20 Sep 2025

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:13):
Hi, I'm Isabelle McLellan and I have just returned from
the World Transplant Games in Dresden, Germany, where I won
a total of five medals from my five events. You're
listening to leisure link with Peter Greco on the Vision
Australia radio network.

S2 (00:35):
It's just gone 5:00 as I welcome you warmly to
the link here on radio. Radio 1190 7 a.m. Adelaide,
online at radio via Radio Digital Adelaide in Darwin through
the Community Radio Plus app. Look for Vision Australia, Radio Adelaide,
our friends listening through 103.9 FM instruments in Western Australia

(00:57):
through the Reading Radio Network. A big hello to you
and a big hello and thank you to our friends
through Disability Media Australia. Find out much more about them
including Leisure Link. Go to Powered Media. Media. Peter Greco
saying wonderful to be here. Thank you for making time
to tune in. This program coming to you from Garner

(01:19):
Land come to you very shortly. We'll catch up with
Isabel McMullen, talk about the Transplant Games and a great
story to tell. We'll also speak to Tony Profit talking
about Yard Ball, a very inclusive way of basketball. Maybe
you can get involved. Will meet Tina Koome, one of
the Commonwealth Bank teachers of the year, doing some tremendous

(01:39):
work in Melbourne. We'll catch up with Pam Mitchell, our
resident counsellor. Equinox day will talk about being balanced. We'll
also catch up with Karen Carter. The best way to
look after your wounds. Sarah Richardson will join us from
Health Bright. Particularly good topic for adults with ADHD. And

(01:59):
we'll also be joined by Courtney McMahon from the NBN.
How is your internet speed? It should be speeding up.
It might have already sped up. What do you need
to do to together. As we heard last week, the
World Transplant Games are over. Our athletes are back in Australia.

(02:21):
Let's catch up with an athlete who did especially well.
Isabelle McMullen. Isabelle, welcome home and welcome to the program.

S3 (02:27):
Thank you so much. So happy to be here.

S2 (02:29):
Yeah, well, you did do particularly well. Did you surprise yourself, Isabelle?

S3 (02:33):
Oh, I did. I didn't have as long as I
would have liked to prepare. So very stoked with my results.

S2 (02:39):
How well did you do?

S3 (02:40):
Oh, well, five medals from five events, which I'm so
proud of. I managed to pull a gold in the
50 metre freestyle. Actually, scratch that was my 50 fly.
I got second in the 50 metre freestyle, 200 freestyle
and 200 individual medley, and I got a bronze in
the 100 freestyle as well.

S2 (03:01):
Fantastic. So obviously you're a swimmer. You obviously love swimming.

S3 (03:04):
Oh yes. I grew up in Byron Bay, born and
raised there, so I grew up by the water. My
happy place, for sure. Yeah.

S2 (03:11):
And you as a youngster in particular. Not that you're
old now, but as a youngster in particular, you're very
keen on surf life saving.

S3 (03:17):
Yes. Yeah. I competed for Byron Bay for many years
up through. Gosh, it would have been under eights through
the opens actually.

S2 (03:24):
And in the open water obviously. Or.

S3 (03:26):
Yes, that's in the open water. I also did a
lot of pool training just as part of that for fitness.
I did quite a few swim meets growing up though, um,
as well as some pool rescue stuff, which is like
a mix of surf, life saving and just general swimming.

S2 (03:39):
I want to come back to some of that helping
others before we wrap up the interview. So, um, that
was obviously when you were younger and then at 12
years of age, which is still very, very young, you
were diagnosed with a rather serious illness.

S3 (03:51):
Yes. Um, at 12 I was diagnosed with lupus nephritis.
So essentially my body just attacked my kidneys one day.
So it's an autoimmune disease. Don't really know why it happens,
but very young age to have to deal with that.

S2 (04:03):
Is it common at that sort of age?

S3 (04:05):
No. Not really. It's not something that's particularly common. It
just happens, you know. Yeah.

S2 (04:10):
And did it did it kind of happen overnight or
over a gradual period of time?

S3 (04:14):
It was a gradual period. Yeah. Just my mum describes
now in the months leading up to my diagnosis, I'd
come into her room in the middle of the night
and say something is wrong. You know, like I have
always known my body and I would just come in
like something's wrong. I don't feel well. And it was
just sort of okay, like, we'll see how we're going
in the morning. And then, yeah, one day I was
on my way to swim club, actually had my feet

(04:34):
up on the dashboard and my ankles were so swollen.
And she's gone. What's going on here? And I was like, oh,
they've been like that for a while, you know. She's like, okay,
we're going to emergency right now because that's not. Wow. Yeah.
There you go.

S2 (04:47):
Is it an easy thing to diagnose? I mean, I
guess when you got those sort of symptoms, it could
be a lot of different things.

S3 (04:53):
Yeah, it could be a lot of different things. Ankle
swelling is a big indicator of kidney failure. My other
symptoms are really just fatigue. And lupus has a pretty
significant sort of butterfly rash. So just reddening on your
cheeks and across your nose.

S2 (05:05):
And what about after that? Then I guess you get
the diagnosis. Did you then have some, I guess, what
we might call conventional treatment for a while?

S3 (05:12):
Um, essentially, after my diagnosis, I was taken to hospital immediately,
spent a few weeks there. Um, had to get a
biopsy just to see the significance of the damage. Um,
and then after that, I was in hospital for, I
think it was three weeks, almost a month for treatment.
Just a lot of anti-rejection, I guess you'd call it medication.
So autoimmune suppressing ones.

S2 (05:33):
What was that, like, a young person, very, very active.
I think you're also very much involved with dance competition. Uh,
kind of to be struck down like this. Uh, I
guess there's a lot to take into account, sort of
emotionally and mentally. Not just physically.

S3 (05:46):
Oh, definitely. Yeah. Like I said, I grew up swimming, surfing, dancing.
I was doing something every single day of the week,
and to be forced into a hospital bed was pretty rough.
Very grateful for my parents, though, you know, they were
there every step of the way and made it so
much easier.

S2 (06:02):
And what about when the diagnosis came through? Did you
sort of think, well, what's that? And what does it mean?

S3 (06:07):
Yeah, 100%. Um, I have this specific memory of one
of the doctors. I was, um, at the hospital I
was at at the time saying, oh, you know what?
I think it's time to hang up the cap and goggles.
Like you'll be out for a while, you know? No
more competing. So that was honestly the biggest driver. As
soon as I heard that, I'm someone who goes, okay,
watch me. And yeah, so it was incredible to be

(06:29):
able to compete at the Transplant Games after all that.

S2 (06:31):
I guess they kind of, um, you know, I'm not
going to take that as an answer. It's kind of
good and bad because you're probably still going to kind
of manage yourself, if I can put it that way,
rather than, you know, I'm feeling good or I want
to prove you wrong and then you go overboard.

S3 (06:44):
Oh, definitely. That is probably one of the biggest things
I've struggled with. I'm a very driven, motivated person, so
it's taken a long time for me to understand that,
you know, I can't give everything 100% all the time.
I need to listen to my body. I've got to
take time to recover just those sort of things.

S2 (07:01):
Now, your transplant story, in a sense, is a little
bit different. Or maybe it's not the common way that
people have transplants. Would that be fair to say?

S4 (07:08):
Yeah, it would be, yeah.

S2 (07:10):
So what happened?

S3 (07:11):
So with my after my diagnosis, um, with after my
time in the hospital, medications, like I said, the immunosuppressing drugs, um,
I went into a little bit of remission with the lupus,
so got that under control for a few years, which
was amazing. But after a certain amount of stress on
the kidneys, they deteriorate quicker. So I didn't have lupus anymore,

(07:32):
but the additional stress caused by the already done damage
to my kidneys, um, once I hit, gosh, what year
would have been 2020? Um, my kidney function just declined
pretty quickly after that. I did manage to avoid dialysis,
which I'm very grateful for because it's pretty. It takes
its toll on your body and definitely your mental health
as well. Um, but yeah. 2021 I received a kidney

(07:56):
transplant from my dad.

S2 (07:58):
Wow.

S3 (07:58):
And yeah. Been Then? Oh, I can't even describe how
grateful I am for him and all the staff and
doctors who helped me get to where I am today.

S2 (08:07):
Yeah, I think we can all identify with that, uh,
albeit if we're not directly involved. So we spoke to Andrew, um,
last week, and he talked about his dialysis, and he
actually lived a long way from where he was having dialysis.
And we kind of said it was almost like a
full time job without being paid, because you're spending so
much time having dialysis. And as you say, that that
would certainly take its toll just in general terms, let

(08:29):
alone the the actual process itself.

S3 (08:31):
Yeah, definitely.

S2 (08:32):
So what was it like with your dad then? So did, um,
you sort of reach out, as in you and your,
your medical team reach out to see who might be compatible,
because I guess not every father or mother could be
compatible with their child in terms of a kidney transplant.

S3 (08:47):
No they're not. So after one of my appointments, um,
my doctor told me he's like, oh, it'd be a
good idea if you bring your parents along to the
next one, because we do need to start talking about
a transplant. Mhm. Um, so they came along. We had
that big discussion about what testing for that would include.
So it's a lot of blood tests. You have to
be the right blood type, and even then that's not enough.

(09:08):
You also have to do tissue typing and then make
sure the donor's kidney function is good enough to be
able to take the loss of one of their kidneys.

S4 (09:17):
Yeah, very big process.

S3 (09:18):
But my dad will tell you there is no choice.
You know, he found out that I needed a kidney.
He was like, this is just what we do.

S2 (09:25):
That's a that's what dads are for. Isabel.

S4 (09:26):
Yes. Yeah.

S2 (09:29):
So that's a great point you make because, you know,
obviously you can live on one kidney, but if you're
having one removed and, you know, you've got to make
sure that the other one is up to scratch to
kind of support you in the life that you've got
to lead, particularly for a young person. You've got years
and years ahead of you.

S3 (09:44):
Yeah, 100%. Yes, you've got to, you know, there's no
point really giving a kidney to someone if it's not
going to, your kidney isn't going to sustain you.

S2 (09:52):
Mhm. So um, you had that just from my curiosity.
How does it work. Does your dad have his kidney
removed first? And then you wait a while before you
have the transplant. Is it all done on the same day?
How does all that work?

S3 (10:04):
All done on the same day, actually.

S4 (10:06):
So.

S3 (10:06):
Yeah, all on the same day, within, gosh, a few hours. Really?

S2 (10:10):
Wow. So is that is that obviously so the kidneys
kind of in one body now or out of one
body and in the other without putting it too bluntly?

S4 (10:18):
Yes.

S3 (10:19):
Pretty much. Yeah. I have this one memory. So I
remember my dad going into the surgery and then they
moved me to a separate area. I waited a few,
maybe it was like an hour or two, I think
maybe a little bit longer. And then they wheel me
into my room, and I have don't remember much of
the whole procedure at all, or in the day before
or day of day after. But I remember them wheeling

(10:39):
me in and seeing my surgeon putting like with my kidney.
So it was just on ice or whatever they do
with it, which was so strange. But yeah, same day,
few hours, they wheel me in, they're like, yeah, your
dad's awake. He's okay, let's put you under.

S2 (10:54):
That's It's amazing, isn't it?

S4 (10:56):
Yeah, it's.

S3 (10:56):
Absolutely incredible medicine these days.

S2 (10:58):
And what about when you wake up having a new kidney?
How long before you kind of, you know, kind of
feel okay?

S3 (11:04):
Honestly, a few days, which is amazing. One of the
big things with kidney failure, lupus is this big brain
fog that you get and just all over fatigue. I
remember a few days after my transplant, I sort of
woke up, was going around my day, and I was like,
oh my gosh, like, this brain fog is so much better.
And it had only been a few days, which is amazing.

S2 (11:25):
And I know that you touched on this, but leading
up to the transplant, you were feeling fatigued and obviously
you'd been really, really active. So that kind of impacts
upon you even more. And, you know, I've spoken to
people over the years with brain fog and they say
you don't kind of realize how bad it is. You think, oh,
you're just feeling a bit cloudy or not quite thinking straight,
but it's obviously much more serious than that. And it's

(11:45):
sort of ongoing, isn't it?

S4 (11:47):
Exactly. Yeah.

S3 (11:48):
You just it's just that gradual decline. You get worse
and worse and worse and you just sort of, oh,
this is just what it is, you know? This is
how I feel on a daily basis. And then once
that lift, you just can't believe that that's how you
lived your life for so long.

S2 (12:00):
Incredible. Isabelle, what about sort of discovering that the Transplant
Games and the fact that they exist? How long did
that take to come about?

S5 (12:07):
Oh, well, I didn't really.

S3 (12:08):
Know too much about it. Um, I remember my mom
joking in probably the years leading up to my transplant
that they were a thing. Um, and then one day,
I just get emails through Transplant Australia and just a
few different other institutions, and I was like, oh my goodness, wait,
this is actually something I can do. You know, I
was like, this would be a very cool experience. So

(12:28):
I was thinking about it and then I had a
few health problems. So I was like, oh, look, I'll
probably just wait for the next one. And then I
realized it's not just about going and winning, it's the
whole experience of the games and being around people who've
been through something similar to you. And yeah, so even
though I didn't get the training I wanted to have
in the lead up, I knew that it just going

(12:49):
for the experience in itself would be more than worth it.

S2 (12:52):
So you're just back from the games there in August
in Dresden, in Germany. When did you actually have your transplant?

S3 (12:57):
I had mine in September of 2021, so I've just
hit four years last week.

S2 (13:04):
Fantastic. You didn't compete in Perth two years ago?

S3 (13:07):
No I didn't. This is my very first game.

S2 (13:09):
And what about it as an experience that I read
that there's people as young as four and people as
old as 85 that are taking part of the games.
It must be an enormous. Well, literally a celebration of life.

S5 (13:21):
Oh, it really is.

S3 (13:22):
You know, you're watching the little kids absolutely killing it.
Get in the water. And it's so beautiful to see
them already just thriving with their new organs and living
the life that they should be, you know. And then,
you know, the next batch comes through and you've got
these amazing. I think there was an 85 or so
year old woman in the pool swimming, you know, just

(13:43):
definitely exactly that. It is truly a celebration of life.
And everyone is just so happy and excited to be
there not just for themselves, but for everybody. It's really
the best community.

S2 (13:54):
I note that you just said you've just celebrated four years,
so congratulations to you on that. I know there was
someone that had had a transplant 51 years ago that competed.
That's extraordinary, isn't it?

S3 (14:04):
Isn't it amazing? Yeah, just the fact that they've been
given a new organ and it is still going and
keeping them alive is just amazing.

S2 (14:12):
Listen to Leslie Caron, Vicious radio, radio 1190 7 a.m.
in Adelaide and across the Australian Radio Network and the
Reading Radio Network. And we're speaking to Isobel McMullan, who's
just back from the World Transplant Games. Isobel, you obviously
are a very good manager of time because you've gone
through all this. You're still a very young person, obviously,
and you've spent a bit of time at university.

S5 (14:34):
Yes I have.

S3 (14:35):
Yeah. So straight out of school I went to Bond
University and did my Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science there.

S2 (14:43):
Wonder why you chose that?

S3 (14:45):
Health, sport fitness is just. Oh, it means everything to me,
not only just pure enjoyment of sport. It's really what's
kept me going my entire life. At birth, I was
diagnosed with cystic fibrosis as well.

S2 (14:58):
Wow.

S3 (14:58):
So yeah, I grew up dealing with that. And then
obviously lupus at 12, transplant at 21. And then a
year or two after that I was actually diagnosed with
secondary type one diabetes as well. So activity movement health
is not only something I really enjoy, but something I
know is important to maintain my health.

S2 (15:21):
The study is one thing as well. To actually get
through is another.

S3 (15:24):
Yes.

S2 (15:25):
How did you do that?

S3 (15:26):
Oh, look, my bachelor's was definitely tough. As I mentioned before,
I can I really try and push myself all the time.
So I did have a few episodes of burnout during
my bachelor's degree, which put me back a little bit
and did make study quite difficult. But as I got
a better understanding of my health and what I needed,
come my master's degree, which I completed in 2023. I

(15:49):
knew what I needed. I knew how to take a
step back when I needed to, and I was very
grateful that I had faculty members who understood that that's
what I needed, when I needed it and supported me.

S2 (15:59):
That's fantastic. Um, listen to your body. I guess that's
your kind of, uh. What? One of your mantras.

S3 (16:04):
Yes.

S2 (16:06):
Now, you touched on the fact that when you were
surf lifesaving, you were kind of doing rescues and helping
people that way, you're kind of still helping people. Tell
us about the kind of work that you're doing now,
particularly with your education under your belt.

S3 (16:18):
Yes. So I am an exercise physiologist. Now, like I mentioned,
I completed my master's in clinical exercise physiology in 2023,
and I absolutely love what I'm doing. I get to
work with such a wide range of clientele, from youth
athletes to elderly clients just wanting to improve their daily life. Um, yeah,

(16:39):
it's all been a wonderful experience.

S2 (16:42):
I reckon part of the, um, benefit that people would
get from the work that you do with them is,
you know, if I could put it a bit crudely,
getting the energy that they get from you because you
obviously exude that so positively and so abundantly.

S3 (16:55):
Oh thank you. Yeah, I really try and. Oh, you
just even when you're feeling down. Exercise is what's going
to make you feel better. So if you have a
smiling face and a helping hand to get there, it
goes a long way, especially with people who struggle with
consistency and just showing up. I find that, yeah, a
little bit of motivation goes a long way.

S2 (17:14):
Fantastic. And where does that come from? That kind of
I dunno, what would you call it, sense of social
justice or wanting to help other people. I mean, that
has to have come from somewhere, even when you were
a lot younger than what you are now.

S3 (17:26):
Yeah, well, I've pretty much grown up coaching. Honestly, I
did a lot of, um, age manager work with my
dad and board coaching, swim coaching, growing up through surf
life saving. Um, but these days as well, it's pretty
much just I want to be who I needed when
I was younger, going through this chronic illness. You know,
I want to be the person who people, young people

(17:48):
can look up to and say, wait, my doctor, you know,
said that I might not be able to live my
life to the fullest now, but I'm seeing this girl
and she's doing it all. I want to be like her.

S2 (17:57):
That's a great note to end on, Isabel. It's been
a privilege speaking to you. Thank you for spending some
time with us. Long may you keep doing the great
work that you're doing. And as again, as I say again,
thank you so much for speaking to us. And well
done on your Transplant Games performances. But I think, um,
it's an even bigger story than that, isn't it?

S3 (18:14):
It is. Thank you so much for having me. It's
been my pleasure.

S2 (18:18):
That's Isabel McMullen there, back with five minutes from the
World Transplant Games, and continue to do wonderful work in
the community. One of the great things about doing this job,
one of the many great things about doing this job,
is giving opportunities for inclusive participation. I've never heard about
yard ball, have you? We're going to find out all

(18:39):
about it. Tony Abbott is from the East Torrens Baseball Club. Tony,
great to meet you and thanks for your time.

S6 (18:44):
Thank you Peter. Yeah, great to meet you now.

S2 (18:46):
Well, I think I'm not too bad in terms of my, uh,
catching up with information. I'm only about one year behind
as far as. Yeah. Go. Is that right?

S6 (18:54):
Yeah. Yeah. We we debuted, uh, yard ball at East
Torrens Baseball Club last year, so. Yeah. You're not. Look,
you're not too far behind, mate.

S2 (19:00):
Well, you should say the way I dress, I'm probably.
That's a that's a huge achievement for me.

S6 (19:04):
Honestly, what I say about South Australians. Right. We're we're
30 minutes. Exactly.

S2 (19:08):
Yeah. That's very true. But proud of it.

S6 (19:10):
Absolutely.

S2 (19:11):
Just a bit about the, the the sport or the
activity then uh yard ball I mean I guess it could,
you know, conjure up all sorts of images.

S6 (19:19):
Yeah. Look, I guess the yard part is that, uh, nickname,
I guess the baseball field, the baseball park, you know,
you play, you know, hit a home run, you hit
it out of the yard kind of deal. So, yeah,
you know that that's that aspect there. And then just
that attachment of the ball to it. You know it's baseball.
It's basketball or or you know any of those connotations.
So yeah. Yard ball is our inclusive, uh, a branch

(19:40):
of baseball at East Torrens, and we've just expanded this
year to include the Gawler Rangers baseball club. So we
also have another club out north who are delivering the
program this year, which is pretty exciting.

S2 (19:51):
Now, for those that might be aware, of course, these challenges.
So the side of Adelaide so pretty suburban.

S6 (19:56):
Sure is. Yeah. Yeah we're right in the east. Uh,
just around the corner of um, Payneham Road and O.G. road.
So right next to the, uh, the pool that's being
redeveloped there. And we draw from a lot of the
eastern suburbs and certainly a lot of our members, you know,
spreading into the northern suburbs as well.

S2 (20:14):
How or why did you start?

S6 (20:16):
Well, look, I guess I guess this was always a
natural sort of path for me because I have a
background in education and particularly special education. I was a
phys ed major through university, and I've been a I've
been a teacher now for 30 odd years. So it
was kind of a natural thing for me. But look,
it really came about because of my colleague Amber at

(20:37):
the baseball club applying for grants, you know, and Amber
is a real champion of the inclusive space. And, um,
so she saw a real opportunity for our baseball club.
We just in the last look, 7 or 8 years,
we have jumped on this wave of inclusion to develop
a women's program at East Torrens. And, uh, as I say, Amber,

(21:00):
the real champion of inclusivity at East Torrens, she applied
for grants through the, um, the federal Department Health and
Disability and Aging and was successful in getting a grant
for us to develop, you know, create a brand new
program to include a wider range of participants in our community.

S2 (21:19):
Now, speaking about getting grants or being recognised, uh, I
note that, uh, you, uh, not you personally, but I
guess the sport, the activity was, uh, profiled in the
federal parliament.

S6 (21:29):
Yeah. We're so lucky to receive the support of, um,
Claire Clutterham, actually, you know. And look, I guess you're
probably aware, Peter, there's this real wave at the moment
of inclusion, particularly in the disability sector and particularly in
South Australia around autism and just recognising, you know, um,

(21:50):
participants or people with autism and the barriers that exist
for them in, you know, integrating into all kinds of activities,
particularly in schools. So we were really fortunate, Claire, who
is again, we talk about these champions of inclusivity, is
really jumping on that. And um, yeah, in a recent
speech at federal Parliament mentioned East Torrens Baseball Club and

(22:13):
the yard ball program as, as being a really significant
activity or a significant sort of aspect in the sporting
landscape in South Australia.

S2 (22:21):
Now, we're very ambivalent on this program in terms of
political views. That's a pretty good achievement by Claire. And, uh,
you guys, because Claire's only been for about, what, 3
or 4 months since she was elected.

S6 (22:32):
Absolutely. Look and and look, I'm right with you on
this political scene. As a teacher, you know you have
to be so careful about communicating. You sure about that, Tony? Yeah. Well,
I don't know. You know, you do take a take
advantage sometimes.

S2 (22:44):
Of.

S6 (22:45):
Manipulating young minds, but. No. Look, um, we had a
really good, uh, relationship with James Stevens prior to that. And, um,
you know, a lot of people within the government spaces,
whether it be state government or federal government, are really
supportive of, of their electorates and, and sporting opportunities. And
then particularly this wave of inclusivity now that I'm talking about. So,

(23:05):
you know, we were really grateful for all of those relationships, uh.

S2 (23:09):
As I said, with, you know, concentrate obviously on disability
and inclusion and opportunities on this program, which is great.
But I mean, you're right. Uh, you know, again, without
with being apolitical, I mean, Emily. Emily Bourke has done
a great role in that, uh, position over the last, uh,
you know, 3 or 4 years as well.

S6 (23:27):
And absolutely.

S2 (23:29):
It is so good, isn't it, when, you know, particularly
youngsters with autism, you know, Yeah. Can feel like they're included.

S6 (23:34):
Yeah. And that, you know that come back to all
of the the political statement. Vincent Tarzia is another one
within our within our location that has been super supportive
of inclusivity at our club and our baseball club. But
all political sort of agendas aside, um, that's exactly what
it's about is, is about people with with any disability

(23:55):
or any any sort of challenge, personal challenge, or from
any minority group in feeling included and that, um, you know,
they're welcome in the community.

S2 (24:03):
What about as far as, uh, kind of the, the
sport itself goes? So is it, you know, baseball as
we know it, but just being more inclusive, are there
any kind of adjustments or is it more common? I
know that you talk about, uh, you know, like, uh,
you know, doesn't matter who wins or loses. That's kind
of an incidental thing.

S6 (24:19):
Yeah, absolutely. And look for some of our for some
of our teenage participants, that can be a real challenge.
You know, that they are pretty competitive. But look, my
I mentioned my colleague Amber, she secured the funding for this.
And then she came to me with my background in, uh,
elite baseball coaching, I guess, but also in education and
special education and said, look, we've won this grant. We

(24:40):
want to create this program for participants from five years
of age to adult. And I boys and girls, men
and women, however, you know, you may present. And I said, Amber,
do you have any understanding of the scope here? So
we've created four programs at East Torrens, and we, uh,
we are catering to children from 4 or 5 years

(25:01):
of age all the way through to eight. And then
again for that next age group, I guess, that intermediate
age group of then nine year olds through to 14
year olds, we then have participants in the next age group,
sort of from 15 through to 18. And we also
have a women adult women's program then, which has been really, well,
well supported or attended, you know, by by our community.

(25:23):
So it is it's diverse and because it's so diverse,
what uh, I guess the the connection to the pure
baseball game really, really is different for each age group.
But as a natural evolution of of yard ball, whereas
we've started out very simply with skills and non-competitive games
and the social aspect of the game, we are now

(25:47):
evolving to, uh, I guess assisting or removing the barriers
for mainstream participation. So, um, that's a really exciting aspect
for me because, you know, we wave this flag of
inclusivity and unless we, you know, attack on program, you guys,
you play over there, you throw the ball. It's a
soft ball. You know, you have a great time playing baseball.

(26:10):
There's nothing inclusive about that. And so what's really exciting
to me is this now our push into mainstream baseball
and removing the barriers for participation for everybody at whatever
age group to participate in those events.

S2 (26:25):
And it's great that you get involved with something like baseball,
because I know particularly, you know, in this day and age,
American sport in particular is so, so big in terms of, uh,
streaming services, etcetera. So there'll be a lot of kids
that would kind of identify with a, you know, an
American team. And they say, well, why can't I play
that sport as well?

S6 (26:43):
Yeah. Look, sometimes the the tech fear gets hold of me, Peter.
But you know, the, the exposure through streaming services and
you know, what's happening around the world certainly highlights some
of these options much, much greater. You know, I guess,
you know, you consider cricket and how long cricket takes.
You know, baseball is is shorter sort of version of
the game and a little bit more user friendly perhaps.

(27:05):
You know, certainly. Um, gender welcoming in in any, any space.
But yeah, we have noticed the, the popularity of baseball
certainly growing in Australia.

S2 (27:15):
I mean, it's yeah, it's hard. Um, when the, uh,
rather interestingly named World Series is underway, just in North America, that.

S6 (27:21):
Isn't that classic.

S2 (27:22):
It's hard not to get caught up in it, though,
isn't it? I mean, even if you don't follow it
through the season. You pick a team, or maybe you
go for an underdog, and all of a sudden, you know,
we're all baseball experts.

S6 (27:32):
Absolutely. We talk so often about the romance of the game.
You know, the romance of baseball and but, uh, look,
I always have a giggle. They're the same, aren't they? Uh,
American sports with the NFL, for example. You know, it's
the it's the Super Bowl. And you, you crown a
world champion in a sport that's only contested in America. But, um,
you know, saying that we've got some incredible South Australians

(27:53):
participating in all levels.

S2 (27:54):
Yeah.

S6 (27:55):
Curtis Mead, for example, you know, major leagues at the moment, I,
I had the privilege of coaching Curtis actually in the
state teams. You know, Curtis and I, we uh, won
a under 16 national championship together and then took out
the under 18 national championship together. I was a coach,
not a player. But, um, yeah, with Curtis a couple
of years later. So yeah, certainly major global exposure is

(28:16):
pretty cool.

S2 (28:17):
Well, I guess it's nice when you can have that
sort of impact on a young man. But then, as
you say, if you've got young people that are involved
that maybe for other opportunities like yours don't come about.
It's great when you see them sort of have that
pathway as well, which is what you're talking about today.

S6 (28:31):
Absolutely. Seeing seeing the joy and the success and maybe
just minor success, but even even branching Peter into the
the realm of volunteer spaces in sporting communities, you know,
so it you don't have to come out to our
yard ball program and hit a home run or throw
90 mile an hour. You do, you know, sort of
what is appropriate for you and what you enjoy. And

(28:54):
some of that may be scoring the game or, you know,
volunteering in other aspects of a community sporting club, which, um,
you know, it's certainly the sky's the limit really. And
it and it is just about making people feel like
they belong.

S2 (29:06):
You talked about women being involved. I mean, certainly over
the last few years, cricket and AFL Australian Rules has
done a really good job getting more women involved. But
if that's not your thing, then it's great that you've
got another opportunity like baseball that you kind of touched on.

S6 (29:20):
Absolutely. And let me tell you, if if we look
at any area of growth in our club at the moment,
that's where it is. It's in it's in women and
in women's sporting opportunities. And we kind of jumped on
that wave, I guess, you know, sort of ten, eight,
nine years ago, I guess. And I actually I went
to a, um, an event, a social event at a
football club. And I was just absolutely floored by the

(29:43):
impact of the women, the female teams, you know, they
they outweighed the attendance of the men. And just to
really round out and make your community so successful, that
was the obvious path for us. And now this inclusive
layer looking at disability and other challenges, you know, this
is just the icing on the cake, really. It's. Yeah,
but the women's sporting space, it's an explosion at the moment.

(30:06):
And you know, we're really grateful for it. You know
they they bring exceptional sort of, uh, vibe and, and
addition to our baseball club.

S2 (30:14):
Well, and of course, you've got the added benefits of,
you know, just being healthier minds, healthier bodies and better
for the entire communities, the health system. How does it work?
You have come and try days and I note that
you say that just bring your enthusiasm. Doesn't matter about
any equipment. So you bring any equipment?

S6 (30:30):
We provide absolutely everything. Um, and in fact, the through
the registration process, we well, we identified what are the
obstacles for participation in sport. So obviously having the equipment
is one financial for anybody, regardless of sort of what
area you're coming from. So through the registration process which can,

(30:51):
you know, for school aged children can be satisfied with
the the SA government sports vouchers. They get a glove,
they get a cap, they get a ball. So you know,
you get out straight away. You've got everything you need
to sort of participate. But um, look, we we've got
a registration portal on our website which the website is etbc. Com.au.
And you can find it under the yard ball tab there.

(31:13):
But yeah. Look, they um we have come and try
days so you can, you can sort of ease in
and even the initial sessions you can ease in. Does
this fit for me? It's at your pace and we
provide everything that you need. All of our our staff,
our coaches are trained in inclusive practices. And um, the
next aspect for us has been particularly, you know, I

(31:35):
bang on about inclusivity and is it really inclusive? We
train a whole bunch of teenagers at our club to
play alongside our participants. So, you know, they're playing the
games together. They're led by people their own age. And, um,
you know, this the funding for this that we received
is part of the the ILC grants that, uh, the information, um,

(31:58):
linkages and capacity building. And that's really what it's been
for our club is capacity building. So, you know, we
we train these teenagers in, in being buddies and working alongside,
you know, our participants. And for us that's investment in
our future. Because, you know, these are the children, these
teenagers that are going to be leading our club in ten, 15,

(32:20):
20 years time and remaining an inclusive space. And they're
going to school and they're experiencing, you know, other students
with challenges on the spectrum or, you know, experiencing difficulties,
and they're more understanding and they know how to deal
with these things. So yeah, it's as simple as, you know,
heading to our website at etbc. Com.au and signing a

(32:40):
pre-registration or an expression of interest. And yeah, it's all
pretty simple. From there on, we aim to remove any
barrier that exists.

S2 (32:48):
As a matter where people live. We talked about where
East Torrens is and the Gawler Ranges.

S6 (32:52):
Yeah. No, not at all. Look, last year I had
a young lady participate who was from Seaford, you know,
so she's traveling right across town. Yeah. We are trying
to expand. And that was the move this year out
to Gawler. They, you know, their their ideals out there
really aligned with ours. So they they jumped right into
the program so they will really service out. You know
that that Barossa area in the north. We're Negotiating at

(33:16):
the moment with a club in the West and hopeful
that we could perhaps get it offered to our residents
out in the West. And then we'll certainly look towards
the South as well to see can we expand this?
But look, we had participants coming from the bay, you know,
members of a rival baseball club. They're coming to our
baseball club to undertake this program. And, you know, then
transitioning back to their own. And that's perfect as far

(33:39):
as we're concerned. So certainly no no limitation to anybody.
If you can get here then, uh, you know, we
get at it.

S2 (33:45):
Baseball or yard ball is the winner. Give us your
website again Tony.

S6 (33:49):
So it's etbc.com.au and all the. Yeah, really really simple.
All the information about the club is there. There's a
tab about the yard ball that has a link to
the registration. Otherwise uh, people could could email me. Uh,
it's purely operations. I'm the operations manager at the club,
so operations at Etbc. Com.au. And happy to do whatever

(34:12):
we can to to get people involved.

S2 (34:14):
We'll put those details up with our show notes. Keep
hitting those home runs. That's brilliant. Thanks for sharing with us.

S6 (34:19):
Appreciate the time, Peter.

S2 (34:21):
That's a great that's a great story, isn't it? A
yard ball, uh, in these times, but also has the
Gawler Ranges and maybe coming to a place near you.
We'll put those details up with our show notes.

S7 (34:33):
You're in elite company listening to Leslie here on business radio.
Radio VA radio, digital VA radio.org and through the TuneIn
radio app.

S2 (34:46):
Well, the very prestigious Teachers Awards, annual teachers awards sponsored
by the Commonwealth Bank have recently been announced. One of
the winners is Tina Coombe from Cribb Primary School. Tina.
Lovely to meet you. Thank you for your time.

S8 (34:57):
Thank you for the invitation.

S2 (34:58):
Must be nice. You get to Parliament House. You get
to meet the Education minister. It's all pretty glitzy.

S8 (35:03):
It was. We actually. We're the group that actually got
our awards handed to us by the Prime Minister. So
my students at school have thought that was the best
thing ever.

S2 (35:12):
Well, terrific. And a lot of people think you're the
best thing ever. Tina.

S8 (35:16):
Oh, thank you, I. Look, I'm in a very, very
lucky position. I work in a beautiful school with amazing community,
amazing staff and amazing students, and that makes the world
a difference.

S2 (35:26):
I think our modest winner. We like that. Now, what
about your approach then? It's been kind of recognised for,
I guess, a little bit of a unique approach, a
little bit of ahead of your time approach. How did
all that come about?

S8 (35:37):
It came about years ago from a project we started
with Mornington Peninsula Foundation called the No Limits Project, and
it was around having speech pathologists in schools and we
were in a great position. We got to work with
some extraordinary professionals that were very generous with their learnings,
and that we were able to learn from them, and
it's kind of the project has grown and grown and grown,

(35:58):
but it also meant it went to five other primary
schools and their local main feeders. So it kind of
grew legs and a bit like an octopus and sort
of grew tentacles and grew and grew and grew, which
was really exciting. So that's been an amazing piece of work,
which has led to the work that we're doing now.

S2 (36:14):
Can you kind of explain that a bit further as
to how different it might be, or how unique it
might be, or what the star points about it are?

S8 (36:21):
A lot of it was really monitoring our students. We
found a lot of our students were coming in really
needing a lot of work in the oral language space.
So we were working out how we were going to
improve that and what we were going to do, but
it led very much down into the structured literacy approach,
which is with systematic synthetic phonics and the way we
teach in classrooms, the way our classrooms are organized, there's

(36:42):
a whole lot of extra work that went along with that.
We probably started that work about seven years ago, but
we've also been working with a number of other amazing
schools that have been on this path. So Lisa Holt,
the principal at Rosebud Secondary, was also. So there were
two Victorians chosen, and Lisa and myself were the Victorian
contingent we called it. And we've also been working quite

(37:03):
closely with them around programs and really, really monitoring students
very frequently to see what supports they needed as quickly
as possible.

S2 (37:13):
Is that something that probably isn't done as much as
it should be? Because I guess there's just assumed that
you kind of know how the kids are going, but
maybe you got a moderate to a bit more closely.
Is that the kind of issue?

S8 (37:23):
Yeah, I think that's probably the biggest change for us.
We we monitoring our students who we're quite concerned about
every fortnight now. Whereas quite often in schools we hold
our breath and hope for the best. Whereas we're monitoring
them on a really, really regular basis. And that way
we can change the interventions that they need. We can
put interventions in place. But the other great thing is

(37:44):
we're also getting to celebrate. When they do meet those benchmarks,
we're able to have a great celebration around that. Our
little ones have worked so hard and got themselves up
to where they need to be. So there's lots of
cause for celebration as well. By monitoring them so carefully,
it's no longer hold your breath. We know exactly where
they all are.

S2 (38:03):
And I guess it's one of those things where, you know,
if you can sort of have your work validated. And
every two weeks is pretty cool. The incentive and the
motivation is a bit easier to come by.

S8 (38:12):
Yeah, because they're working really closely with our staff and
we've got teachers that are going and monitoring them. We're
able to do a lot of celebrating with them, and
a lot of, we call it pumping up tires of
like your fluency has improved so much and we're able
to give them very specific feedback rather than just great job.
We're able to give them really high level feedback around
exactly what they're doing. But also we've got to a

(38:34):
point now we're having to work out how to extend
these students because they've come so far that we're now
actually working out how to extend them and put them
into that next level, which that's an exciting problem to have.

S2 (38:44):
What about in terms of the areas that you're talking about?
It's not just English or speaking if you like.

S8 (38:51):
No. It started originally with oral language, but it's flowing
into reading and writing, but also now into numeracy space
as well. So because of the way that we're teaching
with science reading or science of learning, that's actually flown
into all areas of our about curriculum now, so it's
across the board in all areas. So that's also been
great for the kids because it's very predictable and they

(39:12):
know they know what it looks like. And so there's
a lot of consistency across our school, which is just wonderful.

S2 (39:17):
What sort of age group are we talking about, Tanner.

S8 (39:19):
We're talking from 8 to 6, right? Five year olds
through to 12 and 13 year olds.

S2 (39:24):
What's that old line about? You know, kids before seven,
if you can teach them X amount or whatever it
is by seven, it kind of stays with them for
life or that that the good habits or whatever.

S8 (39:33):
I would totally agree with that. We're finding that the
earlier we get them, and this is probably where our
work started all those years ago, is we realized it
was too late putting interventions in grade five and grade six.
We only had them for another year or so before
they went off to high school. So we brought it
forward all the way back to prep and grade one
because we said if they don't get it, then we've
still got 4 or 5 years to actually help catch

(39:56):
them up and actually make sure it's in place before
they go off to the secondary level, rather than getting
to grade five and six and going, oh, we've actually
only got them for another six months or another year.
So we changed our structures and our philosophy around wanting
to have them as long as we possibly can, to
put all of those things in place.

S2 (40:15):
And perhaps that being too socialistic, you know, wants to
get to high school. You know, in many cases the
horse might have bolted.

S8 (40:22):
Yeah, it certainly makes it a lot harder. We were
tracking our data with a lot of secondary colleges, and
if they haven't got those skills by the time they
enter into year seven, it is making it a lot
harder for them. And then you've also got that whole
going off to high school. Things changed their hormonal. They've
got friendship changes. It's so much more complicated for them
when they get to high school. So we really need

(40:44):
to try and get it as much in place at
the primary level to give them the best chance of
success at secondary.

S2 (40:49):
You talked about giving your kids feedback through every couple
of weeks that you're kind of working on, and you've
kind of been able to validate and have the work
that you've been working in, kind of franked as far
as its worthiness goes as well, haven't you?

S8 (41:01):
It certainly has. I think probably one of the most.
As teachers and educators, we say one of the biggest
driving forces and motivation factors are when we see our
students having success. And we're actually seeing this on a really,
really regular basis, and we're seeing that our students are
thriving and that has made the world of difference to
us as well. Rather than just going, we're crossing our

(41:22):
fingers and hoping for the best. We know that this
is working now, and that's been hugely validating. But also,
at the end of the day, we are all educators
and we're all teachers, and to have that work recognised
as being brilliant.

S2 (41:34):
And it's a kind of very much teacher to student.
I'm thinking like there's a bit of a not so
much a hands off, but the great things that technology
can do for the great things it can do. There's
nothing like that teacher to student relationship. Would that be
fair to kind of say it like that?

S8 (41:48):
Yeah, I think that that's got to be the key
factor to everything, to be honest, particularly in the world
we live in now, where information and things are so
accessible and so easy to get to. I think we
underestimate the power of the relationship with the teacher and
the child. But also we want to create a safe
environment for our students so they can problem solve and

(42:09):
take risks with their learning and things like that, and
know that they can make mistakes and they're still amazing
and all those types of things. And I think that's
probably something we underestimate is the, the strength of and
the importance of that relationship between teachers and students.

S2 (42:23):
What about the role? And also I guess the reception,
if you like, or the acknowledgement from families. What's that
been like?

S8 (42:30):
I have to say, I was overwhelmed by the amazing
messages I received. We have a school Facebook page and
it was. I was beyond thrilled to have some of
the most beautiful messages. As a principal and educator you
could possibly have. It's great for our community. We've got
we're a small community, a school of only 250 students.
And to have that recognition for our beautiful little school

(42:52):
has just been beyond thrilling for us.

S2 (42:55):
Now, thanks to the Commonwealth Bank, there's a bit of
funding for you as well to keep doing what you're doing,
or maybe do even more stuff. Even better.

S8 (43:02):
Yeah. So we've been talking about doing some school visits
to some high performing schools to see how they're extending
their students, because with the support that we've given our
students now, we've got so many that need extending into
that more academic phase. So we're possibly looking at some
of those schools to see what we can implement at
our school.

S2 (43:19):
Well, you know, often people say that the children are
our future, which is obviously the case. But I guess
if they get a good education through people like you
and the work that you do, it means our future
is even brighter.

S8 (43:30):
Well, I thank you so much. I must admit, I
look at our school and our future's looking pretty bright,
which is great.

S2 (43:36):
Terrific. Oh, congratulations. It's nice to just get a little
bit of a snapshot of the work that you do.
And certainly your energy and your passion is is very,
very obvious. So obviously richly deserved. Well done to you.
Well done to all those that were recognised. It's obviously
a very prestigious award and well done to the Commonwealth
Bank for supporting it as well. We appreciate you spending
some time with us, and we might have to tap

(43:56):
into some of your knowledge in the future as well.

S8 (43:59):
I'd be delighted. Thank you so much, Peter. I really
appreciated the invitation.

S2 (44:02):
It's a tenor who was recognized with the Teacher's Award
from the Commonwealth Bank at Parliament House and presented to
by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. And certainly a really good
news story and well worth sharing. Round about this time,

(44:23):
the third week of each month, we catch up with
Pam Mitchell, our resident councillor. Pam, welcome. Good to have
you back with us.

S9 (44:29):
Oh, lovely to be here. Wow. Footy fever. Hey lovely
to be here as well.

S2 (44:34):
Depending on when people are listening, either tomorrow or the
21st of September is um, the spring equinox. And you're
going to talk about walking the tightrope of life, which
is a great line that you used in an email
to me, and I absolutely love it. I'm going to
put it away and use it again in the future.

S10 (44:51):
I love your spirit, Peter, and just be careful when
you get that tightrope tricks and trips us up, doesn't it?
And you know, that's a lead in to the Equinox,
isn't it? And you've said the 21st and I've got
it down as the 22nd. But regardless, it's about to happen.
But it's a brilliantly described in this little overview. I'm

(45:12):
just going to take a couple of little pointers from that.
The fact that the Equinox is a time where it
boosts our serotonin, it's a mood enhancer. It their spring
increases sunlight. It directly impacts on our serotonin. Our neurotransmitters
regulate better in terms of our moods, our emotions, our focus.

(45:33):
It helps enhance mental clarity, reduces anxiety and elevates happiness.
So why wouldn't we want some of that? And I
can tell you in this house we do because our
things have been happening. The crows lost and my grandson lost.
Here's the second semi-final in his football competition. Competition. We

(45:54):
lost the Davis Cup. And then things begin to change.
Because last night must be the equinox. Gout, gout in
world athletics. He came third in his event, which means
he gets into the final event of the 200m in
world athletics. Am I a bit geared to sport? Yes,
I am, but I'm glad to see that the Equinox

(46:16):
is helping that already. I wanted to talk just briefly
today about balance because this is what the Equinox does.
It's the East and the West and balancing our mood states,
our minds, our consciousness, our better sleep patterns, our alertness,
cognitive awareness, decisions we make. We all have a time

(46:38):
to spring clean, pardon the pun, in September, to spring
clean what's in the cellar and think, is that what
I want? Is that satisfying for me? So it's about
creating a new look, if you like, at the balance
we have in our lives. And I just wrote up
this little thing today. It's very short. What balance looks
like for ourselves and, you know, are we? I had

(47:02):
some people in the other day and they described that
they love challenges, but they're they're challenges was really were
really extreme in life. Their choices about the risky stuff
they choose to do really, really out there. And yet
there was no balance. It was like tipping the scales
on that tightrope of life, tipping the scales to be
so dangerous because it's so exciting. But this where do

(47:25):
you come down from that and create that safety and
that awareness of getting back geared in an equal state
to be able to whatever the next challenge is, we
need to be able to have a bit of yin
and yang. So when we make those choices. So let's
just do some self-assessment of currently what that balance looks
like for you and what's your choice that you make.

(47:48):
So if you're going to go hang gliding or ask
someone to throw you out of a plane. Maybe you
need to. After that, go and do some some some
reverse of that and go and live in a cave
for 12 months to get some balance going here. And
just don't be extreme in one way. Recognize you need
to balance the scales so make some healthier choices. What
fits with you that isn't boredom, isn't repetitive. That gives

(48:12):
you a challenge, that looks after you, that nurtures. You
have a little bit of both coming from both directions.
So I'm making this the category today. Some choice charter
that draw it up. What does it look like for you?
What are you missing? What do you need to include more?
What do you want to change? Another the commitments and

(48:33):
the steps about that. And in that process, and I
think I may have mentioned this last time, a little
bit of kindness to self helps create the way, a
little bit of gratitude for self to think I've chosen
some better pathways, a little bit of acknowledgement for myself
to think, I can do that. I can challenge myself
with that. I like the fact I'm doing that with

(48:55):
me and then noticing the improvement it's bringing into your life.
And then on top of all that, placing a little
part right at the center of you to have that
experience of joy, that I've created these different opportunities for me.
And what I'm noticing in the balance that, yes, I'm
finding a way where my serotonin level and my cognitive

(49:18):
development is creating this difference in life for me. And
I'm more aware of my choices. I'm more aware my
sleep patterns improving. I'm more aware that my memory retention,
my cognitive state. Wow. I feel like I'm on point.
I feel like I'm happier in a sense of myself.

(49:38):
There's something in this balance. And so it's about attracting
it to ourselves, being aware of what we're choosing, what
we're changing? What is our choice? How are we charting it?
How are we seeing it through? And I'd just like
to bring this in conclusion today as we wrap this
up of this beautiful it's probably one of my favorite

(50:01):
little sayings, and it's from Tolkien and it's very appropriate
to the equinox still round the corner. There may wait
a new road or a secret gate, and though I
oft have passed them by, a day will come at last.
When I shall take the hidden paths that run west

(50:22):
of the moon and east of the sun.

S11 (50:26):
Oh, well.

S2 (50:27):
That's magnificent and beautifully read, too, Pam.

S10 (50:30):
Well, on that tightrope today I'm going to bring some
balance in to my life and to recognize a real
deliberate opportunity. Take an opportunity and just think, what is
it that I want to change in my life right now,
that I will be kinder to me, acknowledge me and

(50:52):
my needs because I know that what that gives to
me will actually give me a better outlook in my life.

S2 (51:00):
That's fantastic. And for a while that I thought we
were going to do the cha cha cha. Pam, that
was wonderful. Now, all the things you said about the
spring equinox, all those benefits it brings to us. I
think I might nickname you now the human spring Equinox.

S12 (51:17):
I've been called lots of things. Let's add that one
in there.

S2 (51:20):
All right, now, people that contact you are you are
a counselor by profession, so certainly very much versed in
this field. 0418 835 767 is your telephone number 0418 835 767. And if
there's a topic that you'd like Pam to cover, apart
from walking the tightrope of life, send it through to
us and we'll ask Pam to do it. Pam, great

(51:43):
to catch up. Enjoy the next month and we'll catch
up in October.

S12 (51:47):
Love speaking with everybody.

S10 (51:48):
You, Peter. Happy equinox.

S2 (51:51):
It pained me to their choice around about this time
each month, and that's so good. And I think I
might go back and listen to that again and jot
down some notes.

S13 (52:00):
Hi everyone. I'm Alison Davies, I'm a registered music therapist
specializing in using music to support our brain to function
at its best. You're listening to leisure link with Peter
Greco on the Vision Australia radio network.

S2 (52:16):
Let's talk about a topic we probably don't speak about
very often. The topic of wound care, particularly, I guess,
the smaller wounds that people at home. Let's chat about
it with leading pharmacists. Karen Carter. Karen. Great to meet you.
Thank you for your time.

S14 (52:28):
Thanks very much for having me, Peter.

S2 (52:30):
Yeah, there's been some research done, and people probably don't
handle wounds as well as they should in terms of, um,
you know, giving them the best chance to heal.

S14 (52:37):
No. So often, um, we graze or cut ourselves or
have a burn and, then we go, oh, we'll just
leave it and let it dry out. And sometimes that's
not the best healing process for our skin. So we
know that our skin is our biggest organ of our body,
and we have to look after it. And it has
a very protective effect on the internal part of our body.
So we need to pay attention to those breaks in

(53:00):
the skin. So we have, uh, research showing that we
use moist wound healing, which is where it's not too dry,
not too wet to then allow that to heal. And
that means that our cells can move across the layers
of skin and then form new skin. So that's why
it's important to use these more advanced wound dressings. But

(53:21):
they also don't have to be changed as often. They
reduce pain and they allow the wound to heal quicker.

S2 (53:28):
So if you leave them open, as you say, that
isn't a good thing because of that kind of process
that the reparation of the skin goes through.

S14 (53:36):
That's right. And we know that we have to have
an optimal temperature and these advanced wound dressings allow that
temperature to be controlled. It also allows gas and water
vapor exchange, which is important in wound healing. And again,
as I said, the the moist environment allows, as you say,
those cells to move across because sometimes scabs can actually

(53:57):
be like a speed hump. And they actually mean that
the cells have to move underneath the scab, form new
skin and then back up again.

S11 (54:05):
So okay.

S14 (54:06):
That's why, you know, scabs aren't the best. But also we,
you know, infection risk. It's tend to pick at the
scabs quite often. And that can introduce infection as well.

S2 (54:16):
Yeah. Sometimes you think oh the scabs. For me it's
now healing. But that's not necessarily as it might seem.

S14 (54:20):
No that's right. It's a bit of a roadblock sometimes
for healing of the wound and laying down those layers
for skin.

S2 (54:27):
For some of these myths, as they're called in the survey,
is that just over a period of time, people think, oh,
if you leave it open, it dries, it heals quicker.
Is that just something that's kind of happened over the
years and the sort of myth gets perpetuated?

S14 (54:40):
Yes, I think so. And also, you know, sometimes we
think that a little wound is nothing to worry about.
But actually, if the wound doesn't go through the processes
of healing and there's four phases to healing skin, and
if one of those is actually, um, marred or doesn't
go to the to the next process, then that acute
wound can turn to a chronic wound or hard to

(55:02):
heal wound. And that means that there's there's an interruption
into that process. And, uh, you may be left with
a longer standing injury than what you first thought. So
addressing these wounds with, you know, an advanced dressing can
actually help improve the skin, uh, and heal so that
you don't have to be, um, having a hard to

(55:23):
heal wound.

S2 (55:24):
So replacing or, um, you know, putting a new bandage
on every day, again, not necessarily the right thing to do.

S14 (55:30):
No. That's right. So every time we take the dressing off, um,
it cools down the wound bed. And we can have
introduced infection in there?

S11 (55:37):
Yeah.

S14 (55:38):
When we put a cover back on it, then has
to warm up again. So, um, you know, it is
important to not change them as often, but also these
advanced wound dressings have, have improved over the time. So
we have foams and then there's a silicone around them.
And that's really good for like, um, people with older skin. Uh,

(55:58):
because sometimes when you take the dressing off, some layers
of skin come with it. So with these silicone adhesives,
they're a lot nicer for our skin. And that way,
you know, you're not going to cause injury to the
actual wound.

S2 (56:10):
Does it matter where the wound is? I mean, I
guess it does, but, you know, how much does it matter?
I'm thinking, you know, some areas are you tend to
knock more easily than others or, you know, maybe there
are some more covered up with clothing and that sort
of thing.

S14 (56:23):
Absolutely. So lower leg injuries are quite common because we
kick different things and can run skin tears. And also
our circulation is probably not so fantastic. And in the
lower limbs compared to, you know, above the heart or
closer to the heart. So sometimes they can be a
little bit more difficult to heal. And the other good

(56:43):
thing about these advanced wound dressings is that sometimes, you know,
wounds weep a lot, um, and have a lot of
extra date. And that's where these foams can actually, um,
suck up or soften in the, um, the ooze in
that way. Uh, it still keeps the wound bed nice
and moist, but not too wet, not too dry. Because
if you if you think about sometimes when we, um,

(57:05):
take a dressing off and all the skin around the
area is really white and that's called maceration, that's where
the wound bed has got to wet. And sometimes with
simple plasters that can happen. But with these advanced wound
dressings we have, um, showerproof dressings. So you can leave
them on and have a shower and leave them on
for a couple of days, and that will help expediate

(57:26):
the wound healing.

S2 (57:28):
Now, you talked about older skin. I guess we're talking
to you in a sense now because we've got school
holidays coming up and, you know, kids are more likely
to be out and about and maybe, perhaps getting a
little wounds and scratches, etc. but I guess people who
are living in residential aged care would be looked after
pretty well, with the nursing staff and the staff in general.
But older people at home, you know, I guess a
bit of a be alert but not alarmed as well because,

(57:51):
you know, as we get older, perhaps those sort of
things don't heal as well as they might have when
we were younger.

S14 (57:55):
That's right. We've got lots of factors that can affect
wound healing. And obviously, you know, if we if we
smoke or if we have a lung condition and we
don't have as much oxygen going around our system, then
that can mar healing. Some people have, um, heart failure.
So there so that can, um, affect healing. So there's

(58:15):
quite a few different factors with elderly, but also our
skin tends to dry out as we get older. Um,
so one of the great things is if you can
moisturize your skin morning and night, that actually has been
proven to reduce skin tears. And skin tears are where we, um,
bump ourselves and the skin just lifts off. So that's, um,

(58:36):
they're quite common in the elderly. But if we can, um,
improve our, uh, moisturising of skin and also keeping ourselves hydrated,
that will help prevent skin tears.

S2 (58:46):
So some of those creams are pretty handy. Or more important,
just common moisturizers rather than anything fancy or expensive.

S14 (58:52):
Uh, so I think you want to choose one that
actually fits your skin. So sometimes if you've got eczema,
you might want to go with a cream that's more
available for, um, eczema prone skin. But also, uh, sometimes, uh,
a lot of them smell really nice, but probably aren't
giving as much moisture into our layers of skin. So

(59:13):
going for your, um, more skincare type of ones, I mean,
I can name some DermaVeen or QV. Those are quite
good for, um, moisturising. And you probably want to choose
a cream or ointment rather than a lotion because they've
got a little bit more weight so that they'll, um,
improve the skin texture.

S2 (59:34):
The washer and the lotion kind of washes off or
comes off a bit too easily.

S14 (59:38):
It's quite light, so you might be better off with
a cream or an ointment.

S2 (59:43):
You've touched on a couple of times, but the advanced
bandages if you like. Can you kind of explain are
they kind of are readily identifiable? What are we talking
about here?

S14 (59:52):
So they're um, there's quite a few different ones. So
as I mentioned, it was foam, which, um, can siphon
in the moisture or exudate so that, um, it can
help heal the skin. Um, and sometimes, as I said,
the silicon around them is better for elderly or very
young skin. We have alginates which can help with, um,
bleeding or highly exudative wounds. We have, um, some enzymatic

(01:00:16):
wound ointments that actually help with a bleeding wound. They
can help with the exudate, so they just try and
keep the balance, um, of the wound bed appropriate for
the moisture. And then we've got hydrogels and they're really
great for your burns. So. They hydrate the wound but
not making it too wet either. So we're talking about those.

(01:00:37):
Advanced wound dressings which can stay on the wound for
up to seven days sometimes. Um, and with the kids
with the school holidays, you know, grazes are really quite common,
especially around their knees, you know, falling off bikes and
things like that. So the advanced dressings actually, uh, you
can pop them on the graves with a bit of hydrogel,
and that actually helps with the pain, because when we

(01:01:01):
graze ourselves, the nerve endings are then exposed. So they
actually really reduce the pain. So that's really helpful for
parents when someone's skinned their knee. And then they can
leave that on for a couple of days and it's showerproof.
So that's where they're really handy as well.

S2 (01:01:17):
So maybe a chat to your friendly pharmacist would be
a good idea. Anywhere else we can go say online
to get better information.

S14 (01:01:23):
Ah yes. So there's quite a few different, um, websites.
Williams Twins. Australia has lots of good information as well
on wounds. But yeah, calling in to your local pharmacy
and having a chat because sometimes that wound section is
a little bit overwhelming and you don't know where to look.
So asking your pharmacist, um, for some advice, but also
wounds really do need to be assessed to see, you know,

(01:01:46):
what we should do first. So I think, um, you know,
after the first aid, go in and talk to your
pharmacist about the wound and then, you know, the next
appropriate action.

S2 (01:01:55):
Karen, great to talk to you. You've really educated us
very well. That's been brilliant. Thank you.

S14 (01:01:58):
Thanks very much for having me, Peter.

S2 (01:02:00):
That's Karen Carter there from Carter Pharmacy with some really
good information. And, uh, I guess, uh, school holidays might
be coming up, but that sort of message is very
worthwhile all year round. Let's welcome to the program. Sarah Richardson,
who's the CEO for health. Bright and rather interesting thoughts
regarding ADHD. Sarah, great to catch up with you again

(01:02:21):
and thank you for your time.

S15 (01:02:22):
No worries. Thank you Peter.

S2 (01:02:23):
Now you're a bit concerned regarding, people with ADHD or
people that might not even have been diagnosed with ADHD,
but in particular adults.

S15 (01:02:31):
Yeah, absolutely. There's certainly a big, um, sort of lag
period between adults actually seeking diagnosis for ADHD. There used
to be quite a big stigma attached with ADHD being
more of a childhood condition, and it's certainly not it's
a lifelong condition. So we certainly are encouraging adults to
ensure that they are sort of looking at their conditions
or their symptoms more than anything to ensure that they

(01:02:52):
receive the correct diagnosis.

S2 (01:02:54):
And that stigma amongst children. I mean, that was a
bit of a stigma itself because, you know, you were
a naughty child or you were someone who didn't want
to learn or wanted to play up. That was kind
of the or the idea of what people used to
call it, perhaps.

S15 (01:03:07):
Absolutely. I think I think ADHD is not properly recognised,
although the education and the awareness is a lot better
now than what it ever has been. There still isn't
a great understanding of ADHD, and I think since post-Covid
a lot more people have come out sort of thinking
that they have diagnoses. So there's a sort of stigma
attached with, you know, is ADHD an actual thing? So 100%,

(01:03:28):
there's still that sort of stigma that, you know, children
are just naughty. Well, sometimes they are 100%, but sometimes
they do actually have ADHD, which can be treated and
managed effectively.

S2 (01:03:38):
So it is a thing.

S15 (01:03:39):
It is a thing 100%.

S2 (01:03:41):
So I guess that's one of the tricky things, if
you like kind of a blood test or, you know,
do a scan and it comes up positive, it doesn't
quite work like that.

S15 (01:03:49):
No, not at all. It's definitely an assessment. Um, and
it's not just an assessment of you. We do also
talk to your loved ones to understand, I suppose, their
perception of how you act, what you do. And so
we have full clinical diagnosis tools that we use to
really help us with that assessment. And that's really part
of what we've built in with our care navigator. So

(01:04:10):
our navigator will see you at the beginning of your
journey of ADHD. And they will start the assessment process
before you go through to our clinical psychiatrists to formalise
that diagnosis.

S2 (01:04:20):
How confident are you that that, uh, assessment and that
diagnosis is pretty accurate.

S15 (01:04:25):
Look, it's it's very much a recognized assessment, um, that's
been put out within Australia. So it's been through its
tests around whether it's accurate or not. So I'm very,
very confident in our ability to diagnose appropriately. And I
think it's really worthwhile that we certainly don't see every
single person that comes through is diagnosed with ADHD. So
that's not how we work. And again, with having our

(01:04:45):
care navigator at the beginning of that journey, we are
here to support you and to ensure that you are
on the right pathway and the right journey. So that
doesn't always mean you're going to get a diagnosis, and
it doesn't always mean you're going to get medication either.

S2 (01:04:58):
How much is this for the individual or indeed, is
he kind of touched on the the support people to
have the around them being, you know, husbands or wives or,
you know, partners, uh, family members, children, parents, etc.. How
important is that kind of, um, if I can call
it sort of a holistic approach?

S15 (01:05:14):
Yeah. Look, it's very important. One of the biggest things
that we really preach within our sort of journey, Education
is the support that's around you. Because again, if people
don't understand the condition that you're dealing with, then people
won't be there to support you. So our care navigators
will actually work with your loved ones to ensure that
they are fully educated around what ADHD means and what

(01:05:36):
that journey is going to look like for that individual.
And as you sort of grow and get older, your
journey is going to change. And that's where we're here
to sort of keep helping and supporting you throughout that journey,
to make sure that we can navigate those complex moments
with you.

S2 (01:05:49):
You talked about psychiatrist and medication. I guess they're the
things that kind of, um, you know, might scare a
few people.

S15 (01:05:56):
Yeah, absolutely. I think the word psychiatry does scare a
lot of people. And that's why I hate to sort
of keep saying the word, but we have put that
care navigator at the beginning, someone who you can talk
to and connect with, someone who can start that journey
with to provide that support and education from the very,
very beginning. Before you go through the psychiatrist and I think,
you know, with other businesses, sometimes they just diagnose and
medicate you and off you go. Whereas with us we

(01:06:18):
want to make sure that we can help you and
navigate you and educate you throughout that process because the
medication doesn't, you know, solve the problems by themselves. Sometimes
you do need, as I said, the support you need
to make lifestyle changes. So there's many different things that
can help you overcome, but also manage your ADHD symptoms.

S2 (01:06:37):
And without going off too much into the weeds, there
are sometimes, you know, people look for medication or a
quick fix, but that's probably not going to do the
trick either.

S15 (01:06:44):
No, look, look. Absolutely not. And look, you know, the
medication for ADHD certainly has some life changing experiences for
for most people and certainly puts them on, on a
fantastic pathway. But for some people that's not the case.
And so again, we need to make sure that we
can navigate you through that journey.

S2 (01:06:59):
Well tell us about how that works then. And kind
of how trained or how skilled are the care navigator
or what what actually is that kind of system or
that approach.

S15 (01:07:07):
Yeah. So navigators are still um, generally psychologists. So they
will sort of start at that first process with you
just to again secure that relationship, make sure that you
understand the process and what's going to happen. They'll start
off the assessments with yourself and your loved ones, to
gather all the information that the psychiatrist needs before you
go through to that psychiatrist. They really are the linchpin

(01:07:28):
through all of that. Once you sort of go back
to your GP, the care navigator is still there to
work alongside you and your GP with any issues that
you might have as you sort of go through your journey.
And then again, if things aren't really working out, you
can come back to our care navigators to really have
that open and frank conversation around what's not working, so
that we can navigate what's going to be the next best,

(01:07:49):
best pathway for you.

S2 (01:07:50):
I'm sure you all care. Navigators are well skilled and
well trained and a very good people. But, you know, sometimes,
for whatever reason, in any kind of walk of life,
you don't always hit it off for people. Got the
option to say, well, look, Sarah, I think this was
a good idea, but this person isn't kind of for me.
Or can I try another sort of second opinion, if
I can put it that way. Can you do that?

S15 (01:08:10):
Yeah. Look, so with with the navigator. Yes. Um, you
can do that, I suppose once you go through to
the psychiatrist and you've had the first assessment, whilst you
always have the clinical ability to sort of pick somebody else.
There's some complexities around obviously prescribing and diagnoses. So there's
a few things that we need to consider there. But
certainly if you don't sort of connect with a care navigator,
we can sort of have a look at other care navigators.

(01:08:32):
But but I think, Peter, that would be very, very
exceptional circumstances. Our care navigators are trained to really adapt their,
their way with, with individuals. So I think I think
you would find that that would be a rare case.
Certainly we we haven't had that experience thus far. Most
of the clients that we have seen have been very,
very grateful to get in to us in a fairly
short period of time and to have that rapport with

(01:08:53):
that care navigator as well.

S2 (01:08:55):
I was going to ask you about the timeframe, because
that can be important as well, can't it?

S15 (01:08:58):
Yeah. So generally once we receive your referral, we will
triage that referral within 48 hours. Okay. And give you
a call, um, to organise the appointment with our care navigator.
At the moment, I think we're fully booked for the
next sort of, um, sort of 2 to 4 weeks. Um,
but we have just put on some new care navigators
so that period will be brought back. Ideally, I would
like that there's no more than a two week gap

(01:09:19):
for most referrals, so we're just navigating putting on a
few more to ensure we get back to that two
week gap.

S2 (01:09:25):
Is that kind of because people think, oh yeah, look,
I'm keen. I want to do something about it. And
then if too much time elapsed, I think, oh, well, actually,
I won't worry about it. You kind of, uh, you know,
almost have a cooling off period.

S12 (01:09:35):
Um.

S15 (01:09:36):
Looking in some cases, yes. But I think also for
some people that they really they, they recognize the symptoms
of ADHD. They know that they want to get in
there and get that seen. So some of them don't
want to wait. Actually, Peter, they really want to get
in there pretty quickly, get to get that diagnosis to
get that possible medication. So I think that's probably where
it comes down more than the cooling off period per se.

S2 (01:09:56):
You're talking about adults in particular. What sort of age
of adults? And I mean, is there an upper range
that you think, well, you know, um, maybe, you know,
you're too old if there's such a thing.

S15 (01:10:06):
Look, most of our ranges from an adult perspective is
sort of between the ages of 18 and 50. That's
generally what we see coming through. We really haven't seen
anybody over the age of 50 at this point in time.
That doesn't mean that we can't, and we certainly can.
But certainly we recognize that when, you know, adults are
sort of transitioning out of those teen years, sort of
going into college, going into university, they start to pick

(01:10:26):
up more of their symptoms as they're studying harder, and
they've really got to concentrate and what they're doing. So
generally between the ages of 18 and 50 is when
we start to see the referrals coming through.

S2 (01:10:35):
And this can make a real difference to someone who
might be, yeah, you know, maybe not necessarily the height,
but starting out in their career or maybe have a
good job, but maybe want to do that good job better.

S15 (01:10:45):
100%. And that's why we always say that, you know,
whilst the medication sometimes gets a bad rap for some
people who are really trying to, as you say, excel
their career or really trying to make sure that they
study correctly and have ADHD, this medication can be life
changing for them, but also not just the medication, but also,
I suppose, the pathway that we put them on to
ensure that we can navigate through that complexity and educate

(01:11:06):
them appropriately, give them the awareness tools that they need
to make sure they can make the changes within their
life to to balance out the medication as well.

S2 (01:11:14):
Can you tell us a bit more about Clear Minds?
Have you set up Clear Minds?

S15 (01:11:17):
Yes, they Clear Minds is the brand that we've put
together for this. That's really at the start of our
at the pivotal moment of, of our care navigation. So
we really just wanted people to have an easy brand
and name to look for. Hence why we've called it
Clear Minds, because we want to give you a clear
mind at the end of your consultation that you understand
that whether you know you've been diagnosed with ADHD and
what your pathway will be, but we're also there to

(01:11:38):
support you and navigate you on that journey. So we'll
provide you with a clear mind of understanding.

S2 (01:11:43):
We kind of touched on it, but do most people
self-refer or do you get, you know, other family members
or colleagues etc., that that kind of refer as well,
or at least to put the idea out there.

S15 (01:11:54):
So look, most most people will generally sort of pick
up their own symptoms, but generally sorry, but also some
of the family members will pick it up as well.
And then they'll go through to their GP and have
a consultation with their GP to then come through to us.
So when we actually look at, I suppose, the vast
majority of it. Most of the adults, they have picked
up their own symptoms, but certainly it's really important for

(01:12:14):
loved ones to really recognize those symptoms as well, and
to have a conversation with your loved ones to ensure
that they are feel that they feel supported and they
actually understand the symptoms and recognize those symptoms as well.

S2 (01:12:26):
Let's go and ask you quickly. Yeah, it doesn't matter
where people live because this can be done via telehealth 100%.

S15 (01:12:32):
We can service all of Australia, so there's no restrictions
at all.

S2 (01:12:34):
Alright, because we are a large land girt by sea.
How can people find out more? Sarah.

S15 (01:12:38):
So they can go to clear minds. Com.au and have
a look at our website. And they can also have
a conversation with our beautiful admin team around any questions
or concerns that they do have.

S2 (01:12:48):
Alright. Well those details up with our show notes. Sarah.
Again great to catch up, but keep up the great
work and I look forward to the next time.

S15 (01:12:54):
No worries. Thanks, Peter.

S2 (01:12:55):
That's the CEO for health, but also founder of The
Clear Mind. So it's a bit more about the ADHD,
particularly in adults. So if you or someone you know
or love might be in that sort of situation, Give
us a call or give a team a call and
see if you can be helped.

S16 (01:13:15):
Welcome aboard the leisure lift. Please select your floor.

S2 (01:13:27):
If your internet speed. Do you think it could improve?
Maybe it hasn't improved. Let's chat about it with Courtney
McMahon who's from the NBA. Courtney, great to meet you.
Thank you for your time.

S8 (01:13:36):
Thank you very much for having me.

S2 (01:13:37):
Now things have improved. Have you flicked a switch or
something like that?

S8 (01:13:41):
Yes. Exciting news. We launched accelerate Grace on the 14th
of September, so just a few days ago and it
is the biggest speed upgrade to the NBN network since
it began. And we have massively increased the wholesale download
and upload internet speeds for millions of eligible Australian homes
and businesses that are connected to our NBN, HFC and

(01:14:04):
full fibre networks.

S2 (01:14:06):
So how has this happened?

S8 (01:14:07):
So we have been working with our retailers for nearly
a year and a half now to prepare and get
customers ready for these higher speeds. NBN has been focused
on building out a future proof network. So our.

S14 (01:14:21):
Full.

S8 (01:14:21):
Fibre network along with our HFC, and we're now able
to unleash the full power of that by increasing speeds,
which is very exciting.

S2 (01:14:29):
So why has this happened? You said you've been working
on it for 18 months. So obviously it's something that
has been in the planning. Why has it come to
this point?

S8 (01:14:37):
So the reason for this major network upgrade is the
incredible growth in data demand. And the way Australians use
the internet has completely transformed just a decade ago. Actually,
a typical home had around seven devices. Today, that same
household has around 25 devices and uses eight times more data,

(01:14:59):
and the number of devices in the home is expected
to soar to 44 by 2030. And so this upgrade
is really about helping to ensure Australian homes and businesses
can handle that growing demand, not just now, but also
well into the future.

S2 (01:15:14):
Now, I saw that number 25 devices didn't think, oh,
that's a bit of an exaggeration, of course. I guess
it depends on how many people in the home or
how many people in the family, etc. but there are
so many things now that are connected to the internet.
It's not just your phone or laptop or tablet.

S8 (01:15:28):
Absolutely. I mean, in addition to your laptops, also your mobiles,
when you're at home are often connected to the Wi-Fi
as well. And tablets. We also now have TVs. So
most homes screaming we have smart speakers, appliances. More and
more appliances are actually becoming connected. Think of security cameras
and systems, lighting, gaming consoles and a lot more really

(01:15:49):
can add up quickly.

S2 (01:15:50):
So just give us a figures again. So 25 devices
at the moment that the amount of data used now
compared to say ten years ago.

S8 (01:15:57):
Eight times more data is being consumed in households today
than a decade ago. It's quite incredible when you think
about it.

S2 (01:16:04):
And I guess that's going to only increase as well.

S8 (01:16:06):
Absolutely. I mean, we see new and new technologies coming
online every day. You think of things like cloud gaming,
for example, which allows customers to play new games without
actually having to download it. And that requires 12 to
24 times more data than traditional gaming, streaming and 4K video,
for example, which is also becoming more popular, can require

(01:16:27):
3 to 4 times more data than standard streaming at
full high definition. And so as these technologies become more
mainstream and more people adopt them, the need for that
data is only going to continue to grow.

S2 (01:16:39):
Yeah, and it's interesting, isn't it, because some people might think,
oh yeah, that's all very nice and a nice thing
to have. Or maybe one day I'll come around to
it or whatever. But once you try some of this stuff,
it's pretty hard to kind of let go or it's
virtually impossible to go back and say, oh no, I'll
go back to the way I used to do it
5 or 10 years ago. We just don't do that.

S8 (01:16:58):
These new ways of connecting really do become part of
our normal way of life. I mean, if you think
about working from home, for example, that's here to stay.
More than a third of Australian workers actually work from
home now. And even applications like expanding into online education
and telehealth, the developments in telehealth are quite extraordinary. And

(01:17:18):
so we expect that to grow people, to become more
familiar with using those technologies. And of course, that will
have an impact on the data growth well into the future.

S2 (01:17:26):
Well, I know that this program, Courtney, we often talk
about issues dealing with people with disabilities, and certainly working
from home is one very good option that people with
disabilities have in terms of perhaps not having to travel
because transport isn't always reliable. So that's an opportunity to
get very gainful employment in that area. Working from home.
You talked about telehealth. You want to expand a bit
on that, because that's also something that is becoming much

(01:17:49):
more prominent. And again, it can be so beneficial to
people who may be, for whatever reason, aren't able to
get around as much as they might like to.

S8 (01:17:57):
Telehealth is just so convenient, both for those at a
time poor, but also that find it hard to get
around and waiting in doctor's surgeries that all take time.
And so being able to have your appointments with health
officials over video is just so fantastic. And that's the
other thing as part of these upgrades, is that we
have actually increased the upstream speed on a lot of

(01:18:17):
our plans as well, which makes those smooth video calls
much easier. And we're seeing technology expand in health more
and more, with tests being able to be performed over live,
more real time feedback. So it is something we're really
excited to keep an eye on. And of course, making
sure that we've got the network and the data to
keep up with that growing demand.

S2 (01:18:37):
It's a great point because the connection is two way,
if you like, both to download stuff, but also, as
you say, if you need to upload stuff, then the
feed is equally important.

S8 (01:18:46):
I think most of us tend to think straight to
the download speed, but we've seen the upload speeds just
become more and more important, particularly as I said, things
like video calling, but also businesses using cloud tools as well,
and more digital cloud based collaboration. Upstream is just so
important for having a smooth experience with those.

S2 (01:19:06):
When you gave the figures regarding the metadata we use.
And of course, AI uses a lot more data as well,
and that's becoming much more relevant and part of our
everyday life as well.

S8 (01:19:17):
The adoption of AI, even in the last 1 to
2 years alone, has been extraordinary, both in the workplace
but also at home as well. And we're also looking
ahead to generative AI, for example, which again will use
more data. And so that's why these developments and accelerate
great is so important because it's not just meeting that

(01:19:37):
increasing demand that we're seeing now, but it's also planning
well ahead of that adoption curve to make sure it's
there and ready when customers are ready to take it up.

S2 (01:19:46):
And as we kind of touched on, if people have
got the opportunity to be able to use it, and
then if they're going out and buying a new computer
or phone, etc., it's got those capabilities, then you want
to maximize those as well.

S8 (01:19:56):
Absolutely.

S2 (01:19:57):
Courtney, you are a general manager for residential pricing and products.
So who has access to this now and how do
we get that?

S8 (01:20:05):
So the great news is that 9.8 million homes and
businesses can access these accelerated speeds today. And that'll grow
to more than 10 million by the end of the year.
And the number of homes and businesses that can access
accelerated speeds will continue to grow as NBN keeps rolling
out our fiber upgrade program. And we find that many

(01:20:26):
people assume that they cannot benefit from these speeds when
they actually can. So firstly, we encourage everyone to head
to the NBN website. And enter your address. And there
you can find out all the information about the rollout
and how you can take advantage of those.

S2 (01:20:43):
What about people that are on different plans, both with
different companies? And when you've got your majors like Telstra,
Optus and TPG etc., does it matter who you're with
as far as your internet service provider goes.

S8 (01:20:55):
So we've been working with retailers to prepare for these speeds,
and to benefit from them is actually really easy. Firstly,
you need to be connected to the NBN network with
a compatible connection, so either NBN, HFC or full fibre
and be on an eligible speed plan. If you're already
on the right plan and the connection, you won't need

(01:21:15):
to do anything. Phone and internet providers. So the people
that you purchase your internet services from are empowered to
pass on the accelerated speeds. And if you're not yet
on an eligible speed plan, you can switch to one
by getting in contact with your phone and internet provider,
and they'll help talk you through that.

S2 (01:21:31):
My understanding of it is that if you're on the
least expensive plan, that means you might not have access
to be able to upgrade to the high speed. Is
that right?

S8 (01:21:40):
It's alright. Great. Does focus on accelerating speeds on the
higher end plans for this particular one, and that's because
that's where we're seeing the most demand for data at
the moment. Currently, more than half of our new NBN
orders now fall plans that are on those wholesale download
speeds of 100 and above. And we are also seeing

(01:22:01):
record numbers of customers choosing to upgrade to fibre on
a high plan as well. Having said that, though, we
still do have a wide range of plans that are
available across all technologies and continue to provide both that
balance of affordability and performance to make sure that we're
meeting all of our customer's needs. And of course, there

(01:22:23):
are actually over 150 retailers that onsell NBN. So there
is just such a large range of plans to suit
all different needs and budgets. We actually really encourage people
to jump on to the independent comparison websites. There is
just such a range of great deals out there at
the moment, and of course, we always encourage customers to

(01:22:44):
regularly review their plan and discuss their options with their
phone and internet provider as well.

S2 (01:22:49):
Could not show if you better answer this, but you
can't get the situation where you can go with a
kind of a non recognizable internet service provider, but they're
going through an energy retailer or even a supermarket sort
of brand if you like. Is that all part of
this as well?

S8 (01:23:04):
Yes. So the accelerated speeds are available through all NBN retailers.
Ultimately it is our retailers that are working with their
customers on when they pass on those speeds. But we
have provided them consistently as a wholesaler across all our
retailers to pass on to their customers.

S2 (01:23:21):
So I come in last weekend, would people have noticed
this week or if they haven't noticed, maybe should they
check it out and just make sure that things are
working as they should?

S8 (01:23:29):
Definitely check out your speed. Retailers are starting to roll
out these speed increases across their customer base now. They're
all happening at slightly different times, so not everyone will
get it at the exact same time. It's just dependent
on your retailer rolling that out. But do have a
look and if you've got any questions at all, please
speak to your retailer as well, because they can give

(01:23:49):
you the latest information on when they plan to pass
on the speeds.

S2 (01:23:52):
What about depending on where people live in terms of
city or country, towns, etc. or even further out into
the outback, if I could put it that way in
more regional areas, how does that play out as far
as that goes?

S8 (01:24:04):
These speeds are available or these accelerated speeds are available
on our NBN, full fibre and HFC networks. So that
covers 9.8 million homes and businesses today, increasing to 11
million by the end of the year, which equates to
about 90% of our fixed line network. That also includes
5 million homes and businesses that are able to upgrade

(01:24:27):
to full fibre. So they may be currently on a
copper based technology, but do have that eligibility to upgrade
to full fibre. Now, this forms part of a much
broader network and upgrade program that we have going right
across the country. Overall, our network evolution strategy really aims
to enhance access to faster and more reliable NBN. Broadband

(01:24:51):
for more homes and businesses. And this includes our recently
completed upgrades to NBN Fixed Wireless, which benefited 800,000 homes
and businesses. And we also recently announced our satellite upgrade program,
which includes our agreement with Amazon to deliver high speed
fixed broadband services via Low Earth Orbit Satellite Services or Leo.

(01:25:15):
You may have heard it referenced to as well.

S2 (01:25:17):
Yeah, okay. What about as far as your modem that
you got at home, Courtney? Does that need to change
if there's sort of circumstances that require.

S8 (01:25:25):
Delivering accelerated speeds over the NBN network is really one
part of getting a great broadband experience. The other part
is to check that the equipment in your home can
keep up. And we do have a few tips to
help you optimize your setup. So firstly, do check the
age of your router. Older may not be able to
support the fastest speeds, particularly if they're more than five

(01:25:47):
years old. You may want to consider if it's still
suitable for how you use the internet at home. Secondly,
get that Wi-Fi router out in the open. Move it
up and away from any interference, so don't hide it
in cupboards or behind things. You really want it out
there in the open to ensure the best signal. Thirdly,
check your Wi-Fi coverage. So the further you move away

(01:26:08):
from your router, the weaker it can get. So for
those larger homes, or if you've got like a solid
brick home, for example, consider a Wi-Fi mesh network, which
can really extend your range in larger homes and make
sure you're getting a consistently great signal across your entire home.

S2 (01:26:24):
Now go to the website that we can check out
and also put our address into. I guess also, your
internet service provider is a good contact if you're not
quite sure of things, perhaps haven't improved as as you
might have hoped.

S8 (01:26:35):
Yeah, absolutely. So as I said, we do recommend people
jump on to the website. So again that's Com.au you
can pop your address into that website, and it will
give you all the information that's specific to your home,
but also reach out to your phone and internet provider,
and they can provide you with all the latest information
on the speed rollouts as well.

S2 (01:26:56):
Well, great to talk to you. Thank you for that.
And well, let's hope that we all benefit from it.
It sounds like we need it.

S8 (01:27:01):
Brilliant. Thank you so much for having me, Peter. Really
appreciate it.

S2 (01:27:04):
That's Courtney McMahon there. Courtney is the general manager for
residential pricing and products at the NBN. So we'll put
those details up with our show notes. And also, if
you obviously know who your internet service provider is, maybe
get in touch with them and see if you're in
the position you should be in. What a busy day

(01:27:26):
tomorrow is if you're taking part in the city today,
good luck to you. Also, Club Cool is on the gov.
The Governor Hindmarsh Hotel doors open about 1030 in the
morning through till about 2:30. Three live bands. Great music,
great singing, dancing. Good times if you like to find
out more. Andrew Kyprianou 0408 848 649 is the personal contact Andrew

(01:27:51):
on 0408 848 649. Also tomorrow afternoon from 1:00, the South Australian
School Services for Visually Impaired and Killed Parent Early Teaching
Unit have got there at 20th anniversary Garden party since
they've been at Park Home. If you'd like to go along.
Gets underway about 1:00. Should be a great day there. Also,

(01:28:13):
the grand final today in the C6 netball between Tango
and Semaphore will talk about that next week, as well
as the Mighty Rubies and their bronze medal. Couldn't get
our planets to align today, but next week we will
certainly talk about netball on the program. A couple of
quotes before we go. This quote has come through from Merman,

(01:28:34):
who often sends through quite. Snowman says, don't tell me
you're funny. Make me laugh. Said thanks to no one
for that one, and one that Anastasia sent through a
bit of a character on some of the email lists. Anastasia.
A quote from Robert Redford who said, change is inevitable.
You can either go with it or resist. So thanks,

(01:28:56):
Anastasia for your quote. Some birthdays before we go. Happy
birthday to Ben Weeks, a champion wheelchair tennis player for Australia,
Kylie France and having a birthday past winner of the
Charles White Scholarship. Hope life is going well for you, Kylie.
Morgan Carter having a birthday. A mighty fine ambassador for
Bandana Day. And, uh, hope life is going well for you, Morgan.

(01:29:19):
I think Morgan might be writing a book. Hopefully we
can chat about that in the future. And Katrina Stewart
having a birthday very much involved with the National Women's
Branch as president and other activity. So, Katrina. Happy birthday
to you. That's it for the program. Sam, Richard, thanks
so much for your help. Now we've got a team
putting Let's link together. Let's have a big thank you

(01:29:39):
to Mel James and also Kev, thank you for your
help folks. Hope you're with us for a long time.
Thank you for your expertise. Reminding you that lightning is
available wherever you get your favorite pod. I know what
you'll be doing for the next 30 minutes. If you're
listening to 1190 7 a.m. in Adelaide, you'll be staying

(01:30:00):
tuned to hear Vicki Cousins present Australian Geographic. In the meantime,
be kind to yourselves, be thoughtful, and look out for
others all being well. Let's link back next week on
the Vision Australia Radio Network and the Reading Radio Network.
This is leisure link.

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