try and do things like I
guess with knee replacements they often coincide with conditions such

(36:52):
as osteoarthritis. So, um, one of the new kind of
physio exercise programs that's been um, produced worldwide in the
last kind of five years is called the Glad program.
So the Glad program is about building strength, and it
has specific exercises that help patients build strength in muscles
so that they can help their joints so that their

(37:13):
joints aren't becoming, um, painful for them. They're not getting
that chronic inflammation from loading their joints repeatedly, and that
hopefully helps with their symptoms. And if anything, you know,
in an ideal world prevents them from getting surgery. But
I guess at the bare minimum prolongs their surgery so
that they can try and be as functional as they
can for as long as they can.

S2 (37:33):
You talked about support at home. I guess part of
that support is moral support. Support. But also, you know,
come on, it's 11:00. Do your exercises or come on,
it's 3:00. Do the exercises because the physio can't be
there the whole time. So that's part of the other thing,
I guess a bit of um, you know, regiment in your,
in your, uh, rehabilitation as well.

S6 (37:52):
Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, that's what those first few
days are for. Like as the physio, we're there at
the hospital. So we're the kind of painful person that's there.
The morning and afternoon or once a day. But, um,
once you kind of go home, it really is up
to you. And, and the support network that you do have. Um,
we do have some services and it depends on where

(38:12):
the patient is in their processes, but there can be services, um,
on discharged, um, that are around, you know, going home
and helping with exercises. But if we're talking about your
standard kind of process, once they're discharged from hospital, we're
really looking at them coming to their appointments and the and,
you know, kind of being like your standard physio appointments
that you do where we go. Okay. Well we can

(38:33):
tell if you haven't done your exercise.

S2 (38:35):
Yeah. Yeah that's a great point isn't it. It's a
bit like uh you know, exams at school. If you
haven't done the homework you get caught out eventually.

S6 (38:44):
And, and and you know when you haven't done it
because you say, you know, they'll come in and they go, oh, really?
Struggling to get, you know, to walk to the bathroom
from my bedroom. And that was something you would do,
you know, on discharge. Charge. So you know what's happened.
Have we not been, you know, moving our knee as
much and therefore the range is limited, then it's harder
for us to bend our knee when we're walking. Are

(39:05):
we not getting up as much? Is, you know, is
everyone bringing stuff to us at home and then move.
So there are a few things in that, um, that
we kind of see as physios in the short term and,
you know, chronic to long term phases of the process, um,
that can affect their long, um, patients long term rehab.

S2 (39:23):
Because I guess it's a double edged sword. The, the
kind of, uh, less you start to do that the
more the problems build up. And vice versa. If you
sort of stick to the plan, you know, hopefully you
are onwards and upwards.

S6 (39:32):
Yeah. That's kind of the, um, ongoing theme of, of physio.
I think, Peter, if we've been listening over the past,
especially the past few chats that me and you have had,
it's really been that move it or lose it type, um,
across the board. So, um, it is super important because
that really is how our bodies are going to adapt
and get better.

S2 (39:50):
And just finally, I guess the doctor and the physio,
you know, the surgeon, all that sort of stuff. They
kind of, uh, you know, keep abreast of each other's
notes and, and you know, what's going on, particularly if
something goes a little bit awry.

S6 (40:03):
Absolutely. And I think what happens as well, um, you know,
the doctors always have their eye on the patient post surgery.
But I guess what tends to happen, you got your
pre surgical stuff where you've got a lot of medical
staff involved. And then obviously the surgical procedures, medical staff,
you know, your orthopedic surgeon stays in contact with you post-op,

(40:24):
but your main point of contact and the person that
you're seeing the most really is the physio once you've
had your surgery. So we're the ones that are touching base. Um,
the surgeon kind of will go off of how you've
been going with physio to see how you're actually going. Um,
of course they can do the more medical things like
check the wound in the first couple of weeks. But,

(40:44):
you know, if we're noticing anything particularly abnormal, we're really
the ones that are going to pick it up because
we're seeing the patient the most. And that's what we flag,
with the doctors to make sure that they're there when
we need them.

S2 (40:55):
How long before you're kind of back to, quote unquote, normal?

S6 (40:59):
How long is a piece of string, really? Yeah. Um, yeah. Look,
it really depends. I think, um, I'm not probably going
to put a timeline on it, Peter, just because when
you do that and then if you put that out
into the community. Yeah, you don't want to kind of
make people feel as though they're not hitting the goals.

S2 (41:14):
They need to know a good point.

S6 (41:15):
But, you know, I guess if we're looking at a
12 month process, I suppose. But I guess that's again,
when you say that that's it depends on what you're
trying to get back to as well. So some patients
what they were pre-op was really minimal. So you know,
to get to that minimal level post-op is probably a
shorter process. Um, and then it's what they actually really

(41:38):
want to get to that they hadn't been able to
get to pre-op. Um, so it really depends on the
patient's goals and what they want to try and do.
I guess the moral of the story is, though, if
you're listening to your doctors and you're listening to your physio.
You're doing your exercises and things are going well. Medically,
then you should be able to achieve what you need to.
Undergoing the process?

S2 (41:57):
Yeah, we're all individuals. If people don't contact you at
the academy, how can we do that?

S6 (42:02):
Can visit our website at WW Dot Academy. We have
some forms that you can fill out online, or you
can email us at inquiries at academy.com.

S2 (42:15):
Just be great to catch up. Oh, before you go.
Happy birthday.

S6 (42:19):
Oh, yes. On Monday.

S7 (42:23):
Have a great day.

S6 (42:24):
Thank you so much, Peter. That's so lovely of you
to wish me a happy birthday.

S8 (42:29):
Oh, well, you know, we.

S2 (42:30):
Look after our special guests, and you're certainly one of those,
so we'll catch up again next month. I will see you.
Will you be? You'll be a little bit older and
even more wiser, if that's possible.

S6 (42:40):
Hopefully a little bit more wiser. I'm hoping. Yes, definitely.

S2 (42:44):
Well. Shall see.

S6 (42:46):
Thanks, Peter.

S2 (42:47):
See you back there from the Academy Academy combo. And
as always, those details up with our show notes.

S9 (42:54):
Hi Alexa, play Vision Australia, Radio Adelaide.

S10 (42:58):
Vision Australia, Radio Adelaide from TuneIn.

S9 (43:01):
Listen to Vision Australia Radio Adelaide via tune in on
your favourite internet device.

S2 (43:08):
Well, the time honoured and very popular tech fest is
on again. Let's find out a bit more about it
with the hashtag Mr. Tech Fest. Andrew Davies from sea.
Definitely good to catch up Andrew.

S11 (43:17):
Good afternoon Peter, how have you been keeping?

S2 (43:19):
I've been keeping very well and you've obviously been very busy.
You've got a very impressive line up of guests coming along.

S11 (43:25):
Yeah. Every year we try to make Tech Fest bigger
and better. This year we're really fortunate. We brought over
some new European suppliers with some new technology that will
be the distributor for over here in Australia. So we're
really excited for the new stuff that we're bringing in.

S2 (43:39):
Well, let's establish the date and venue.

S11 (43:41):
Perfect. So the venue will be EU city. So that's
on Franklin Street. So the same venue that we used
last year, if anybody who's listening hasn't been there before
and they need any directions or anything, please feel free
to give me a call and we can send some
information out. And that's going to be on Thursday the
9th of October. The event will run from 10:00 till 5:00.

S2 (43:59):
Okay. Oh that's good. The 5:00 is good because sometimes
at 4:00 is a bit early for some people who
might want to drop in late in the day.

S11 (44:06):
Yeah. 5:00. It just gives that little bit of extra
time for people who might be working to kind of
get across and come and see what the new technology
is all about.

S2 (44:13):
They've got our sort of mutual friends there, people from
Humanware and Quantum Pacific Vision. But as you said, the
new chums coming along as well.

S11 (44:21):
Yeah, we've got lots of new companies coming along this year.
So we've got Low Vision International coming over from Sweden
with some really cool new devices. So the new tech
is now linking up to people's iPads. So they might
not want a large desktop magnifier, but they still need
some kind of magnification. So these kind of these new
devices that we're bringing in link it up to an iPad.
So you're still getting that magnification. You're still being able

(44:41):
to change the contrast. You can use a distance camera.
It's now time to bring in the AI as well.
So if you wanted to, you could take a photograph
of text and use the AI to be rather than
having the whole page read out to you, you could
use the AI to say, all I want to know
is how much I actually owe from this bill. And
it can do that for you. So yeah, really, really exciting.
We've got our friends from Rhine-Neckar coming over again from Germany,

(45:03):
so they've got a couple of electronic magnifiers that they'll
be showing off and using with speech as well. That
can also link up with Dolphin Guide. So we're really
excited about that. But one of the most exciting things
that we've got this year is the Braille Touch Foundation
that are going to be coming along to show off
the Braille doodle. So we've we've had a sample of
that for here for a few weeks now. We've tested
it out with a few people who are just beginning

(45:24):
their Braille journey, and the feedback has been absolutely fantastic
of how easy it is to kind of learn to
do that Braille alphabet. And also you can draw on
the back with Braille dots and things. So that's a
really cool device to encourage more people to learn Braille.

S2 (45:36):
Got a pretty catchy name, hasn't it?

S11 (45:37):
It has. Yes, definitely.

S2 (45:40):
So is that for kind of older people who might
be losing their sight later on in life that want
to learn Braille, or for young kids, or for anyone
and everyone.

S11 (45:47):
It is for everybody and everybody. So we've kind of
got a relaunch of Braille here. We have a Braille instructor,
and we probably should get Asher to come on and
speak about all the changes that she's doing here in
terms of Braille. It's something that we're really, really trying
to grow. So we've now got a number of braille devices.
So the Braille touch, you've got the monarch we've got here.
We've got the Annie here as well. We're bringing in
a whole new range of Braille board games and activities

(46:08):
as well, just to make it as interactive and as
fun as possible.

S2 (46:12):
Why is that demand? Or you just think that Braille
is a good thing to be promoted? Of course, you've
had your Braille competition over the last couple of years
as well.

S11 (46:20):
Yes, we've got the Braille challenge and that'll run again
March in 2026. But Braille is kind of that key thing,
whether it's for somebody who might just want to learn
to do the spice jars or somebody who might want
to write a thesis or whatever, there are people that
really should be learning Braille, and that's one of the
challenges that we're facing at the minute, that maybe somebody
who has a degenerative eye condition should probably be learning
Braille now before there's any other kind of changes so

(46:44):
that they're better equipped for when that change does come.
It's just that amazing literacy tool that people should learn.
If it's an option for them to be able to
access information.

S2 (46:52):
Probably a topic for another interview on its own, but
do you think there's a bit of a stigma there
that people don't want to learn Braille? Because, oh, it
means I'm going blind? Or I mean, you're probably not
a psychologist, or maybe you are.

S11 (47:02):
No, no. I think there's a real mixture that I
think it goes with kind of any technology that if
you give somebody a tool or an aid that all
of a sudden they're different to people, but it's just
a way of being able to access information. Now you've
got things like your rayban glasses. So a really cool
looking everyday pair of glasses. But the tools that are
built inside of it really help our clients to be
able to remain independent. And you've got the whole new

(47:25):
stuff with Apple accessibility that is really supporting Braille as well. Again,
we'll have Apple at Techfest showing off some of these
cool features. So it's just a great way of being
able to show the mainstream stuff that people can use.
But there's also the tools there as well. So there's
so much choice for people, whether you need an assistance
at home or work in education or whatever, kind of
keep you independent. There are tools available to help you,

(47:46):
and I guess that's one of the big parts about
Techfest to be able to see what is available.

S2 (47:51):
And all in one spot, and pick people that kind
of know about it as well.

S11 (47:54):
That's it. You get to speak to the industry experts.
We bring people in from overseas, from Australia. All of
our friends who have been exhibiting for the last 20
years keep coming across to kind of show everything off,
because it's the only event of its kind in Australia
where we can kind of showcase absolutely everything.

S2 (48:10):
Well, I chat to people before and after Andrew and
you know, I know they can say the right things,
but often they kind of probably a bit more honest,
if you like. And they genuinely say that this is
the best event to go to, and they get so
much with being there and hearing people and speaking to
people about their product and how they could make it
better or what's good, what's not good, that sort of thing. So,
I mean, it's a great kind of market research on

(48:30):
the spot.

S11 (48:31):
It is. And I guess a lot of the time
somebody might have purchased the product and they might be
in communication over the phone or by emails with one
of her suppliers. But then you can kind of get
people together in the same room, and they can discuss
about what benefits or what features they would like in
the next iteration, or if there's an update. So you're
actually getting to speak to people firsthand about what the
differences can, can be done to their devices.

S2 (48:52):
Terrific. Now people need to book, or it's best to
book online before you come in or even before coming along.

S11 (48:58):
If you are a client of, say, differently, you should
have received an email with a link in there. If
you are on email, snail mail, going out to everybody
as well, just to kind of promote the event. That
way if anybody does want to register or if you
need any more information, then yeah, they can definitely give
me a call on 013 hundred number and we can
kind of talk through the whole event and I can
help with the registration side of things.

S2 (49:17):
But not necessarily critical to book. Or what would you
prefer that.

S11 (49:20):
If people do book, it just gives us that opportunity
to manage the numbers and the date. Just so if
we all of a sudden have 500 people that have registered,
we can make sure that we've got even more support
staff there on the day. If nobody registers, we're going
to think, oh, we're only going to have 50, 60
people across. We'll kind of manage appropriately so.

S2 (49:39):
Well, I think you might get closer to 550 or 60. Andrew.

S11 (49:42):
That would be good. Some of the conversations that you
kind of overhear from people are absolutely fantastic, because we've
obviously got our kind of showrooms here in Adelaide and
our plans, but we don't get to show kind of
absolutely everything. So it's a really good opportunity that if
you are looking at any daily living here, then that
can go from like a liquid level indicator all the
way through to your kind of high end monarch, which

(50:03):
is probably like has the biggest price tag. There's kind
of everything there for you to have a look at
under there.

S2 (50:07):
What's your phone number?

S11 (50:08):
1300 944 306.

S2 (50:12):
All right. You've given me some contacts. We can chat
to you in the next few weeks to give the
day a lot more publicity. So thank you for that.
See you differently with your website as well, which has
just been updated to hasn't it?

S11 (50:23):
It has. So we've just introduced a new website and
a new online shop as well. And with the online shop,
that's kind of been a phased process. So we've got
around 50 products on there at the minute. We'll get
another kind of 50 on hopefully before Tech Fest and
some more products coming down the track. So as long
as people know that we do have more options available
than those just 50 at the minute. There are others available.

S2 (50:44):
Do you used to be 43 Franklin Street on the
9th of October?

S11 (50:48):
Perfect. Looking forward to seeing you there, Peter.

S2 (50:50):
Andrew Davis there, the team manager for, uh, assistive technology
to see differently. RSP if you can't get along to
get along because it'll be well worth your while.

S12 (51:04):
On the Vision Australia network through your favorite podcast service
on 1190 7 a.m. in Adelaide. You're listening to Leisure Link.

S2 (51:22):
Where our athletes are making their way home after the
Transplant Games, the World Transplant Games. Let's chat to one
of them Andrew Vogel. Andrew, great to meet you and
thanks so much for your time.

S13 (51:32):
Yeah. No problem. Great to be here.

S2 (51:33):
Where'd you go and how'd you go?

S13 (51:35):
Uh, yeah, I did a lot better than I thought
I would. Uh, the game's a lot bigger than Perth
in 2023. I did a couple of personal bests, uh, in, uh, uh,
the first time I ever tried it. The World Transplant
Games singles in my age group from 50 to 59. I, uh,
made it to the round of 16. So, um, I
was pretty happy with that. Against some, uh, fierce competitors

(51:57):
who played on a professional level in doubles, I partnered
my mate Mick Coles from Forbes. Uh, we've never played
together at all. And, um, the gods smiled on us. Uh,
over there in our three round robin matches, we won
three of them, so we finished on top. Um, but
we got just beat to go into the medal round, so, uh,
that was a great experience playing over there and and

(52:18):
learning some new stuff through, uh, people that played professionally.
Tenpin bowling. I only got to do the bakers event, um,
which is, uh, five people and a team. You bowl
a of frame each. We came sixth in the world,
which is pretty good compared to some of the the
bowlers that are out there. And uh, my last event
was the darts. I played singles and, uh, the team

(52:39):
event in the singles I made to the round of um, eight,
but I, uh, got knocked out by the bloke who
eventually won the gold medal from the Netherlands. He was
a pretty good dart player. Uh, in the team dart event,
we made it to the third round, but, uh, we
eventually got beat. Uh, but it was a great experience.
I can't say enough about the meeting. Old and new people,
friends over there. It was a wonderful experience.

S2 (53:01):
I Andrew, that the dart event, is it like on TV?
Is it that much fun or is it more, uh,
more of a sort of a circumspect occasion.

S13 (53:08):
Uh, through the day time. It's pretty, uh, chilled. But
at night time, they changed it up to be like
on the TV. Had the crowd there, um, had a
couple of professional dart players. I forget his name, but
one was called the German Giant. Right. Um, but yeah. No,
they they said it was a pretty big spectacular. They
had about 400 people there.

S2 (53:28):
So, uh, Andrew, uh, like a lot of, uh, people,
like everyone. I guess we've all got our own kind
of story to tell. You were diagnosed with a kidney
condition at a as a young adult.

S13 (53:38):
Uh, yeah, I was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease, um,
at the age of 22, when I was in the
defence Force. I was serving over in the United States
of America when I was diagnosed, and I didn't even
know what it was. They said it's genetic disease. I
was informed that I should, uh, let my family know.
And I rang them and found out when they got tested.
My father, my oldest brother and my oldest sister have

(54:00):
this disease.

S2 (54:01):
Okay. And what's the kind of, um, implications of it,
if you like, with any symptoms?

S13 (54:06):
Well, there's cysts on the kidneys. So if you stress
out the kidneys, uh, one might burst. You'll have blood
in your urine. I had an episode in 2001. Uh,
had an episode of a kidney. Uh, I thought it
was a kidney bleed. But eventually, after all the testing, uh,
I had a hole in the bottom of artery of
my kidney. I didn't even know. I thought it was
a cyst. I lost like, 20 kilos of fluid. Um,

(54:29):
I was nearly a skeleton. I made it to Westmead
Hospital and they said if I didn't get there by
the time, I would have probably been dead. Because I
would have bled to death because I was just losing
so much blood. Uh, the technology back then wasn't that flash,
but they eventually found it. But, uh, today's technology is unbelievable.

S2 (54:43):
So, uh, you then kind of, um, lived life until
you had a transplant sometime later?

S13 (54:49):
Uh, yeah, I started dialysis, um, when I was 39.
I wasn't expecting that. Um, there was a big shock. Yeah,
I did a five and a half years until I
got the, uh, call up for the transplant. I was
there with my wife. We cried, um, because it was
very emotional. Because we knew that I was getting a kidney.
But also we cried because we knew somebody passed away
for me to get that kidney. So, uh, that was in, um, 2017.

S2 (55:11):
Yeah. It's a powerful message, isn't it? I mean, I've
spoken to a few, uh, well, both recipients and and
families of donors, and I guess that's part of the
games as well. Isn't the the celebration and the acknowledgement
of kind of both sides of the equation.

S13 (55:24):
Uh, yeah. Um, I can't thank my donor family enough.
I thank him every day. Um, but, yeah, um, the
sacrifice they got to make, you know. Do you or
don't you? Um. Like my brother says, you can't take
it with you when you're dead. You could save seven people.
You know, um, a lot of people in Australia need
organ donation. Like at the World Transplant Games. There's probably
a lot of people there that probably be passed away

(55:47):
if they never got their transplants. And now they're living
a full, active life and, uh, cherishing their second chance
at life and having a great time.

S2 (55:55):
Yeah. I guess, as I say, that's kind of the, uh,
the markings of a thing like the the World Transplant Games, you, um,
your quality of life now compared to sort of, you know,
I guess even dialysis must be a, you know, it's
almost like having a full time job, isn't it, without
getting paid.

S13 (56:10):
Yeah. No, uh, dialysis, you know, doing three times a week. Yeah.
You know, you travel. I had to travel into, uh,
Wagga Wagga, which is about 40 miles away. Three times
a week. You're there for 5 or 6 hours. You
have your good days and your bad. But since we transplant,
you know I'm able to travel a lot further. Like
I've been to Cairns. I've been on cruises. Like I said,
I've been to Germany, been to Perth back then, I

(56:31):
wouldn't have even thought of going to World Transplant Games
or the National Transplant Games. So yes, my quality of
life has improved. Uh, from organ donation and, um, yeah.
So if anybody's out there thinking about it, talk to
your family.

S2 (56:44):
It's a great message. What about in terms of, um,
I guess your quote unquote treatment now, are you on
anti-rejection medication? Do you have to kind of be a
little bit careful in terms of, um, colds and flus
and that sort of thing?

S13 (56:56):
Uh, yeah. I'm on an injection. Drugs every day. Um,
take a needle every two weeks. Uh, yeah. I do
have to be careful. I have to admit, I got
Covid in 2023. I took the tablets. I was pretty good,
but I got another dose earlier this year, and it
really knocked the stuffing out of me. Um, yeah. So
I've got to be really careful, um, for stuff like that.

(57:16):
But yeah, we've, um, taught things through Transplant Australia and
our doctor. You know what to do and what to avoid,
so it's pretty good.

S2 (57:23):
What about the games themselves? How many athletes are there?
How many people are there? I mean, it must be a,
as you say, kind of an enormous sort of celebration of,
you know, thank God we're here. And thank God for
the donor families that we're here.

S13 (57:33):
Uh, yeah. Um, interesting. There was 51 countries supported. Yeah.
Which was fantastic. Um, I believe over two, 2500 athletes,
which was way bigger than Perth. But being in Europe,
there was a lot of people there that we'd never
seen before. It was a magnificent week. Didn't matter what
country you're from, you're cheering everybody on. You still had
your competitive edge. Um, but, you know, it was you know,

(57:56):
everybody was friendly hugging, you know, supporting everybody. It's a
great week for everybody. You know, from around the world.
You can say what you had I've had a kidney. Liver.
I know what you're going through. Um, or a heart transplant.
You know everybody. That's the first question you got asked,
what you have done because it's, you know, it's just ridiculous. Um,
some of the people, what they've had done And like,

(58:17):
I thought I was pretty special having a kidney. But
then you hear like, heart double lung people, you go, well,
you know, it's the technology of, uh, medicine today is
unbelievable that all these transplants could happen, like it's put
on thousands and thousands of years of extra life for people.
It's unbelievable.

S2 (58:33):
Andrew. It's a very powerful message. And certainly if you're
thinking about it today, chat to your family and, uh,
do something about it, because, you know, people like Andrew
are living examples of what can happen.

S13 (58:43):
Uh, yeah. I agree with you there, Pete. I'm. I'm
even an organ donor myself. Uh, if it wasn't for that,
I'd probably be doing dialysis or I wouldn't be here
at all talking to you today. Yeah. So if you
are thinking about becoming an organ donor, talk to your family.
Let them know that you want to be it, because
next of kin has the final say when it comes
to the day that does happen. So please talk to

(59:03):
your family. Let them know that you want to be
an organ donor.

S2 (59:06):
Andrew, thank you for speaking to us and we wish
you well.

S13 (59:08):
No problems Pete, anytime. You have a great day.

S2 (59:11):
Andrew. Wiggle there. What a powerful message. Uh, that is
certainly something we can all, put that memory back and
have a good long think about it. Just back from
the World Transplant Games in Dresden in Germany.

S14 (59:27):
Come on in.

S15 (59:28):
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.

S2 (59:49):
Can't catch up with a great friends at Resthaven. Been
supporting us for a long time and this time under
the spotlight. We've got Shannon Hutchins who's the manager for
Hospitality services. Shannon, great to meet you. Thanks for your time.

S16 (01:00:01):
Thank you very much, Peter. I'm happy to be here.

S2 (01:00:03):
Yeah. Well, tell us a bit about your role and
then maybe we chat a bit about the Maggie Beer
Foundation and what you're doing with that.

S16 (01:00:10):
Yes. So my role hospitality Services manager is a newly
created role for Rest Haven. We had some changes in
the team and this role was created to have some
oversight over the hospitality teams across all the residential sites.
I'll be working in collaboration with each individual site management
team and helping to provide guidance to and support them

(01:00:33):
to ensure we're providing the best service to our residents
through hospitality.

S2 (01:00:38):
So is this kind of trying to improve things not
necessarily seen a problem, but you're just trying to sort
of improve things?

S16 (01:00:43):
Yeah. Making sure that we are, you know, always improving
services and also making sure that we are ready for
the strengthened standards, but basically just to have an oversight
over the hospitality and have somebody who's focused on that team.

S2 (01:00:59):
And of course, we've learned over the time that there's
quite a few sites that Rest Haven have residential sites.

S16 (01:01:04):
Yes, we've got 12 residential sites across, uh, Adelaide Metro
and some regional sites also.

S2 (01:01:10):
And what about in terms of, I guess, the menu
or the selection that, uh, residents have, is it pretty
similar from site to site, or does it vary a bit?
How does that work?

S16 (01:01:19):
Uh, we have a corporate menu, so we do a
seasonal menu change. So, uh, our four week cycle menu
is created for each season. The residents have inputs across
their sites for what they would like to see on
the menu. The corporate menu is then adapted to each site,
so residents obviously differ from site to site. Likes and

(01:01:39):
dislikes what they would like to see on the menu.
So the site teams collaborate with their residents and customize
the menu as needed for their residents.

S2 (01:01:49):
You read my mind. In a sense, I was going
to ask you about what kind of input the residents have,
because I guess at the end of the day, they're
the ones that are eating it.

S16 (01:01:57):
That's right. I mean, it's very important that the residents
have input, and we also encourage them to give us,
you know, recipes that they might have made themselves or
might be a favorite. They give us those recipes. We
even do testing with them with the other residents in
our food focus meetings, or even just sessions throughout. And
the residents can try them and say yes or no,

(01:02:17):
whether they like it. Then we can add it to
the menu, and we actually do. When we place them
on the menu, we make note that it was actually
a resident's personal recipe that's been used.

S2 (01:02:27):
Oh, fantastic. A bit of acknowledgement.

S16 (01:02:30):
Yes, a bit of acknowledgement and lets everybody know that
we do consult with our residents and include them in the, um,
production of the menu.

S2 (01:02:39):
The rotation, if you like, of the menu, the seasonal
shift if you like. Is that I guess part of it,
just to keep it different, keep it, keep the variety going. Because,
you know, most of us don't eat the same thing
all the time.

S16 (01:02:50):
That's right. And and you know, there's four seasons in
the year. So that's a really good breakdown. So every
three months we do a new menu. And it also
stops that menu fatigue. Because obviously you could imagine if
you're having the same menu four week cycle week in
week out. Over the months it would get very tedious
and boring. So it does create opportunity for residents to

(01:03:11):
have great selection and choice, and also varying what's available
depending on the seasons.

S2 (01:03:17):
And freak bill. Residents do get a choice even for
each meal, don't they? Like it's not, uh, you know, uh,
bangers and mash at lunchtime for everyone. There's a selection
from each day as well that you can make.

S16 (01:03:28):
Yes, there certainly is. Um, we have quite a large selection.
Breakfast is obviously, uh, there's cook versions and continental. There's
many selection there at lunch has three hot choices, plus desserts,
vegetables and sides. Dinner has two hot choices, plus soups
and cold sides. So there's lots of selections over the day,

(01:03:50):
plus additional choices for anyone who may, you know, there.
At some times there are dishes that might not be
liked by everybody, or somebody's just feeling like something a
bit lighter. So we have additional options as well that
can be selected.

S2 (01:04:05):
And I guess depending on people's, uh, sort of, uh, situation,
I'm thinking maybe someone who might have, uh, diabetes or
something like that. They'd have to be aware of that
as well.

S16 (01:04:15):
Yes. We we cater to all different diet types, obviously
food fluid and texture, um, is a big consideration. Also,
you know, there's many residents with different, uh, texture requirements.
And we're also provide all the options on the menu
where suitable as an option that are for them. Also.

S2 (01:04:36):
Yeah, I'd imagine that you've got a very challenging, satisfying job,
but you'd have to be on your toes because there's
so many things to consider as well.

S16 (01:04:42):
It is, but it is a very enjoyable and satisfying
job because we basically making sure that our residents have
the best experience and home to live in, that we
can provide them what they should expect.

S2 (01:04:55):
And I guess that being to sort of clever about,
I mean, the healthier you keep your residents, the better
it is for everyone. I mean, just in terms of Workloads, etc..

S16 (01:05:03):
That's correct. And, uh, the better life that they have, um,
the healthier they are and the better they feel. And
so the more they eat and the the more they
enjoy the food is obviously a big factor in that.

S2 (01:05:15):
And in what can you tell us about the, uh,
Maggie Beer Foundation? Of course. Maggie Beer, very well known
in South Australia, I think, a former, uh, pastor, senior
citizen of the year award winner during the Australia Day Awards.
What's the foundation about? The the program.

S16 (01:05:28):
So, uh, our Marion residential site has just completed the
12 month program with the foundation that's had a very
positive impact on the food and hospitality services at the site.
We're continuing to use these learnings and adapting them across
the remaining sites, across the residential. Also, our chef teams
have also been fortunate to be invited to partake in

(01:05:51):
the state and territory hubs held by the Maggie Beer Foundation.
This is a online training sessions where they can all
collaborate together to increase their knowledge across some key areas
of the food services. So it's basically around enhancing the
nutritional content of the meals, making them visually appealing, making
them appetizing, and most importantly, improving presentation for the meals,

(01:06:14):
especially around modified meals for the residents who require those.

S2 (01:06:17):
That's a great point, isn't it? Because, you know, as
you say, it might taste nice or or be good
for you, but if it kind of looks appealing, um,
kind of gets the gastric juices flowing right from the start.

S16 (01:06:28):
That's right. And it doesn't just come down to the food.
It comes down to the whole dining experience, which is
what we're also working on, to have the whole team
across the site collaborating on the dining experience for the residents,
making sure the dining room set nicely. The atmosphere is
really nice and inviting. The staff are providing excellent service

(01:06:49):
and making sure that the residents enjoy every component of
their meal.

S2 (01:06:53):
So I guess residents have got, if you like, two choices,
they can either eat in the dining room with others,
or if they choose to have it in their room
on their own.

S16 (01:07:00):
Yes, they definitely have that option. Um, it's it's up
to the resident if they would like to dine in
the communal dining areas or be provided with room service.
Obviously we promote the dining service because that is, uh,
you know, more inclusive. The residents have that, uh, interaction
with other other residents and the staff, because if somebody

(01:07:23):
eats in their room all the time, that can lead to,
you know, feeling lonely and they may not eat as
much as well. So dining experience is definitely enhanced being
in the dining room. But in saying that there are
residents who would prefer to be dining in their room.

S2 (01:07:38):
Than go out to lunch with your friends every day
of the week if you choose.

S16 (01:07:41):
That's right, you can.

S2 (01:07:43):
So with about, uh, trends and that sort of thing, Shannon,
has that changed much over the years in terms of,
I don't know that, I guess the variety, but also the,
the content of, of the type of food that is served.

S16 (01:07:53):
I think that's forever changing because the resident, you know, um,
cohorts that are coming into aged care continually change with the, uh,
different age groups coming through and the different food selections
and everything coming through. It's constantly changing, and we've got
to be constantly adapting what we're providing.

S2 (01:08:13):
I guess even to reflect the, uh, the changing nature
of society in terms of different cultures and that sort
of thing as well.

S16 (01:08:19):
Exactly. And obviously, Australia is a very multicultural, um, our
residents are definitely very multicultural. So our staff and he
provides service that meets everybody's needs as best that we can.

S2 (01:08:31):
Shannon, when we're having a bit of a chat earlier
in the week, did you kind of indicate there's probably
a bit more emphasis now on a bit more protein
in in meals?

S16 (01:08:38):
Certainly is. It's more important now, um, that, you know,
meals are higher protein because residents obviously as people age,
they need more protein in their diet to be able
to make sure they're getting their nutritional content. All of
our recipes and our menus are reviewed by dietitian to

(01:08:59):
check their nutritional content, both for protein and other nutrients
that are required. And we tweak those recipes to make
sure that we can get as much nutrient into those
meals as possible.

S17 (01:09:12):
I guess all this sort of.

S2 (01:09:13):
Information, if you like, is evidence based as well, because,
I mean, obviously, being an aging population, there's a lot
more resources going into trying to make people who are
older as healthy and live longer and live better than,
than ever before.

S16 (01:09:25):
Exactly. We we are here to make sure that we
can provide a happy and healthy lifestyle for our residents.

S2 (01:09:31):
Terrific. Sharon, great to catch up. Certainly good to know that. Well,
a position like yours exists, and I'm sure it'll be.
There's plenty of work ahead of you, but by the
same token, it's so important that people do enjoy their
meals and flourish because of it. So thank you for
giving us just a little snapshot into it.

S16 (01:09:47):
My pleasure. And, uh, it's a pleasure doing this job,
and I really do enjoy it. And we're here for
the residents, so that's our main focus.

S2 (01:09:55):
Terrific. Good to catch you, Shannon.

S16 (01:09:56):
Thank you very much.

S2 (01:09:57):
That's Shannon Hutchinson, who's the manager for hospitality services at Resthaven.
Certainly sounds like a that's a pretty good job and
also a pretty good job being done. If you're a
regular to the program. And we hope you are. Late

(01:10:18):
last year we caught up with Alex Morse, who's a
wonderful music therapist, regarding some proposed changes to the NDIS
and music therapy. And I think some wisdom has provided
and we might have some good news and it's great
to catch up again.

S18 (01:10:30):
Thanks, Peter.

S2 (01:10:31):
Now, for those that might have missed our chat. It
was just before Christmas last year. There was a move
to not have music therapy included in the NDIS. Is
that kind of the gist of it?

S18 (01:10:39):
Yeah, look, that's what happened. It was thrown upon us
with very little or no warning that we would be
essentially removed from the NDIS and through an enormous amount
of advocacy, not only from professionals, but really it was
the community, the disability community, that a lot of noise
was made and people heard, and they sort of put

(01:11:00):
a pause on the removal. And in the interim, there
was the Ndia or the government commissioned Doctor Duckett to
do a review into music therapy. And that review has
been released this week.

S2 (01:11:13):
And the news is good. And I guess for you,
no surprise, it's kind of what took you so long.

S18 (01:11:18):
That's correct. And of course, our community is feeling incredibly relieved.
There's nothing that has been announced that we didn't sort
of already know. So yes, of course, there is a
substantial amount of evidence to support the value of music
therapy and art therapy. We know the impact that it
has on our participants lives and also, notably in the review,

(01:11:40):
the impact on participants families and their lives. And now
we have this document to say so. So that is fantastic.

S2 (01:11:48):
We don't often know that, you know, often say, I
should say that programs like this, I mean, we speak
to people who kind of agree with us or we
agree with them. So it's maybe a bit of a
one way conversation. But that is so true when the
families that the siblings, etc., and the impact it has
on the greater family, grandparents, carers, etc., I mean, there's
things that like unless you're experiencing it, you just don't get.

S18 (01:12:08):
Yeah, it's very true. I mean, it's one thing that
we're particularly passionate about in my clinic here in Tasmania
is supporting whole families. That might be a little bit unique,
but I just think it's really unrealistic to work solely
with one child or one adult, because it's just not
how life happens. And we want to be able to
build up their skills using what they learn in music

(01:12:28):
therapy to be able to transfer to all parts of
their life, which includes their family. So we invite entire
families to come in, and it's not that unusual to
have multiple siblings and generation of parents and grandparents coming
to music therapy. So it was really lovely to hear
about the impact or to read that there has been
a noticeable impact on entire family systems, which is not

(01:12:49):
something that the NDIS really look at. It's always very
participant specific, but it's something that is really important in
the life of the community that we support.

S2 (01:12:58):
And of course, often you might have a family with
more than one child with a similar disability, be it
autism or a learning disability or whatever it might be.

S18 (01:13:06):
Yes that's true. We have many families that have multiple
children or adults on the NDIS. Just a great privilege
to be able to support them.

S2 (01:13:13):
Can you give us a bit of an idea of
what went into the campaign? Because it's great that it succeeded.
It's sad in a sense that it's taken. Well, no,
probably 8 or 9 months. And we'll come to what
it means in a second in terms of what is
actually the result of it, but kind of the campaigning
and the, you know, the lobbying that went into it.

S18 (01:13:28):
We obviously have professional bodies, peak bodies, and Zuccato is
the peak body for art therapy and the Amta. The
Australian Music Therapy Association is the peak body for music therapy.
And I was just so proud to be part of,
you know, a registered music therapist as part of a
cohort that just really came to arms very quickly and
our leadership in the AMG was just astounding. We're a

(01:13:51):
very small organization. You know, we're one of the smallest
allied health professions in the country. And, you know, the
noise that we were able to make was just really profound.
And one of the best things that have come out
of this whole process. So of course, there's, you know,
the profession that was able to advocate and lobby. But
the most powerful thing was the community. And very quickly,

(01:14:11):
I think the petition maybe many more than this, but
it was about 60,000 signatures from all around the country
of people saying, actually, no, this is one of the
most important parts of the NDIS, which was just really
heartening to see and just people's lived experience in their voices.
People being able to say the impact that this has
had on their family and their personhood is really quite profound.

(01:14:33):
You know, even though it was a really horrible experience
to go through, I think so much good has come
out of this experience as well. And music therapy and
art therapy has never been so highly profiled and talked
about around the country. And one of the acknowledgements of
the Docker review was that people and professions need to
be aware that art therapy and music therapy do exist,

(01:14:54):
and we need to be able to provide equitable access
right across the country, and not just mostly in metropolitan cities.

S2 (01:15:01):
And I guess the other thing or another thing that
should be taken into consideration, and we spoke about this
at the time and we've kind of already touched on it,
but the amount of work, if you like, or the
amount that families are going through at the moment, the
last thing they want to do is be contacting their
politicians or organizing protests or campaigns or signing petitions. So
this is another layer that we don't really need.

S18 (01:15:22):
Absolutely. And I think that was one of the hardest
things to swallow was our families are so vulnerable. They
live in the moment. They often can't think about tomorrow.
And then the work that's behind personal advocacy through the
NDIS is enormous right now. And then to throw this
and ask of them was really hard. But for our

(01:15:44):
personal community and the community I work in, I didn't
even have to ask. It just the raw came really quickly,
which was, you know, I was so, so grateful for
and so proud of my families that were able to say, actually, no,
this is not okay. And I'm really grateful to have
all levels of government, really different politicians from all different

(01:16:04):
sides who were able to, you know, listen to the community,
hear their lived experience and then be able to take
that to, you know, the relevant people. And we've had
some really incredible support locally here in Tasmania. But I
know there's been some amazing advocates and leaders across the
country that have worked with our associations to make sure
that our voices were heard.

S2 (01:16:25):
So what happens now, then, is that back to where
we were or what's different tomorrow than yesterday, if I
can put it that way.

S18 (01:16:31):
So the biggest outcome that's going to affect music therapy
and art therapy access is they've now decided that one
of the recommendations was that we would have a 20%
pay cut. That is significant. The reason behind that is
really quite unclear through the report. I assume it's just
a way of cost cutting. They've said that we should

(01:16:51):
be paid on par to counselling. I would suggest the
unfairness of that from a professional who has the same regulation,
where we are registered with Newswrap now, which is a
self-regulating peak body for allied health professionals. I can get
audited the same as a speech pathologist or an audiologist.
Our equipment costs here at Creative Therapies Tasmania is huge.

(01:17:13):
I have about $100,000 worth of equipment in clinic. I
would imagine that a counsellor probably may not need the
amount of equipment that we have here. So our overheads,
I would assume, would be quite a lot more significant.
So I imagine there'll be some attrition across the industry,
even though one of the announcements was that reducing the
price will actually improve accessibility to participants. I'm not sure

(01:17:35):
how that's going to.

S5 (01:17:36):
Actually.

S2 (01:17:36):
Go or not. so. I mean, in a sense, from
charging just under $200 an hour and that's now at
156 or something like that, isn't it?

S5 (01:17:43):
Correct.

S6 (01:17:44):
Yeah.

S18 (01:17:44):
And look, if you're looking from the outset, there is
still a lot of miscommunication and misunderstanding around what that
156 actually covers. And people think that that's my wage
and it's from my wage. And it's like this with
everything with the Ndia.

S2 (01:17:58):
Yeah, the.

S18 (01:17:59):
Fee covers everything from all our equipment to my insurance
to our lease to the hand sanitizer at the front door.
It covers everything. It's not my wage, so we just
need to take stock here at Creative Therapies and see
where the dust settles and see how viable we are.
So I have some fear for our music therapy clinics

(01:18:20):
around the country, that some of them may not be
able to survive this. I also am concerned about our
rural community, our rural Australia. Mhm. Because there may be
some rural practitioners that will find this challenging also with
the announcement recently about cuts to travel that is having
a significant.

S2 (01:18:39):
Impact.

S18 (01:18:40):
Across allied health more broadly. So we'll just wait and see.
I hope the really tangible outcome happens quite soon. Is
that in the last ten months or since this was announced,
there's been a lot of misinformation through the NDIS and
the community around the effectiveness of music therapy. And there's
been a rhetoric about there's no research into music therapy

(01:19:01):
and therefore it won't be funded. And this report now
says very clearly that there is evidence behind music therapy
meeting functional goals for participants. And we hope that that
means that our participants can have greater access to music
therapy and will not have to fight so hard. And
because the fight has been really, really arduous wearing out.

S2 (01:19:22):
Alex. Good luck. We'll keep in touch. It's so much
good news, but anyone thinking about it, you know, take
a 20% pay cut and see how you go after
that in terms of your living costs, etc.. We'll keep
in touch and thanks for speaking to us.

S18 (01:19:33):
Thanks for the opportunity, Peter.

S2 (01:19:34):
That's Alex Morse there from Tasmania. Great. To music therapist
and art therapist herself. So if you want to find
out more, we'll put details about Alex's business up online.
Up with our show notes. Right through from Beyond Blindness
and Guide Dogs a come and try blind Cricket day
this Friday the 19th. If you want more details, maybe

(01:19:57):
even transport give beyond blind us a call 83676088367608. And
our mighty Rubies, our South Australian netball team, back from
the Digital Shield with the bronze medal, will talk more
about that on the program next week. Well done rubies,
bronze to you. A couple of quotes before we go.

(01:20:20):
Dodo sent a lovely quote through Nerida says circles are
like our souls. They are never ending. They go round
and round and never stop. Lovely imagery. Thank you there
for yours. And Jim says there's always a pot of
gold at the end of the rainbow. Until you go
looking for it. So, Jim, thank you so much for

(01:20:42):
your quote. Some birthdays before we go. Sam Rickard having
a birthday. Sam Rickard, who pushes all the buttons and
fiddles with all the fighters. Sam, thanks so much for
your help and happy birthday to you, Chelsea marchetti, who
we chatted to earlier in the program. Who's having a birthday?
Our wonderful physiotherapist. A great happy birthday to you, Tamsin Colley,
one of our champion Paralympians, and Jed also having a birthday,

(01:21:06):
another champion Paralympic and a gold medallist, and Jed, of course.
Now with the Paralympic unit shaping the future of our
Paralympic dreams. So happy birthday to you, Jed Altschwager. That's
it for the programme. If you're listening through 1190 7 a.m.
in Adelaide, stay tuned. Vicki Cousins is here with Australia's Geographic.
Keep that radio locked on to 1190 7 a.m. am,

(01:21:30):
in the meantime reminding you that the link is available
on your favorite podcast platform. If you like the show,
please tell a friend. Be kind to yourselves, be thoughtful
and look out for others. All being well. Let's link
back at the same time next week on Vision Australia
Radio and the Reading Radio Network. This is leisure link.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}13 Sep 2025

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

Dateline NBC

All Episodes

13 Sep 2025

Stuff You Should Know