16 Aug 2025

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:13):
Hi, I'm Taryn Dickens, aiming for the 2026 Winter Paralympics
in Cortina, Italy and you're listening to Leisure Link with
Peter Greco on the Vision Australia radio network.

S2 (00:49):
It's just gone 5:00 as I welcome you warmly to
Leisure Lake here on Vicious Radio. Radio 1190 7 a.m. Adelaide,
online at Via radio digital radio Darwin to the community
radio plus that look for Vision Australia. Radio Adelaide your
favourite podcast or streaming service? Our friends listening through 103.9

(01:11):
FM in Esperance in Western Australia, also through the Reading
Radio Network. A big hello to you and huge thanks
to Disability Media Australia. Thank you for your support. You
can also catch much more information about them and leisure
link at Powered Media. Peter Greco saying tremendous to be here.

(01:32):
Thank you for making time to listen in this program,
coming to you from Ghana and come to you very shortly.
We'll catch up with Taren Dickens, who's competing in the biathlon,
as she prepares hopefully for the Winter Paralympic Games. How's
the preparation going? Very well. I hope we'll catch up
with Ben Tlalpan. Talk about golf and opportunities for people

(01:53):
with disabilities to play the sport. A great story too.
Behind Ben will find out more about that. We'll catch
up with Nathan Pepper from the landfill. Lots of footy
finals about to happen, wheelchair and also the APM Employment League.
How's that all coming along? Pam Mitchell, our resident councillor
will join us to talk about families enjoying success of

(02:13):
individuals in their particular family. Margaret Rothman will join us.
A great initiative to get better nutrition into daycare centers
and also much more awareness about allergies. We also catch
up with Doctor Claire Assaly talking about the 40th anniversary
of the Eye and Ear Hospital. Paul Bird will also
join us. He's from an organization called brainwave. They've got

(02:37):
a ride for kids coming up in October. A cycle
for kids. A chance for you to get involved, raising
money for kids with brain injuries and brain disease, and
will also be joined by Doctor Helene, Gemma and also
Rebecca Stoner from doctors for nutrition. Try to make us
all a little healthier. Well, it's very close to the

(03:01):
end of our winter here in Australia, which means our
winter Paralympians and future Paralympians are probably getting ready to
do stuff overseas, but we've had some competition in Australia.
Let's find out how it's gone with Tarryn Dickens Tarryn.
Great to catch up again. Thanks for your time.

S1 (03:17):
Hey, Peter. Look forward to having a chat again. It's
good to hear from you.

S2 (03:20):
Yeah, well, you've been competing in the last few weeks
here in Australia. And before that at a camp in
New Zealand.

S1 (03:26):
Yes. We just, uh, had a camp in New Zealand
at the start of July and through to the start
of August. Uh, spent a few weeks at the snow
farm over there with our Kiwi brothers and sisters. And
then we came home and did our Biathlon Australia nationals
last weekend, uh, with myself, Dave Milne and Maddie Brumby,

(03:47):
who are all trying to make the Winter Paralympics. And
we've actually got racing this weekend as well coming up
at Falls Creek.

S2 (03:53):
Okay, well, you, uh, no rest for the wicked. Um,
how'd you go? How'd you go last weekend, anyway?

S1 (03:59):
Uh, last weekend was fantastic, Peter. I actually was fortunate
to get Top Shot on Sunday, so I was pretty
proud of myself. Well done. Um, Thank you very much. Um,
Dave got top shot and won the racing on the
Sitsky boys on, uh, Saturday. So two different events Saturday
and Sunday. A shorter event on Saturday, uh, with, uh,

(04:19):
two rounds of shooting. And then on Sunday, we did
a longer event with each lap. And then we had
four rounds of shooting. So I feel like I did
better than the boys because we did more shooting and
I got more than them.

S2 (04:32):
Oh, well, you, uh. I'll give it to you, Karen.
I'll give it to you over the boys. Hey, now,
of course, for those that might have missed our chat
in the past, you're an athlete with a visual impairment.
So tell us about the shooting. Because the, um, the
event is a little bit different. This isn't it? As
far as which Paralympic goes, I think we've had a
visually impaired in this category yet or this, uh, discipline yet.

S1 (04:53):
No, uh, there is a gentleman who I haven't been
able to find much information about on the internet. Um,
I've had a few discussions and some word of mouth
about a gentleman, um, before the year 2000 who was
doing vision impaired biathlon and cross-country skiing. But currently I
will be the first Australian to compete at the Olympic

(05:14):
level in the sport um, and the first female as
a para athlete competing in biathlon and cross-country skiing, which
some people might wonder how a blind person does biathlon.
And the rifle that I use is with an audio,
like a sonic type setup, where there's a camera in

(05:35):
the end of the rifle and there's a camera in
my target, and those cameras talk to each other and
the sound comes through my headset, kind of like the
noise of metal detector makes when you're trying to find
metal under the ground.

S2 (05:48):
And so you've got to kind of aim it when
the the right pitch of the sound is made.

S1 (05:53):
Yes, I'd love to do the noise for you, but
I'm not very good at it. People will probably wonder
what's happening, but it beeps at me. It makes a
beep beeping noise that beep beep beep and as it
gets closer to the target, the beep gets quicker. And
then when I'm on the target, it's a solid noise.
And then when I'm right in the center, it squeals.

(06:13):
And that's when I want to press the trigger. The trigger,
should I say not press.

S2 (06:18):
All right. Well, I think we can kind of understand
the logistics of the theory behind it. I mean, how
far away is the target from where you are when
you're shooting ten meters?

S1 (06:28):
Is the target distance from us when we're shooting as
para athletes and in para biathlon, we don't carry our
rifles like, um, able bodied biathletes, do they? Because some. Yeah. Look,
it's probably just as well as electronic. So it's plugged in.
And now the skiers and the people that are missing limbs, um,
with amputations from birth, they don't obviously don't have the

(06:51):
way to carry a rifle like normal people would or
able bodied people would. So, um, so the coach will
hand them a rifle when they lay down on the range,
and then we look down ten meters and see how
many targets we can hit.

S2 (07:04):
So what's the kind of theory behind this? I mean,
I guess you've got the, you know, Olympic Games, you've
got the decathlete and the pentathlon and those kind of events.
So what's the kind of theory behind behind this event?
But what why is shooting part of it. You know.

S1 (07:18):
The biathlon started a lot, a lot of years ago
with the military, um, somewhere in Europe. I'm not sure
which which country came up with it, but I think
they were a little bit bored trying to find some
things to do, and they thought, why not? Let's go skiing.
We have rifles. Let's shoot. And they started a bit
of bit of fun to keep themselves occupied while they
were waiting somewhere in somewhere, trying to keep themselves entertained.

(07:41):
So that's how biathlon started. And it's, it's lovely that, um,
I quite like the fact that I'm am still current
serving military and able to represent in a sport that
has deep military roots, as is Dave Milne. Um, and
Matty Brumby is also ex-military, so we're all pretty proud
either serving or veterans doing a sport that's. Yeah, come

(08:03):
from from the military. And we're still doing it with
a disability, which is even better for sure.

S2 (08:07):
Gee, uh, that that that sounds quite extraordinary. And I mean,
I guess, you know, they're they're kind of two different
sports altogether, aren't they? Two different disciplines altogether. I mean,
probably one doesn't necessarily help the other, does it?

S1 (08:20):
They definitely don't. Because when you're skiing, you're trying to
get from point A to B as fast as you can.
So you get quite stressed in your body, your heart
rate goes up, and then you've got to switch over
to the shooter. As you come into the range, you're
skiing into the range and you're trying to calm yourself.
Get ready to switch totally to be a totally different
type of athlete. And that's a shooting athlete, so that
when you lay down on the mat and you're ready

(08:41):
to shoot, you're in control of your heart rate and
you're thinking about your breathing, and then you can be
on target and be quiet and pull the trigger.

S2 (08:49):
So I kind of it's sort of one extreme to another,
isn't it. Like physically and then sort of psychologically you've
got to be at the peak of your powers, but,
you know, different kind of state of mind.

S1 (08:59):
Yes you do. And I think I quite enjoy that
in a sense that with my disability coming on late
in my in age and late in life really taking
a toll on my mental health. So having a sport
like this, which teaches me and forces me to self-soothe
when I'm stressed, I can take that skill and use
it in my life when I'm having a hard day,
or I'm doing something that's not not ideal for me,

(09:22):
I can calm myself and use those skills I learned
through sport and, um, try and be a better person.

S2 (09:27):
That's a very powerful message. So how do you go
about that? Do you get support? I'm thinking in terms
of sport psychologists and that sort of.

S1 (09:34):
Uh, not a lot. Yeah. We haven't um, because we're
a new sport. We actually haven't had an athlete in
20 years doing the sport that we're doing at the moment.
So we're still just coming into getting support from the
bigger organisations, which has been great, but we're not too
lucky yet to get, um, sports psychology. But I think
having the mindset from being in defence for the time
that we have, we have it inbred into us and

(09:56):
we definitely support each other through what we can. Yeah.
Shout out to our mates and and things like that. And,
you know, like the whole thing that, um, Australia is
trying to promote at the moment, that it's not weak
to speak. So. Yeah. Yeah. And just talking about things.

S2 (10:10):
I must write some, I might write some of these
down in, in the future. So they're tremendous phrases aren't they. And,
you know, very powerful. I mean, short but very precise
and to the point.

S1 (10:20):
Yes, I hope so. And I hope, I hope we
can get that out there more.

S2 (10:23):
Not too weak to speak, I love it. Um, so,
as I said, we're coming towards the end of winter.
You've got competition this weekend. What about after that? Are
you going to spend some time overseas because the games
are in February, March next year, aren't they?

S1 (10:35):
Yes, they are in February. March. Peter, we're looking forward to, um,
finishing up the race, the big racing season this weekend.
Next weekend here in Falls Creek, they have what's called
the Kangaroo Hoppet, which is a long distance race. And
I'm going to do the half distance. So the 21
K's with my guide, Lynne Marie. I think Maddie will
be there in his sitski doing the seven kilometre kilometer race.

(10:55):
And then after that, we've got a break of a
few months, and then we head off to Canmore, Canada,
for our qualification events, which we all hope to qualify
at that event. Um, the first World Cup for both
biathlon and cross-country is held in Canada in December this year.
And then we will be, fingers crossed all of us

(11:16):
going to um, Milano in March. So we're hoping we're
also actually before we move on from that, we might
even have another another athlete joining us. We're all really
hopeful that Lauren Parker I believe they are.

S2 (11:30):
Yeah.

S1 (11:30):
Because she does so so she's been jumping in Osiecki recently.
So we're really looking forward to meeting her hopefully in Canada.
And um, have another I'd be great to have another
female on the team. And um, yeah, there's there's some
benefits to having four people. We may be able to
do a relay. Even so, lots of history making things. Peter.
It's great being here.

S2 (11:51):
It was very exciting. And we spoke to Ben Troyer
a few months ago now, and it looks like there's
going to be good coverage back home from the games
as well, which is great.

S1 (12:01):
Yes. Channel nine I believe, has got the deal. So
we're very excited to get, um, us on on free
to air TV and hopefully everyone in Australia will be honest.
I know, I know that, um, friends and family are very,
very excited about what's happening. So. Yeah. And get get
the word out there about, um, about us and sport
and and and get more athletes. I'd love to have

(12:22):
some competition if there's any visually impaired people out there.

S2 (12:25):
So you're quite right because, I mean, in terms of, uh,
the Summer games, I mean, they've kind of, uh, you know,
had a high profile for such a long time. But,
I mean, I often talk about this with you and another, uh,
Winter Paralympics. You spend so much time away, you make
so many sacrifices in terms of, uh, travel and less
family time and all that sort of stuff that, I mean,

(12:46):
in a sense, not that everyone, anyone deserves any more
praise or recognition than others. But, you know, you certainly
are right up there as far as your commitment to
the cause go.

S1 (12:55):
Yes, definitely. It's about you can't be what you can't see. Right.
Pun intended. Having a vision impairment. But if we can't
get out there and set the example and hopefully just
to to show people that things can be done and
you don't, you don't need to sit at home and
insulate yourself. Just get out into the community. We've actually
got more than one. So I've got my own vision
impaired rifle for biathlon, but there's a couple of other

(13:16):
rifles in Australia now that sit with, um, disabled Winter
Sports Australia and um, they're available. So I'm hoping that if, um,
people would like to send me a message personally on
social media, if that's if that's okay for me to
spruik on your on your radio show. Peter.

S2 (13:33):
We'll see the the bill in a minute.

S1 (13:35):
Yeah. Um, send me a message because I'd love to,
to to get some people involved with it. I'm doing
some work with Vision Australia and Guide Dogs to get, um,
some other vision impaired people just having a go at
the technology, because I'll tell you once you get the
excitement on.

S2 (13:52):
I can, I can.

S1 (13:53):
It's hard to walk away.

S2 (13:54):
I can feel it coming down the line. Time to
get him excited. Just talking to you. Hey. So what
are you actually firing when you fire your shot? Is
it laser? What actually is it?

S1 (14:03):
It's just an infrared camera, actually. It's just a signal.
So there's not even any laser in it. So for anyone, um,
you know, parents out there or people worried about even
even touching a laser rifle, there's absolutely no projectiles that
come out at the end of the barrel that I
use on the rifle. It's, um, just infrared camera technology.
No lasers, no projectiles, nothing dangerous.

S2 (14:24):
Okay. And you talked about the sound it makes, you know,
when you got it on target. What sound does it
make when you hit it?

S1 (14:30):
Oh, it just it makes you feel good, Peter. It's
just the sound to me. It sounds like a green light.
And that's when you get.

S2 (14:39):
Okay.

S1 (14:40):
Ground effect. There's a green light, and it's, uh, a
very happy, high pitched yay noise. And then when you hit,
you miss it and it goes. Burr it's you just
move on.

S2 (14:50):
Okay, on to the next shot. Hey, Karen. Great to
catch up. You got such energy about you. It's really
always a privilege and good fun speaking to you as
well as a serious message, which we appreciate. Good luck
over over this weekend and good luck over the next
few months and certainly win that team gets announced. I'm
sure that Karen Dickens will be there, but we won't
jinx you, so we'll just keep our fingers crossed and

(15:12):
keep hoping.

S1 (15:13):
It'll be what it'll be. And, um, yeah, thanks to
Paralympics Australia and, um, and yourself for all the support and, uh, yeah,
we look forward to making everyone proud.

S2 (15:21):
We'll speak soon.

S1 (15:22):
Thanks, Peter.

S2 (15:23):
Karen. Dickens. Sarah. What a character. What a what a effervescent, uh, exciting, energizing, uh,
bunny that, uh, Karen is. And we certainly wish the
winter team. Well, I'm sure we'll speak more about it
as the games get ever closer. Always great to talk
about opportunities for people with disabilities in the area of sport.
Let's talk about golf in particular and catch up with

(15:45):
Ben Toppin. Ben, been great to meet you. Thanks for
your time.

S3 (15:48):
How are you going?

S2 (15:49):
I'm going very well. And you are too, I'm sure. Um,
you offer a lot of commentary activities there in in
power golf.

S3 (15:55):
Yeah. Look, we do we we offer around 500 free
come and try clinics a year, which is is quite
a few.

S2 (16:01):
Yeah. What sort of areas in terms of, uh, geographically
do you offer them in?

S3 (16:05):
Yeah. Look, we cover all of Australia, uh, bar Northern
Territory at the moment. So Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania,
South Australia and WA so cover pretty much most of Australia.
We do rural and we do, you know, major cities.
So all over the place.

S2 (16:24):
And I guess one of the great things about it
is that they're all free aren't they.

S3 (16:27):
Yeah, 100%. There's sorry there's one one clinic that is
a paid clinic at Long Reef that runs every week. But, uh,
all the other ones are 100% free.

S2 (16:36):
Fantastic. What about in terms of, uh, kind of support,
if I can put it that way, coaches, caddies, that
sort of thing.

S3 (16:42):
Yeah. Look, we've got 117 all abilities trained PGA professionals
and all abilities means they've done for years training to
become a PGA professional with an all abilities quality that
all abilities teaches them how to coach and train multiple disabilities,
whether it be vision impaired or wheelchair users or intellectual disabilities.

(17:06):
They are all specifically trained to work with those different conditions.

S2 (17:11):
And that would be pretty important, wouldn't it? Because I guess,
you know, someone who might, uh, you know, live life, uh,
using a wheelchair might be different than someone who's blind.
So I guess the way that they would be playing golf, uh, would,
you know, it's still golf, but it'd be just a
little bit different.

S3 (17:25):
Yeah. Correct. Look, it is, it is a bit different.
And we tend to find that the vision impaired golfers
more use a one length golf club. They have the
same sort of swing, whereas a, you know, someone in
a wheelchair, 90% of the wheelchair users who use our
golfer stand up chairs swing with one arm. Again, they
use the cover one length type clubs as well, and

(17:46):
then you go to ones like amputees and stuff that
you know can play similar to an able bodied, or
they may be missing an arm or something and playing
one arm.

S2 (17:55):
And the rules are pretty much the same. Like, you know,
you see golf on the TV, either a live event or,
you know, the US open, for example. I mean, the
game is kind of the same. There might be just
a few nuances that might be a bit different.

S3 (18:08):
Yeah, correct. Look, the game is pretty much the same. Um,
Golf Australia and and the RNA have developed specific rules
for different disabilities, which, you know, levels the playing field
quite a lot. For example, an average golfer is not
allowed to use a caddie to line them up. Yet
a vision impaired golfer can use a caddie to line
them up and all that kind of stuff. So there

(18:28):
are different, different disabilities, which is, uh, great to have actually.

S2 (18:34):
You know, I'm smiling a little bit, but I mean,
that must be a bit for the, uh, coaches who
have done these courses to get their heads around, because
I guess if you've kind of been growing up playing
a certain way and then you've got all these other little, uh,
differences thrown in that that must, you know, take a
bit of getting used to.

S3 (18:51):
Yeah. Look, it is, it's there's quite a few different
rules in there for different disabilities. Um, we go through
that training with all of our coaches, and our coaches
do go out and caddie at tournaments. There are a
lot of tournaments, um, around Australia for different disabilities. So
coming up you've got the Western Australian blind and inclusive open. Uh,

(19:11):
we've got I think next week is the Australian Wheelchair
Championships in Queensland. So there's, there's a lot of different
events coming up. Um, there's amputee events, there's Special Olympics events.
So our, our caddies are all fully trained on the rules. And,
you know, they get out there and support the players
as best they can and and have a good, fun

(19:31):
environment and event.

S2 (19:32):
So I guess you can play for fun just to maybe, uh,
you know, get to play the game either before, uh,
you might have played before an accident or an newness
or whatever, and you can play afterwards. Or maybe you
just always wanted to play and haven't had the opportunity.
These are the sort of things that can happen.

S3 (19:46):
Yeah, that's that's correct. Look, they they are good fun.
They start off as fun. People come along. But yeah,
you know, when I get to the day, you look great. Yeah. Me, myself,
I get frustrated with my game. You know, I, I
when I play socially, I can play really good. But
when I'm on a tournament I tend to struggle a
little bit. But hey, that's you know, you have your
good shots and your bad shots. That's that's how it works.

S2 (20:08):
I was going to say golf. What do they say?
It's a good walk. Spoiled by a game or something.

S3 (20:13):
Yeah. Yeah. Look, it's. Yeah it is.

S2 (20:16):
Yeah. What about in terms of finding out about the,
the different opportunities over 500 a year. So kind of
there's going to be one near you soon. What's the
kind of best way to to get more information.

S3 (20:26):
Oh look on our website. Uh, they're all listed on
our website. Empower Golf.com. You just jump on and book
a free ticket and and come along. Um, we have
all the adaptive equipment on hand, so we have adaptive gloves,
Gripping solutions. We have the paragraph of stand up wheelchairs
at some clinics. Yeah. Grab a ticket. Come along. Have
some fun. Uh, if you're ever on the Gold Coast,

(20:48):
the first Tuesday of the month is our top golf clinic.
It's our biggest one. We have about 120 to 150
people on the floor here. It's fantastic.

S2 (20:57):
Wow. That's sensational.

S3 (20:58):
Yeah, it's great fun. All of them. Look, we encourage
everyone to get in and and mingle and chat with
each other and make new friends and, you know, try
and hit some balls and have some fun. That's what
we're about. They're more of a social, uh, fun sort
of event.

S2 (21:12):
That's a great point you make about the social interaction.
I guess you might meet other people who, you know,
might have similar stories for you to share with as well.
And I mean, it's not just about the golf in
a sense.

S3 (21:23):
No. That's right. Look, when I was when I first
started the golf, I was actually I was in the
bomb in Bali in 2002, and I lost both my legs.
And I had what an amputee was going to be like.
You know what it was going to be like to
have no legs. And, you know, I Eventually I found
my way through and got some prosthetic legs and got
walking again and entered myself into one of these golf events.

(21:43):
It was an amputee event. I came dead last by
a long shot, but I had an absolute ball, and
I met some amazing people that taught me a lot
of stuff about becoming an amputee and how to live
life again. So, you know, the doors that these clinics
open up are fantastic. I always say to everyone, each

(22:04):
person in life that you meet has something you can learn,
learn from, and you know you might not understand it
when you first meet them, but it'll come to you
at the end that you've learned something from that person.
And that's what I think these clinics are good for.

S2 (22:16):
It's a very powerful message. And how are you going, Ben?
I guess I had the physical injuries from that, but
also the psychological things. How are you going in that
sort of area for my ask?

S3 (22:26):
Yeah. Look. Psychological. I'm okay. Um, I never had the
PTSD or anything like that. I sort of, um, I
remember every, every second of the bomb going off and
the hospital and all that kind of stuff. And I
found when I got out of hospital, I just studied
all the footage and everything that I could find of
the incident and just confirmed in my head, you know,

(22:47):
what had actually been through and helped me understand how
lucky I am to be here, you know? 202 people
died in that incident that night, and I was the
closest person to the car bomb in Bali that survived.
So it just helps me understand, you know, how lucky
I am. And, um. Yeah.

S2 (23:05):
So that's been that was for coming up to 24
years ago. You sound young now. How old were you
when that happened?

S3 (23:12):
I was 26. 27. Bomb went off. Um, I was
over in Bali on a on a buying trip. I
used to import all the furniture and homewares from Indonesia,
both for my retail wholesale businesses. And I used to
also buy property and renovate in Bali theme. So, um,
I was over in a buying trip and basically walked
into the Sari Club on my way home, uh, to
get a bottle of water and, um, yeah, I got

(23:35):
my bottle of water and I was walking out, and
that's when the the car bomb went off.

S2 (23:39):
Incredible. Yeah. Well, you've got a great attitude and you've
got a great message to spread. And you also got
the opportunity for people to play golf. Ben, we'll have
to catch up again in the future. Now, people do
want to find out more. What is your website?

S3 (23:52):
It's Empower Golf. Com.au so m p o w e
r g o. Com.au.

S2 (23:58):
Well keep in touch Ben. Congratulations on all your doing
and indeed the Empower Golf movement is doing. We wish
you well and thanks again for speaking to us, and
we'll put those details up with our show notes as well.

S3 (24:10):
Fantastic. Thanks so much, Peter. Have a great day.

S2 (24:12):
That's Ben there from Empower Golf with pretty much a
personal story to tell, but also an opportunity for you
to get involved with golf.

S4 (24:21):
Hi I'm Pierre Commis, CEO of Special Olympics Australia and
you're listening to Leisure Link with Peter Greco and the
Vision Australia radio network.

S2 (24:34):
Let's find out what's happening at the real football at
the moment in South Australia. Nathan Pepper is from the
sandhill and he's on the line. Nathan. Great to catch up. Always.

S5 (24:43):
Yeah. Thanks, Peter. Thanks for having me. Always good to
chat footy with you.

S2 (24:46):
Yeah. Now how are things going? The IPM employment league,
that must be getting to the proverbial pointy end of
the season.

S5 (24:52):
It very, very much is right now with actually the
last of our minor round matches, our longest season to date.
The 14 round season is wrapping up, uh, this evening. And, uh, yeah,
then we start a three week finals series. So yeah.
Really exciting. Um, well, for the teams that certainly are
in the finals, it's very exciting. What's what's coming up.
But yeah, it's been a fantastic season overall.

S2 (25:13):
How's it looking in terms of finals? The team's been
established or has it got still a bit of, uh,
waxing and waning to do?

S5 (25:20):
Nah, we have pretty. It is all pretty much locked in.
Maybe just depending on sort of home and away fixtures
with who's the highest ranked team. Um, but certainly the
highest ranked team has been Kilburn all year. They remain undefeated,
so that's been an incredible effort by their team and
their club. And they were obviously runner up in the
grand final last year to last year's undefeated team Athelstone.

(25:42):
So yeah, obviously things have just changed around a little
bit this season. But um, yeah. Credit to Kilburn Kenilworth uh,
currently sitting. Yeah in that second spot. Goodwood third and
Athelstone fourth. So they'll make up our top four.

S2 (25:54):
So I guess uh Kilburn maybe a little bit of uh,
well making up for last season's, uh, misstep.

S5 (26:00):
Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure that's, uh. Well, it's always good motivation,
isn't it?

S2 (26:03):
Yeah. Terrific. Uh, so what happens as far as the
finals go, Nathan? When are they and where are they?
And who gets the home ground and that sort of thing?

S5 (26:11):
Yeah. So first week of finals. Uh, the semi-finals. So
first position play second position and then, uh, third and
fourth play off against each other. And it's the higher
ranked team that gets the home ground advantage. Now the
winner of that top game, the top two, uh, goes
straight into the grand final and get the week off,
and then the third and fourth will then, uh, the

(26:31):
winner of that will play the loser of that one
and two in the prelim final the following week. Um,
and then obviously the winner of that will take on
that first winner in the grand final. The big day,
which will be Saturday, the 6th of September. Ground TBC. Uh,
we're hoping to play it around an under eighteens or
sample reserves match on a Saturday.

S2 (26:52):
Terrific.

S5 (26:52):
Uh, we just won't quite know that fixture until that
competition sorted out. So that's where we're. We're hoping to
do it. Yeah, we just have to wait and see
what ovals are available to us that week.

S2 (27:02):
Well, that's set up with the finals for those of
us that are old enough. That was when the Final
Four used to be in the SANFL and VFL were many, many, many,
many decades ago now.

S5 (27:13):
There you go. I must be well before my time.

S2 (27:16):
I think the final five started in 1973, in South
Australia I'm not sure about. I have to check that
out and get back to you next time. Uh, so,
Kilburn officers the team to beat Kilburn.

S5 (27:25):
Certainly the team to beat, um. And a little bit
of exciting news is that we're gonna live stream all
of the final series.

S2 (27:31):
Oh, excellent.

S5 (27:32):
So, yeah, if you can't get along to any of
those matches, uh, yeah. You can check out Sam for now,
where we host all of our sample league fixtures. And, um,
we've streamed many of our exclusive league games this year
as well for the first time. Um, but you can
check them all out on Stamford Now.com. That's SANFL n
o w.com. Um, and that will be live and free.

(27:56):
All of the final series.

S2 (27:58):
Terrific. Now, what about as far as the AFL wheelchair
league goes? Where are we at with that?

S5 (28:03):
Yeah. Well, uh, again, pretty much at the pointy end.
It's right in the thick of it at this time
of year, obviously. And the Eagles have actually secured their
place in the grand final once again. So they were
our Premiership team from last year going through undefeated. So
they'll be there on Friday the 29th of August. Uh
that will be our big grand final night. We just

(28:23):
play the nine minor rounds, then go straight into a
grand final with the 14. Yep. So we have a
have a third place play off initially with those third
and fourth teams and then, uh, finish with our big
grand final. Uh, which yeah, be really exciting. I think last,
last year we, we had a few hundred people come
out and watch the spectacle. We try to create a
good atmosphere and play some music and, um, yeah, crowd

(28:45):
gets up and about and the players certainly, uh, love
playing in front of. Yeah, a lot of fans.

S2 (28:50):
It's probably a good atmosphere, etc., if you like, because
it's indoors isn't it? It lights there. So um, probably
a bit more atmosphere than an outdoor match in a sense.

S5 (28:57):
Yeah, absolutely. Like you're very close to the action and. Yeah, uh,
you know, it's just so impressive seeing all the athletes
go about, um, you know, what they do and, you know,
just the, the chair skills to the, the footy skills,
you know, there's so much to see. It's very, very
tactical for those that haven't been able to watch a
game previously. You know, it's very physical. It's fast. Um,

(29:18):
and just a lot of fun. So yeah encourage anyone
to have a look. And again, if you can't make
it down to the arts, community and sports center. Uh,
we'll have that live streamed on our Sanford Now platform
as well.

S2 (29:28):
Okay. So same spot for the website for now.

S5 (29:31):
Com.au. Yeah.

S2 (29:32):
Perfect. A bit of symmetry about these competitions. We got
what stirred in the SANFL where Kilburn and the Eagles uh,
sort of all going through undefeated at this stage.

S5 (29:41):
Yeah. It's pretty interesting isn't it. Yeah. Very interesting to
see that happening in the in the Sanford. Mardi Matin
has got the double blues ticking over. Well but uh,
yeah certainly in these competitions. Yeah. We've always had that
standout team. And um, I guess it's nice. Well in
the inclusive league that there's been a different club come
along um, over the last couple of years that have
taken that ascendancy. But, uh, I'm sure the final series

(30:02):
will be. Yeah, very, very competitive between all teams.

S2 (30:05):
Bit of a talk around the place that, uh, maybe
Josh Carr might be chasing Marty Mattner for a spot
on the coaching bench next year. So, uh, we'll see
about that. No comment. Nathan.

S5 (30:15):
Come on. No idea about that one, but I'll stay
in my lane now.

S2 (30:19):
Uh, what about your lane as far as the, South
Australian team goes. What's happening there?

S5 (30:24):
Yeah. So, uh, I think I might have mentioned last
time we spoke that, uh, yeah. So the AFL open,
which includes, uh, last year was the first year they
included both the inclusion division as well as the wheelchair division, um,
to come together and play at the same time. That
was up in Queensland last year. So this year, uh,
26 to the 30th of October, uh, we'll be heading

(30:45):
to Melbourne to take on all the different states and
territories that compete at that. We've just recently had some
trials for our inclusion players. So most, most come from
the Inclusive League. But there's also a couple of standout players, uh,
you know, that meet the intellectual disability criteria that play in, uh,
other leagues around the state. Yeah. Um, which is exciting.

(31:06):
And it gives players. Yeah, a bit of a different
look to see some new faces out there. Um, we. Yeah,
we had 55 players at our first trial.

S2 (31:13):
Wow.

S5 (31:14):
Um, which is just awesome to see that sort of interest.
And then last week, we actually played an exhibition match
prior to the Port Adelaide Central District game at Alberton,
and yeah had 28 players. Bit of a 12 aside.
Put the players through their paces, make them work hard
and see who wants that opportunity to represent South Australia
and put on the famous Red Croatia Guernsey Day.

S2 (31:37):
When does that test squad get named? I guess probably
after the grand final. Would it be?

S5 (31:40):
Yeah, I've got a fair few players that are hitting
me up now, wondering when it will be in the
in the next couple of weeks. We'll, we'll announce that uh,
yeah to come out and then no doubt the inclusion
players will be put through their paces with a few
training sessions leading up. Um, and then similarly, we'll, we'll
select a wheelchair team to take away. Um, they will

(32:01):
most likely take place post. Yeah. Post the wheelchair season.

S2 (32:04):
Nathan, I chuckled about the, you know, the fact that
the players are pressing you about knowing when the thing
will be announced, but that means a lot, doesn't it?
That means that they're really keen. They want to be
part of it. They want to know what's going on,
which is great.

S5 (32:15):
Oh, absolutely. And, you know, I get that level of enthusiasm,
whether it's the first day of the league season or
the last, or, you know, as soon as the season finishes,
they want to know when they can register for the
next year. So no, it is awesome. Uh, you know,
this year we had a total of in the league. Yeah,
213 players playing, which you know, was up from I
think about 180 odd last year. So and seeing the

(32:37):
new club Broadview um, you know, shout out to, to
Phil and Sally who've done a great deal of work
getting the Broadview team up and going. They won their
first game last weekend. Oh well done. Which was really
cool to see. So yeah, there's there's been some great
stories throughout and plenty of um, you know, good footy
being played as and just giving, you know, more and
more people that opportunity which you know it's what I

(32:58):
keep preaching always.

S2 (33:00):
Yeah for sure. And uh, before you go, any news
regarding either the blind or women that were getting involved
with the Aussie Rules?

S5 (33:07):
Yeah. Uh, we're hoping to take away a few female
players to the AFL open to play in an exhibition game,
so we haven't we? We'll hold some come and try
exhibition type events to do that selection that's coming up
but haven't locked anything in, so I can't actually give
any any more details. But people can stay tuned to

(33:28):
our Stanford Disability Programs Facebook page. That's probably the best
way to stay up to date. So, um, yeah, just
search for Stanford disability programs on Facebook. Um, and you
can stay up to date with that. And then the
blind and low vision. Uh, yeah, I've got a we've
got a working group together, uh, busily trying to plan
what that looks like, most likely towards the end of

(33:49):
this year. Um, we're just working through. Yeah, availability of
venue and dates and all those sorts of, uh, competition
program logistics. So, uh, it's definitely happening. Um, excitingly, we got,
you know, funding through from, uh, the state government, which
we're very excited about. Um, and yeah, looking forward to
delivering that later this year. And over the next few years.

S2 (34:10):
We'll keep in touch with you on that. People want
to find out more or where can we go.

S5 (34:14):
Yeah. So I think several disability programs on Facebook, certainly
the they're probably the best and easiest way to just
stay up to date with things. Um, or just visit
our our website, Sanford Disability and you'll get a pretty
good overview of of the different programs we've got there
regarding disability.

S2 (34:30):
Well, being obviously a very balanced program. Good luck to
all the teams that are through to the finals. We
look forward to catching up with the results and hopefully
catching up with a winning, uh, player or coach after
both competitions in the next month or so.

S5 (34:42):
Yeah, absolutely. Well, for me, you always get footy as
the winner. Um, and it's obviously and, but it's just
awesome to see so many players enjoying their footy and, uh,
you know, super passionate about it. So that's, that's all
we can ask for. Um yeah. And and look forward to. Yeah.
Putting you in touch with some of those winning teams
and players. I'm sure they'll be excited to share their stories.

S2 (35:01):
About the great work.

S5 (35:02):
Thanks, Peter. Appreciate your support.

S2 (35:03):
Nathan. People there from the NFL and all those details
up with our show notes. Around about this time. The
third week of each month, we catch up with our
resident councillor, Pam Mitchell. Pam, welcome and a little bit
ugly but happy birthday!

S6 (35:23):
Oh, thank you very much indeed it was. It's been
a beautiful weekend of lots of, uh, yummy things and
food and family and. Yeah, um, as, uh, as I've
said recently, it's about quality these days, not quantity, I think.

S2 (35:39):
Oh well done. Now you're going to almost follow up
from that in a sense with your segment today.

S6 (35:44):
Uh, look, I think it's, uh, the planets are aligning. Peter,
I want to talk a little bit to people today
about how we celebrate, uh, with people, the sense of occasion,
the wonderfulness when we can actually be with our families
on those, those special moments and, and join together and

(36:06):
probably almost have as much excitement and fun or disappointment
and sadness. Win or lose, in those moments when people
are in their sports, in their exams, in their ballet lessons,
in their, you know, overseas, uh, association with teams that

(36:28):
have been fortunate enough to join the head of the river. Um,
a lot of the things I'm speaking about are sport,
but it goes across a plethora of events and things
where this sort of gets to be even more, um,
a joyous experience or a sad experience given whatever the
score is, um, in competitive areas. Uh, and so I

(36:50):
thought we'd just touch on that today and I guess as, uh,
the AFL as we know, Peter, um, probably on different
colored sides of the spectrum, but those final times just
coming around and knowing some of the people that have
put in just beyond the pale pile, the effort of that,
because that is their job. Uh, this is not a

(37:13):
hobby for those people. It is their job. And the
amount of time that takes of them as those professional athletes.
But time away to, uh, from their families during the seasons,
as they travel away, as their commitments, as they get
closer to finals, become double them between the year, the
expectations of them, all, the demands on them, press publicity,

(37:38):
you know, um, not being able to go out in
public without somebody wanting a photo shoot or some nature. Um, yeah.
It's interesting. And, and, you know, we were speaking a
bit before, Peter about how we see those circles when
the television cameras can't wait to zoom in down in
the change rooms immediately after the event. And, and they

(37:59):
only do the song when they have, um, they probably
sing the song anyway, but the television are only interested
when they win. But always, Um, if it's not a
late night finish, there are the kids, uh, the little
ones just waiting. Waiting to be able to be around
their dad's leg or their dad's arm and to be

(38:20):
invited into that player circle. Um, it melts my heart
when I see that. I just think, wow, this is
a way. And as you see the people standing around,
the family units are invited into that sacred space, into
that change room to be there. But the little ones, um,
all there to be able to celebrate with their big

(38:41):
tall dads after their, their game. And it's just part
of that, uh, feeling included and being so proud in
that moment. And, uh, we see also, uh, where there's
things like I was speaking to a ballet champion this morning, uh,
quite a champion. And, uh, she talks about, you know,

(39:02):
the lead up, uh, the expectation, uh, when they are,
you know, the exams on the way to becoming famous. Um,
and just, uh, the parents, uh, sitting on the edge
of their seats, uh, knowing what the atmosphere is going
to be like at home. If if all those dreams, etc.
don't come real, but also knowing, uh, the closest to you,

(39:24):
those people also in family going through that in their
own capacity, um, realize how much has been given to
all the practices and the rehearsals, let alone the money,
the investment. Um, and then to see, uh, that winning performance, um,
or that, uh, passing of an exam, um, where, you know,

(39:48):
you just hanging on to your seat until it's time
where you can actually, um, show your emotion to that
teenager or that young adult as they are moving into
the next stage of their careers, because at the time
they spent, um, in whatever it is is that their
interest lies the, you know, the head of the river
with the colleges, uh, that compete every year. And, you know,

(40:13):
just here in Adelaide, there's people hanging off the bridges
waiting to see a glimpse, uh, of the rowing fleet
as they go under the bridge. And then the celebrations afterwards,
the barbecues and the sausages in the bread and everything else,
with everybody just united in celebration. You know, it's there's
as much joy for parents. It's equal, I think, as

(40:34):
much joy for parents celebrating whatever the kids have been
able to do, even if it's their first game of
footy and they've managed to be out there and kick
the ball and stand up, just how much that means
to the family unit as it is in reverse. Uh,
when it's, uh, dad or mum competing, uh, and the

(40:54):
children are watching and such proud, wonderful moments. So we
talk about this today and then we can flip this
a bit. There's probably a slightly different view I have
when the polys do this, when when we see them
with their children at the, uh, at the polling booth
and the cameras are around, I think, um, uh, there's

(41:18):
a joyous occasion, but is it more a, you know,
a show and tell moment rather than an actual, genuine family, uh,
getting together? Is it a show and tell? Um, I
don't know. Um, maybe I'm being a bit harsh here. Um,
but I think the wonderfulness of the family unit, when
it happens naturally, um, is just a sense of joy.

(41:42):
And when we see this, whether we whether we have
lives where we have all our people grown up or
they live overseas now or we don't have children, um,
but we, we watch these things, um, we're there to
listen to them on the beautiful station of Peter Greco. Um,

(42:05):
when we listened to the game, when we hear about
the the scores and everything, we somehow still, as a
community focus, can feel quite passionate about those scores and
those winnings, etc. so the family unit spreads and embraces
and includes into those moments the whole jolly community. And

(42:27):
we all cheer or we all wail at the same time,
whatever is happening. But we're part of it. And and
I think that's healthy. I think, uh, sometimes people will
feel that we make too, too much of sport when
there's other serious things happening in the world. And I
think we deserve a little bit of lightness in our life,

(42:49):
a a sharing of somebody else's ability to be able
to succeed and to have joy around that. Um, to
feel part of that to that you belong to something
like that, whether you're immediate family or whether, as I said,
the broader the community. Um, something that really touched me
last night is I was reading the day's news, as

(43:12):
I often do at the end of the day, around
at the beginning of the day of this 18 year
old who is fortunate enough to have a spot in
the NBA in America. I can't remember what team he's
attached to, but he's just begun and he's 18, so
of course he'll go to college over there. He'll have
to excel in his college because you don't get to
have that scholarship unless you pass your subjects, and then

(43:34):
you get to play as well. So he's all over,
and they were interviewing him. Um, his parents are coming
over in the next few weeks. Um, but, uh, he
broke down in the middle of his interview, um, because
they asked him about what it was like to be
away from home. And he's new to all this, and

(43:54):
he just broke down because he's missing them so terribly. Um,
they they made the comment that he's immediately got the
whole jolly country behind him because everyone felt so much
for him, because it was such a genuine display of
not having his, you know, his nearest and dearest about
him in, in what for him at the moment is

(44:16):
the most important step in his life. And again, you're
just drawn to to know how much in those moments
family are also suffering for those moments, recognizing this is
something he's always wanted to do, but feeling for him,
knowing he is missing them, but also this new country
embracing him and feeling like, oh, we've, you know, we're

(44:38):
here for you. We feel your pain. And again, it's
that community feeling that spreads further, possibly that sometimes we
give it credit. So today I just wanted to embrace
the season. All the basketball players, Plus the softball, the netball,
the football, the soccer. People getting ready and practicing in

(45:03):
their build ups to events wider than that, the athletes
in the Olympics and Commonwealth Games and the equestrian events.
People with three day event and all the rest of it.
So sporting, ballet classes, whatever it is, um, that the
family or the community are so can be so much

(45:25):
a part of that. Uh, and be around and enjoy
the freedom and the opportunity to share that magic, um,
rather than just what we are reminded constantly of, of
the darker side of what the whole jolly planet is
experiencing right now. Let's let's have some moments of joy.
Let's fill up a little bit at the, at the

(45:47):
petrol Bahasa, uh, with enjoying those moments, um, of people celebrating, um,
or conversely, having disappointment, but being there in a sense.

S2 (45:59):
Pam. That's wonderful. Thank you for filling up our petrol
bowser for this ten minutes every month. We really appreciate it.
Now you're a counselor by profession. 04104188357671835767. And, uh, it's, uh,
it's always great to have you with us. If there's
a topic you'd like Pam to tackle, uh, get in touch,

(46:21):
and we'll, uh, get Pam to do it. Pam, we'll
catch up next month.

S6 (46:24):
Love to be here. Thanks, Peter.

S2 (46:27):
Pam, our resident counselor. You're in elite company listening to
Leslie here on Vision Australia radio, VA radio, digital, VA Radio.com,
and through the TuneIn radio app. It's a very special

(46:47):
year for the Victorian eye and Ear hospital, celebrating 40
years since they've been around. Let's chat a bit about
it with Doctor Claire. Claire, lovely to meet you. Thank
you for your time.

S7 (46:58):
Thanks for giving me a chance to talk about cochlear implants.
They are my great passion. Always great to have an
excuse to talk about them.

S2 (47:04):
Now, I kind of know of a Graham Clark and
the fact that he kind of started it all many,
many years ago.

S7 (47:10):
That's right. So Graham Clark was actually the first in
the world to develop what's called a multi-channel electrode. So cochlear,
our inner ear works like the keys of a piano.
We've got lots of different sounds that are our inner
ear can pick up and up till the cocktail. Graham
Clark we used to just have an electrode that sat
in there with one point, so it literally could only

(47:31):
make one note, whereas he was the first in the
world to develop lots of different points where we could
simulate our inner ear, and that's what we call a
multi-channel electrode. And that technology is still the basis of
what we use today.

S2 (47:42):
And you're celebrating 40 years this year. How are you
kind of marking the occasion?

S7 (47:47):
So the specific and exciting landmark, you know, the event
is that the iron is clinic running it for public
access to patients. So we're having a big event next
Wednesday where we're inviting Graham Clark to come down and
speak to the team that are now running the cochlear
implant clinic and the patients and recipients. So it's a
great honor to have the great man coming in, and

(48:08):
then we'll sort of have a bit of a party
afterwards together to the world. But I've also had the
honour of watching him presented with a very prestigious awards internationally.
So this is not just a local thing we're celebrating.
It's actually an international, you know, amazing achievement for the
world having multi-channel electrodes.

S2 (48:26):
I don't want to go too much into the long grass,
but of course it's now a very, very successful publicly
listed company that is worth billions and billions of dollars
and started in Australia. So what a cool thing.

S7 (48:35):
Exactly.

S2 (48:36):
Tell us a bit about, uh, I guess the kind
of work that you're doing, the kind of difference that
makes the people's lives and the family of people's lives.

S7 (48:43):
It's just such a privilege to be working in this area.
It's a complete joy as a surgeon to do something that,
you know, though I never underestimate surgery as no one
does that for fun. You know, the surgery is actually
very simple. Um, low risk surgery and the impact on
both children and adults is just amazing to watch and

(49:04):
privileged to be a part of. So this started in adults,
you know, where basically we would replace someone's natural hearing
who had lost it over life. And it returns them
to not just hearing, but also being able to be employed,
being able to communicate with their friends and family. And,
you know, the impacts for someone on not just their financials,

(49:25):
but also their their emotions and their, you know, cognitive
health has just been so wonderful to see. But now
it's also being used in children who are born without
hearing to give them the opportunity to learn to use
oral speech. So a lot of our children can be
both bilingual in sign language and oral speech, and they
can choose to, you know, go through mainstream schools and

(49:46):
use that bilingual language, which was just also a great
privilege to be a part of.

S2 (49:51):
We'll come back to the kids in a second. But
that older age group, if you like. I mean, there's
a lot of evidence to say that, you know, hearing loss.
I don't think it's necessarily a cause of it, but
can be linked to things like memory loss and dementia. So,
you know, that's a great preventative thing in a sense
to be doing or potentially preventative thing to be doing.

S7 (50:07):
Absolutely. So we now know that treating hearing loss can
have a major impact on the trajectory of someone's cognitive
health and their chance of developing dementia. And Melbourne University,
in conjunction with the pioneers Cochlear Implant Clinic, has actually
also been doing research in this area. And we've seen
patients with early dementia having vessels of their, you know, issues,

(50:30):
not just that it prevents them getting worse, but that,
you know, they actually reverse some of those changes. And
it's not just to do with hearing. It's also to
do with executive planning. So things like going to the
supermarket and being able to do a shopping list actually help.
It's helped a lot by hearing better, and specifically, the
cochlear implants seem to have a big impact on that.
So it's been really exciting to see.

S2 (50:51):
Yeah. That's amazing. What about in terms of the planet
down a bit? I think Claire's saying it's not a
tricky surgery or complicated surgery, but I'm sure it's much
more than than you're making it out to be. But
tell us a bit about how it kind of works
without sort of going too gory.

S7 (51:05):
Sure. So thankfully, we put a little, uh, this, uh,
multi-channel electrode that that Graham Clark developed. We placed that
inside the inner ear, and then we place a processing
body just under the skin, under the skull, and then
we close up the skin. So it's we're on the outside.
There's nothing visible whatsoever. But then someone would wear an
externally worn processor, so like a conventional hearing aid, but

(51:29):
it attaches via a magnet to that internal divide. And
it doesn't just pick up sound, it tunes sound, adjusts sounds,
and delivers it directly to the nerve endings inside the cochlea.
So it means that we can give someone kind of
adjusted down, so it comes through much clearer. I don't
know if you've ever known someone with advanced hearing loss,
they'll often say, it's not just that I can't hear you,

(51:51):
it's that I can't hear clearly. Even though the sound
comes through, it's not clear enough to be understood. And
that's what a cochlear implant is really unique. In doing that,
it can provide clearer sound, not just louder sound.

S2 (52:04):
How long does the surgery take? Like one one surgery.

S7 (52:07):
So we are really unique in Melbourne. We have a
single service that serves all of Victoria and some of Tasmania.
There are many other hubs throughout Australia doing similar work,
but we are the oldest running single public service in
the world. We have a group of surgeons who are
highly trained, you know, subspecialty trained. Most of us have
done international training, specifically in England. So for our surgeons,

(52:31):
who usually makes about two hours, something like that, someone might.
Most patients will stay one night in hospital and then
do all normal activity within a week of surgery around
the world. You know, people aren't quite as experience of
this surgery, it might take longer. But because we've been
quite careful to only have surgeons highly trained in this,
doing it on Australian patients, but they should expect an

(52:53):
operation that only takes two hours.

S2 (52:55):
Extraordinary. What about for young kids? And how young can
the kind of youngest recipient be?

S7 (53:00):
So our goal is to connect children with hearing before
they're 12 months of age. And we know that makes
a really big difference in the children who are born
without any hearing at all, that it's a little bit
like a seedling you've got to plant. Once you plant
that seed thing, you've got to water it straight away.
Otherwise it's not going to get nice and strong. So
we do have a unique window where we've got to

(53:22):
implant them early. So we definitely know from Victoria again
we were, you know, doing a lot of research in
this area to show that timing does make a big difference.
Most of our recipients, the little children, would receive it
somewhere between 6 and 9 months. The earliest is probably
three months, but we just try and balance the risks
of the surgery with the benefit of getting unconnected with dad.
So usually that kind of sweet spot of safety plus

(53:44):
good outcomes is between 6 and 9 months.

S2 (53:47):
And that can sometimes be, you know, sometimes that kind
of gets data for the want of a better term
as the child gets older.

S8 (53:52):
But actually the.

S7 (53:53):
Internal device does not need to be changed. The internal
device can live with that child or that adult for
the rest of their life. But the external device, which
carries a lot of the kind of technology, can be
upgraded very simply by taking the one off the outside
and putting a new one on, which is like changing
the magnets on your fridge. You know, it's very simple technique,
but actually, we've also had a really exciting advancement in

(54:16):
cochlear implants this year, which is that the cochlear brand
have brought out a device that can also be upgraded,
so the internal device can now be upgraded as well
as the external device without removing the internal device. So
it's a little bit like a smartphone that you can
load on, um, a new upgraded technology without taking it out.
So that's actually the first implant in the world to

(54:38):
do that. So it is quite a big step forward.

S2 (54:43):
Without maybe giving too much away or obviously, you know,
prevent or maintaining people confidentiality. But what about some of
the sort of, uh, stories that you can tell of
people that have received an implant and the, the, their reaction,
for example.

S7 (54:58):
I just, you know, it's such a privilege working this way.
So I can't say that enough. You know, the joy
of getting to know people, understanding what their lives are
and how I can help them improve their function, is
means that I really do get a chance to get
to know them, to be able to what's right for them. Obviously,
the little children who come in, you know, telling me

(55:19):
all about their favorite thing or telling me about what
their new school is just so fun to watch. Given
that that child would not have used the same language
as I'm most comfortable using, which is oral language. I
had that recipient. Um, you know, they're not receive the
cochlear implant, but probably some of my favorite patients are
the older patients, you know. I heard 93 year old

(55:40):
who was single and and keen to, you know, meet
a new person and he felt his hearing was really
getting in the way of that. Um, after, you know,
careful assessment. He considered a cochlear implant recipient, and he
went through the surgery very smoothly. And, uh, six months
after receiving his implant, he told me he had three
hot dates to go to. I felt, um, I'd spread

(56:01):
a little bit of love in the world.

S2 (56:02):
Oh, that is amazing, isn't it? Well, good luck to him. And, uh,
good luck to his dates. Well, he certainly got something
to talk about, hasn't he?

S8 (56:09):
That's true. And I guess.

S7 (56:11):
He can hear what the. He can be a good
listener as well as a good talker.

S2 (56:14):
Now, what about a sneak peek into the future, Rick?
Can you sort of take us down that path, I guess.
It's almost limited by a person's imagination.

S8 (56:24):
Absolutely.

S7 (56:25):
So I think there's a few exciting things. You know,
we're really privileged in Melbourne. Part of why this service
started at the pioneer is the strong collaboration between Melbourne
University and the pioneer. So there's a lot of exciting
research being done on new technologies. New, you know, treatments. Um,
you know, certainly we're we're finding that we can get
better and better outcomes for the clarity of sound. And

(56:46):
so we can offer people implants, even, who have quite
a lot of natural healing hearing still there. And we're
getting better at better detecting that inner ear hearing. And
that means we can start to offer implants to people,
you know, before they're losing too much hearing, rather than
having to wait until they're very, you know, affected by
their hearing loss. It's the other exciting thing is, you know,
genetic treatments. So we can use the cochlear implants actually

(57:09):
to deliver genetic material to the cochlea. And that, you know,
those kinds of trials are in in process right now.
And Melbourne is recruiting for those. Uh, though they are,
you know, sent a bill for Australia in the world where,
you know, we might be delivering a gene that a
child is missing or we might actually be delivering, you know, neural, uh, structure,

(57:30):
you know, neural health factors that get us the regrow
nerves that we didn't have before. So I still think
there's a lot of opportunities for this to get better
and better over time.

S2 (57:40):
Wow, that sounds most exciting because there's so much talk
about gene therapy and all sorts of health conditions, isn't there?

S8 (57:46):
Absolutely.

S2 (57:47):
Claire, we're out of time. I could chat to you for.
I'll probably chat to you for days. It's such a
fascinating topic. Thank you. Thank you for being so modest.
And thank you for giving us a little snapshot into
40 years. And it'd be great if we could chat
in the future with that. That's just wonderful. And congratulations
to all those that have been involved and enjoy Wednesday.

S8 (58:03):
Thank you so much.

S2 (58:05):
That's doctor Sally there from the Victorian Ion hospital celebrating
40 years. And what an incredible insight into some of
the work that goes on. Well, if you're looking for
something to do in October, we might have the answer
for you. To tell us a bit more about it,
we've got Paul Bird, who's the chief executive for brainwave

(58:25):
on the line. Paul. Great to meet you. Thanks for
your time.

S3 (58:27):
Good morning.

S2 (58:28):
Peter. Now you've got something for our listeners and indeed
for Australia to take part in in October.

S9 (58:34):
Yes, we've got a fantastic new challenge event, uh, headed
up by Matt Keenan, the voice of cycling from SBS,
and Gracie Elvin, a fellow commentator in cycling champion. So
we're asking all Australians to set and ride their distance
between 1 and 30 1st October. Uh, you might want
to do the Paris-Roubaix. It's about 268km. So for that time, uh,

(58:58):
you could join as an individual, a team, a workplace
or another group. So, yeah, we're really inviting all Australians
to get involved and to raise funds for children with
brain disorders.

S2 (59:10):
Terrific. Well, tell us a bit more about Brain Wave
and the proceeds that this is going towards. What what
do they do? And I guess the impact that it
has on people or the individuals and of course, their families.

S9 (59:22):
So we've been going nearly 30 years now and, uh,
started by a parent with a son with a brain tumour.
And she realised that, um, although there's tremendous support and
care in the children's hospital. You know, once you walk
out through the front doors, there's a lot. And of course,
the whole future of that whole family changes, not just
the child. So we've been supporting not just the child,

(59:44):
but the whole family for that time. We we support
about 1600 children and their families across Australia. And and
this is right from diagnosis in partnership with the children's hospitals, uh,
we would fund therapy and equipment to allow the children
to be discharged from hospital to home and to continue treatments.

(01:00:04):
And we support siblings with meeting other siblings, parents, many
other siblings. We have mums groups, dads groups and a
range of family activities so they can actually, uh, get
out to reduce their social isolation and try and get
peer support from others.

S2 (01:00:19):
There's such a powerful message, isn't it? And I mean,
obviously tough for the youngster who's diagnosed. Of course we
all can feel for them. But as you say, you've
got siblings, you've got parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles, everyone's kind
of impacted in a different way. And I guess if
nothing else, it's probably good to know that you're not alone,
you know, with the child going through this.

S9 (01:00:39):
Yes it does. And it happened to my family. It's
why I joined brainwave four years ago. And you're right,
the impacts are those in different ways. So mums usually
have to give up work to be the 24 over
seven carer. Uh, the father usually has to work more
shifts and often often the father is lost. They don't
know what to do, what their role is anymore. Uh,
the mother has to cope with, uh, NDIS, uh, health

(01:01:02):
and other systems. Um, I'm sure your listeners would be
aware of that. Um, and the siblings are very easily
can drop out of school. They certainly don't do as
much activities as they did because the families, um, you know,
not just having to look after the child, but exhausted,
to be honest. And they just don't have the money
for the kind of child activities for the siblings that

(01:01:24):
other families would have.

S2 (01:01:26):
It's a great message, and I believe that the demand,
if I can put it that way, has grown exponentially
over the last few years.

S9 (01:01:32):
Yes. Um, you know, the there's about ten children a
day that are diagnosed with a brain disorder. And honestly,
a families are reluctant to seek help. They always think
that there is a family that's worse off from them
that deserved more help. And there's always been a reluctance
to seek help. We've done a lot of work with

(01:01:52):
the children's hospitals to provide that initial information advice. We
set up a first hundred day guide on our website
so parents can access videos of other parents, because often
it's quite confusing the health messages, um, and they really
want to hear from other parents as the most trusted source.

(01:02:14):
So that has helped a lot of, um, especially mothers,
you know, what do we do next? Our child's been diagnosed.
They're about to be discharged. How do I, you know,
how I had to navigate these new things. And so
that's brought a lot more registrations. And I've got to
say the children's hospitals are fantastic. We give our little backpack.

(01:02:35):
We help with emergency accommodation and meal vouchers to try
and make that hospital stay a slightly more easier.

S2 (01:02:42):
Confusing and overwhelming. I would say that, particularly those early days. Paul.

S9 (01:02:46):
Oh, and you go through, um, as we did, grief,
anger or denial? You go through all those stages. Um,
there's a guilt, you know. Did I, did I do this?
So is it hereditary? Is it genetic? You know, we're
seeing children that have a stroke even in utero. Um,
and you've got different kinds of neurological conditions. Often the

(01:03:09):
child is too young to know what's happening to them. Um,
as my daughter. And it's only when they get older
and they have more tests. Do you actually know what
it is? So you may even have a situation where
it's undiagnosed, in which case it's not going to help
your application to things like the NDIS. So it is
a very fraught, traumatic experience and that really continues when

(01:03:32):
they get home. So we again, we're in the background
helping them try and navigate in that journey.

S2 (01:03:38):
So you've got a website. Tell us a bit more
about the event then. And we must have a chat
to you. But down the track, Paul, about your personal experience,
because that probably deserves an interview all on its own.
How can people get involved and also what's involved? Because
you don't necessarily have to. You can kind of do
it from home, can't you?

S9 (01:03:54):
Absolutely. So you can ride anywhere, anytime. It could be
on a static bike at home or even or it
could be on a very popular gravel ride now, etc..
So and you can sign up as just yourself or
as a team. As I say, it's very easy to do.
It's ride for the kids, ride for the kids. Very,

(01:04:16):
very easy to sign up. And the more you do fundraise,
the more, um, different things you get, so you get.
We've been we've partnered with an amazing, um, Collingwood based
company called peddler. And they, they have some amazing cycling gear.
So we've got caps, water bottles, jerseys and even a, uh,

(01:04:38):
little cowbell. Um, you know, you see the cowbells being
rubbed on, so you raise enough money, you get a cow.

S2 (01:04:45):
Oh, fantastic. What a great name for a company. I've
got to say, for a cycle company. That's that's brilliant. And, um, the, uh,
the process is they all go to, uh, providing these
services and I guess expanding hopefully these services as well.

S9 (01:04:59):
Yeah, absolutely. There's a lot more we can do. Um,
but even just meeting the need at the moment is,
you know, is a challenge. And we want to make
sure that we don't turn any families away here.

S2 (01:05:09):
Well, Paul, you've been around for 30 years. Not you personally.
You don't sound old enough, but, uh, the organization, first
time we've spoken. So it's good to catch up with you.
And we must catch up again in the future. So
it starts in October, but October, but obviously the earlier
people register the better.

S9 (01:05:22):
And also practice. So you know you're going to do
that 268km, which I'm sure you're going to do better
get practice then.

S2 (01:05:31):
Paul, you're an optimist I like that. Yeah. Give us
the website again.

S9 (01:05:35):
So it's w-w-w-what for the kids.

S2 (01:05:40):
Paul great to catch up and we will speak again
in the future and we wish you well with this.

S9 (01:05:44):
Thank you so much, Peter. Thanks for the opportunity.

S2 (01:05:46):
It's Paul Bert, there certainly much lived experience and really
speaking from that aspect as far as this event goes.
So if you'd like to get involved, you don't have
to be well, you can be anywhere, even on a
static bike, and get involved.

S10 (01:05:59):
Hi, I'm Denise Wood from USC. One of Queensland's universities
with a strong commitment to accessibility and inclusion. And I
enjoy being with you and talking about accessibility and technology.
Each month on leisure link with Peter Greco on Vision
Australia Radio.

S2 (01:06:20):
Well, a really interesting initiative launched earlier this week to
help youngsters, in particular at childcare places and and more importantly,
I guess, professionals that work in those areas to tell
us more about it from the National Nutrition Foundation, we've
got Margaret Rothman on the line. Margaret, lovely to meet you.
Thank you for your time.

S8 (01:06:36):
Thank you Peter.

S2 (01:06:37):
Now, this does sound really good. And in a sense, maybe, um,
one of those things where people say, well, of course
this should be happening.

S8 (01:06:44):
Yes. That's right. And what we've actually launched this week
is a free national training course. The National Nutrition Foundation
has teamed up with the National Allergy Council to develop
some training, um, online training for cooks and chefs and
educators working in long day care services to understand how
to manage allergies, intolerances and other food preferences in those settings.

S2 (01:07:08):
So I guess it's kind of a two pronged attack, uh,
both for nutrition, but also, as you say, to be
allergy aware.

S8 (01:07:14):
That's right. So what's happening at the moment is that
a lot of childcare centres are banning certain ingredients. Um,
if there's a child with an allergy in the service
and that is sometimes a replacement, food is sometimes not provided.
But what actually should be happening is that that the

(01:07:35):
food should be available for all children, and the foods
and drinks should be provided to the child with the
allergy or the intolerance or the food preference, and it
should be managed. And it's the nutrition is not compromised
in the process.

S2 (01:07:47):
Is that kind of to help the child as well
in terms of, you know, feeling included or not feeling excluded,
not feeling like I'm a bit different?

S8 (01:07:54):
That's exactly right. It's around creating sort of an inclusive
environment for children in care and also to to maintain their,
I guess, their nutrition. So we know that, you know,
especially children attending childcare, they're there from the morning until
the evening. So they're getting 50 to 70% of their
daily nutrition needs while they're there. So and children are

(01:08:15):
also attending care a lot more than they used to three, four,
five times a week. So a large portion of their
nutrition intake is from food that they're getting in childcare services.

S2 (01:08:27):
That's a great point. I was going to ask you
about what long day care is, but I guess you've
kind of answered that. It's the kids that are there
a lot of the day.

S8 (01:08:34):
Yeah. So long. Daycare is essentially childcare. So early childhood
services comprises of long daycare. So they could be center
based care. So a lot of childcare centers that you
see when you're driving around. It could also be family daycare.
So that's where people look after children in their home.
And they have their businesses as well. It could be kinder.

(01:08:56):
So not a lot of kindergartens actually provide a lot
of food, but some may. But it's still good to
understand and to learn about the allergies, intolerances and dietary preferences.
And also outside of school hours. Care is also a
type of education and care, but it's more delivered for
school aged children.

S2 (01:09:15):
That's a great point, as you say, because, you know,
if both parents are working, sometimes the kids have got
to be somewhere, don't they? So I guess that's one
of the resolutions. Can we walk and chew gum at
the same time? I mean, can we have stuff that
is nutritionally good for us? But also, uh, you know,
we don't have to worry about the allergies. Can we
do both?

S8 (01:09:32):
Absolutely. So, um, this training is very practical training, and
it actually steps through how to manage getting the right
nutrition needs for children in daily menus, but also to
make sure that you're not compromising the safety of children
with any allergies or intolerances or dietary preferences. And when

(01:09:53):
we mean dietary preferences, it could be, um, halal, kosher veganism, vegetarianism.
There's a lot of centers that are trying to manage
a lot of different dietary requirements. And so it's a
big challenge for people responsible for developing menus and delivering
nutritious and safe food.

S2 (01:10:12):
So who's it aimed at and how can people access it?

S8 (01:10:15):
So it's aimed at specifically cooks and chefs and anyone
developing menus in childcare services. And it could also be
it's also really relevant for educators because it's important that
in a childcare environment that everyone has a good understanding
of how to manage different allergies, intolerances and dietary preferences.
And it can be accessed for free from the Healthy

(01:10:38):
Eating Advisory Service website. So if you just Google Healthy
Eating Advisory Service, it'll be on the homepage of the
website and there's training modules that have been launched. So
online training that's free. Uh, there's uh, one larger module
on managing allergies and learning all about allergens. And then
there's 11 short practical modules. The modules only go for

(01:11:00):
5 or 10 minutes each, and you can just do
the module that's relevant for you. So for example, if
you're in a centre and you've only got two children
with allergies and it's its dairy and wheat. You can
just complete those modules or just understand what's relevant to
you at the time. Or you can complete all the
modules as you need them. You also get a certificate
on completion, which is really great to show management that

(01:11:23):
you've actually completed some training. And you know, the best
of all is that it is free.

S2 (01:11:28):
Yeah that's right. Well, there's no excuse as far as
not going to afford it goes. What about in terms of, um,
I guess, the role of management? I mean, you talked
about the different settings for a lot of this early learning.
What about the sort of responsibility, if you like, on
management or how does that kind of play out?

S8 (01:11:45):
Well, I think, you know, with managers, you know, they've
got a big task in terms of running their centres,
but it is the responsibility of the managers to ensure
a safe environment for children, especially with allergies and all
the other things that they need to deal with. But
also it is, uh, you know, their responsibility ultimately to
provide nutritious foods. And so giving the relevant people in

(01:12:07):
childcare centres, especially cooks and chefs, who are always really
time pressed in terms of their day to day work.
The adequate time and the resources to be able to
complete the training would be absolutely amazing, because we know
that cooks and chefs do an amazing job. They're usually
there really early, you know, morning teas at 9 a.m.,
typically in the childcare centre and lunch is at 11. And,

(01:12:27):
you know, so they're really busy people. Um, got a
lot to do, a lot on their plate, pardon the pun. Um, but, uh, yeah.
So I think it's all a big team effort when
it comes to developing, you know, providing quality care. The
management's responsibility, the educators and the people responsible for the food,
the cooks and the chefs.

S2 (01:12:46):
But of course, a lot of evidence to show that
particularly breakfast is important for kids to learn and I guess,
quote unquote, to behave, you know, if they're well fed, uh,
probably their behaviors is going to be better as well.

S8 (01:12:57):
Well, there's a lot of evidence to show that, you know, um,
having good nutrition really affects children's, you know, their growth
and development, but also their behavior and their learning outcomes.
And so that's really relevant even from a very young age.
So it's important, you know, some kids may not arrive
to the center until after breakfast. A lot of them
will have breakfast there. But you know, all those other

(01:13:19):
meals like morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea. It's really important
that they're nutritious and also safe for children with allergies
and intolerances.

S2 (01:13:27):
What about in terms of cost of um, I mean,
obviously there's of course, if you like, is free or
the training is free. What about in terms of cost?
Would people have to kind of change their menus or
change what they're buying too much, do you think? Or
I guess a lot of this stuff we kind of
know or, you know, sort of picked up over the years.
I know, you know, things like eggs can sort of
be in and out of fashion, for example. But I mean,

(01:13:47):
the free fresh fruit and veg, we kind of all
know that it's good for us, even though maybe sometimes
it might not be what we what prefer.

S8 (01:13:54):
Oh, look, from a cost perspective, you know, a lot
of the guidance that we give is really to stick
to the basic food groups. So it does become affordable. Um,
you know, it is affordable to provide a quality and
nutritious menu. In terms of the broader guidance, it's never
really about providing a lot of fancy ingredients, and we
can still provide good quality foods by sticking to the

(01:14:16):
basic food groups, and that's really the important part when
it comes to children with some dietary intolerances. So for example,
celiac disease, there may be a couple of ingredients that
you may need to purchase that are separate. For those
children that may be a little bit more expensive, but
that is something that the centers will be familiar with
managing because, you know, they have been doing that for

(01:14:37):
quite some time. So there might be a little bit
more expensive, but it's a bit hard to sort of
generalize because it really just does depend on the individual.

S2 (01:14:44):
I just, you know, different cities or different settings in
terms of what might be more easily available or readily available,
what's in season and all those sort of things. But
I guess that's kind of the case at any time
of the year anyway.

S8 (01:14:56):
Right? And like what you've picked up and just said,
seasonal foods is something that we really recommend, you know,
from a nutrition perspective, because they're the ones that tend
to be a lot more affordable.

S2 (01:15:05):
Yeah. What about drinks? Because that can sometimes be a
bit tricky, can't it?

S8 (01:15:09):
Well, for childcare, we're pretty much, uh, encourage water and
milk or a milk alternative if the child actually has, um,
an allergy or intolerance to cow's milk. You know, we
don't recommend juices or soft drinks, obviously, so it becomes
pretty easy. So once the center gets into a routine
and I think a lot of services across Australia are
pretty good at drinks and you know, so it's pretty

(01:15:31):
much just milk and water.

S2 (01:15:32):
Congratulations. Because uh, last week I spoke to, uh, Doctor
Monica Farrelly from the Australian Dental Association, and she was
making the point because it was some awareness for particularly
kids teeth and kids teeth help. And she was making
the point that fruit juices aren't all they're cracked up
to be. Water and milk. So two weeks in a row,
we've had the same message. So we're not confusing anyone, Margaret.

(01:15:54):
We're playing our role and keeping the message simple.

S8 (01:15:57):
Fantastic. Yeah. And look, a lot of this guidance aligns
with the guidance, um, that, you know is provided for
oral health as well in terms of nutrition. Yeah. But
this course sort of takes it to another level. It's
nutrition and how to manage the allergies and intolerances and
the dietary preferences. And so apart from this course we
also have supporting resources on the Healthy Eating Advisory Service website.

(01:16:19):
And we've translated a lot of this um, into five
community languages. So brilliant for cooks and chefs who English
is their second language. That might provide that little bit
of extra information and support to be able to understand
how to really be effective in managing allergies and intolerances
in their service.

S2 (01:16:38):
Well, that's great for accessibility and great inclusion. Well done
to all on that initiative. So give us the website
again or what we need to stick in our search
engine and we can find it. And we'll put that
up with our show notes as well. So if people
haven't got access to it right now, we can we
can put it there and they can go there to
find the information.

S8 (01:16:56):
Yep. So if you go to the Healthy Eating Advisory Service.
Just type that in, it will come up and then
it will be on the home page. And there's also
a training page where you can just type in allergies
and you'll find it. It's pretty accessible.

S2 (01:17:09):
Okay. But just before you go, is this a sort
of a one and done, or will it be a
sort of live document that will be adjusted as time
goes on? How do you see that playing out?

S8 (01:17:18):
Yeah. So the Healthy Eating Advisory Service has been supporting
early childhood services for 13 years now. So we've got
a lot of information on the website on how to
provide nutritious and safe menus for children in care. So
we're continuously adding and refining resources. And so, you know,
come and visit the website every now and again if

(01:17:38):
you'd like to get the latest in information. Or you
can even subscribe and get a newsletter from us.

S2 (01:17:43):
Terrific. Well, Frank, social media. All right. Hey, Margaret, it's
a great message. And certainly, you know, if we can
get that foundation right, and maybe some of us might
have to perhaps change our eating habits a little bit
with our kids along the way, we'll all be happier
and healthier down the track.

S8 (01:17:58):
Thanks, Peter. Thank you.

S2 (01:17:59):
That's Margaret Rothlander. Margaret is the West Coast CEO for
the National Nutrition Foundation with that interesting and excellent initiative.
I know we've spoken over the years about allergies, etc.
they've done a great job, particularly representing themselves in Canberra,
and I think this is just another step and something
that hopefully many people will take advantage of. Well, it's

(01:18:22):
really great to welcome to the program the co-founder for
doctors for nutrition, Eleanor Hochheimer.

S1 (01:18:28):
Thank you for having.

S7 (01:18:29):
Me.

S1 (01:18:29):
And us.

S2 (01:18:30):
Well, thank you for talking to us. And Rebecca Steiner
is also the Rebecca is the CEO for the organization.
Nice to meet you, Rebecca.

S11 (01:18:37):
Thanks, Peter. Thanks for having us on.

S2 (01:18:39):
Hello. Now, why did you set up doctors for nutrition?

S1 (01:18:42):
Yeah.

S12 (01:18:43):
That happens. What is it now? Seven years ago, more
than seven years ago, that doctors for nutrition was established.
But my story starts since 2010. 15 years ago that
I came across two doctors in the United States that
were being interviewed, and they were explaining that you could
stop and reverse heart disease with a whole food, low fat,

(01:19:05):
whole food, plant based diet. Heart disease is still the
number one killer in the world more than medicine. It's
really not possible to reverse it. You can hold it
for a little bit. You can slow it down with medication.
But reversal is not something that we see. That's why
it's called a chronic disease. It goes on and on
and on. And over time it gets worse. So you

(01:19:25):
know that draw my attention. And basically it was very
surprised to hear that. And I looked further into the
research evidence etc.. And then I discovered that there were
a lot more doctors that followed this path. And I
educated myself in plant based nutrition, going to conference in

(01:19:46):
the USA starting in 2013. And every year I followed
that conference in the United States. But after going 2
or 3 years to that conference, I thought, we need
something like this in Australia because there was basically not
much going on in this area in Australia. You know,
step by step, with the help of a lot of

(01:20:08):
other people, we managed to establish doctors for nutrition and
our purpose is well, in the end, to create a world,
as we say, without preventable disease, because it's not just
heart disease, but also other chronic diseases like type two
diabetes or cancer or autoimmune diseases. That doesn't mean that
you can reverse all of these diseases, but it's very

(01:20:30):
clear with heart disease and for instance, type two diabetes
that for many patients you can actually and for other
diseases like cancer and autoimmune diseases, you can help people
a lot, as in halting it, giving them a better
life expectancy, etc.. So that is our goal and we

(01:20:51):
have a advisory Council with medical doctors and dietitians that
support this, and also international well-known doctors that are also
on our advisory council. Yeah, so we try to educate
doctors because doctors are not being trained in med school
about nutrition. It's more pills and procedures, of course, so

(01:21:15):
that doctors don't know about this. I mean, 15 years
ago I didn't know. So I find it quite understandable.
And that's why we come in. We want to do
that education after they have become a doctor, but we
also work with medical students so that they are aware
that we exist, and that there is also another line
of approach, which actually should be the first line of

(01:21:37):
approach in the medical sector, and that is nutrition.

S2 (01:21:40):
Yeah. Rebecca, you've got a website and of course, on
the website, people get a lot of good information, including
doing a very interesting survey.

S7 (01:21:47):
Yeah. That's right. Uh, we.

S11 (01:21:49):
Spend a lot of time on our website. There are
two true portals really one for clinicians and one for
general public. So the information is the same, but sort
of displayed a little bit differently. But yeah, we've got
information on many different chronic health conditions and how, um,
diet and lifestyle changes can help. And recently we just
launched our free dietary assessment tool, which is based off

(01:22:11):
something called the Four Leaf Survey. So you can quickly
go through a really simple survey. You can either do
it at home or you can actually sit with your GP.
GP's can do it with patients in a matter of
minutes and quickly assess their basically their calorie intake from
whole plant foods. So how many processed foods they eat,
how many animal products they eat, but then also fruits

(01:22:31):
and vegetables. So it gives you an overall assessment of
your dietary impact. And then it goes through. And at
the end you can look at also your climate impact.
So you know the better you eat for your health
the better it is for the environment too. And the
less greenhouse gas emissions that we produce.

S2 (01:22:47):
And the survey doesn't take very long. It's a great
idea about doing it with your doctor. Elena, what about
in terms of getting the doctors on board? Are most
doctors open minded? I guess you can be kind of
hard wired to think a certain way, and that can
be a bit of a challenge.

S12 (01:23:01):
Yeah, definitely. It's exactly as you say it. That is
a challenge. And again, you know, like the general public,
there are people that really open to this and want
to know more. And there are people that, you know,
elders or say, no, I'm not going to do that
or I don't believe that.

S2 (01:23:16):
And it's too hard maybe.

S12 (01:23:18):
And it's. Well, that's yeah, I think it comes from
too hard because this is not about believing the science
is clear. So I don't believe anything in, uh, in
this aspect. Um, you know, it's all about is the
science supporting this. And it's overwhelming how the science is
supporting this. So, uh, yeah, but we go to conferences

(01:23:39):
for GPS. Then we will have our booth. Uh, sometimes
we are even able to talk.

S11 (01:23:45):
And we also have our own symposium this year, and
it's in Adelaide. And it's going to focus on not
only nutrition but all the other pillars of lifestyle medicine.
So things like sleep and exercise and avoiding risky substances
like alcohol. So there'll be talks on all the different
pillars and also how they then all relate back to nutrition.
So that'll be in Adelaide. It's held in the Adelaide

(01:24:06):
Health and Medical Sciences Building and it's on November 8th.
Is that.

S2 (01:24:10):
For doc. Yeah do that Rebecca.

S11 (01:24:11):
It's for anyone or for anyone Peter. So we'd love
to see you there. I know you're in Adelaide. Basically,
doctors and other healthcare professionals can get their CPD hours.
They need to do a certain amount of professional development
throughout the year, but also it's going to be targeted
at everyone. So we'll have a lot of medical students
come along and also general community members too.

S2 (01:24:31):
All right. Now I know you're in New Zealand at
a conference at the moment, so thank you for making time.
Now I'll get you to do Rebecca, send me that information.
We might get you back on maybe mid to late
October to talk about the conference a bit more and
how people can attend. In the meantime, how can we
find out more about what you're doing? Also, for people
who might use screen readers or assistive technology, that the

(01:24:52):
website is quite accessible and there's a survey, it's quite
easy to take. Where can we find you?

S11 (01:24:58):
Great. That's really good to know that Peter too. So
we do spend a lot of time trying to make
our web page accessible. So if anybody does have any issues,
please get in touch with us. We have an email
called contact for all. Our website has so much information.
You can download recipes. There's meal plans. There's all sorts
of things. But we're also across all the other social

(01:25:19):
media platforms. So Instagram, we have posts on several posts
a week Facebook, LinkedIn we have a little bit on YouTube. Yeah,
we try and cover all the different platforms so people
can find us, and you should be able to just
type in plant based Nutrition Australia and we would come up.

S2 (01:25:33):
All right. Doctors for nutritionists for Rebecca, thanks so much
for speaking to us. We wish you well and thanks
for making some time for us.

S11 (01:25:40):
Thank you Peter.

S12 (01:25:41):
Welcome.

S2 (01:25:42):
By Peter Esser, co-founder and the CEO SEO for doctors
for nutrition. We'll put that information up with our show notes,
and hopefully we can catch up with the ladies a
bit closer to the conference coming up in November in Adelaide. Now,
I do apologize. I mentioned to Ben, as we were
talking about golf, that the Bali bombing was 24 years

(01:26:04):
ago this year. Of course it's 23 years. 2002 October 12th,
2002 was when the Bali bombing sadly took place. So
apologies for any inconvenience or any stress that I caused there.
Also club Cool happening tomorrow at the guv from about
10:30 or doors open in the morning till about 2:30

(01:26:24):
in the afternoon. If you want more details, give Andrew
Kyprianou a call 04088486490408848649 from Club Cool tomorrow at the guv.
Couple of quakes before we go after Lita sent one
through rather fortuitously, on the same day as we speak

(01:26:46):
to Taron Dickins about Winter Paralympics, as the latest quote
is why did the snowman look so happy? Because he
was having a cool time. Okay, thanks for writing this
speech for that. And one sent through from Mark, from
Warren Buffett, I think dropped out of the richest 100
people on the world this week. Uh, Warren Buffett's quote

(01:27:07):
is there's never only one cockroach in the kitchen. So
thanks very much to Mark for sending that one through.
And a couple of birthdays before we go. Lee Whitson
up there in the Barossa Valley having a birthday. Very
much involved with charity for a long, long time. Happy
birthday to you, Lee. And happy birthday to Daniel Michel,
that wonderful boccia athlete from Australia, Paralympic medallist many times over. Uh, Dan,

(01:27:34):
a very big happy birthday to you. Hope you have
a great day. That is it for the program if
you're listening through 1190 7 a.m. in Adelaide. Don't touch
that dial. Vicki Cousins is coming up very soon with
Australian Geographic. The program no one ever misses. Thank you,
Sam Rickard for your help. Thank you Pam Green for yours.
Thank you to the team for helping us put the

(01:27:55):
program to air this afternoon. Be kind to yourselves, be
thoughtful and look out for others reminding you that electric
is available on that favourite podcast platform of yours. Get
it wherever you get your favourite pod. Be kind to yourselves,
be thoughtful and look out for others all being well.

(01:28:16):
Let's look back at the same time next week on
Vision Australia Radio and the Reading Radio Network. This is
leisure link.

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