25 Oct 25

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:25):
It's just gone 5:00 as I welcome you warmly to
Leech Lake here on Vision Australia Radio 1190 7 a.m.
in Adelaide. Online at radio VA, Radio Digital and Adelaide
and Darwin through the Community Radio Plus app. You can
catch Vision Australia, Radio Adelaide. You can get a link
if you're listening through 103.9 FM in Western Australia. A

(00:49):
big hello to you! Also, if you're listening on the
Reading Radio Network, we welcome you and we welcome and
thank very much, Disability Media Australia for their tremendous support.
You can find that link plus much more at Powered Media. Media.
Peter Greco, thank. Thank you so much for making time

(01:09):
to tune in. We really appreciate it. This program come
to you from Ghana and come to you? Very shortly
we'll catch up with Michael Milton on Winter Paralympic. Multiple
gold medalist summer Paralympian Michael had a bit of time
off after 19 years. Michael was making a comeback. We'll
find out about that. Also, have a very interesting chat

(01:32):
with a person by the name of Amanda Quick, whose
talk about something called Deprescribing. Now this is when people
may be on unnecessary medications. What can we do about it?
We'll get some good information from Amanda. We'll catch up
with Katherine Hughes and also Ravi Subramanian from Diabetes South Australia.

(01:53):
Some really good news regarding a program helping lots of
different cultures, lots of different people be educated and hopefully
prevent getting type two diabetes, or certainly at least manage
it much better. Alison Davies, our music therapist, will join us.
It's Active Aging month. How can music help us age well?
And indeed, what sort of things can music do to

(02:15):
our memories? Will catch up with Alison. We'll speak to
Chris Button about getting online and getting online safely. Chris
is a special Olympian and also very much an advocate
in this area. Will have yoga on the radio from
Rebecca Brice and Adjunct Professor Dean Eastwood will also be
with us to talk about technology. Normally, Denise has got

(02:37):
really good positive news. I believe there's a few things
that are going a little bit wrong. You may even
have experienced some this week. Are you receiving me, Alexa?
How I am has represented Australia at Winter and Summer
Paralympic Games. In fact, he's a legend in the Hall

(02:59):
of Fame and Michael is on the line. Michael. Great
to catch up.

S2 (03:02):
G'day, Peter.

S1 (03:03):
Now, uh, are you making a comeback?

S2 (03:05):
I have announced to comeback. Um, there's a few barriers
in the way. 52 years old, 19.5 years since my
last Winter Paralympic Games. I still have a passion for skiing.
I'm still working in Thredbo and still skiing to a
good level. I thought I could make it fun.

S1 (03:21):
Well, it sounds like it. And Mike, I've known you
for a long time and I've never been an issue
for you, so why should they start now?

S2 (03:28):
They certainly add to the challenge and they add to
the experience. I think it's definitely an interesting call and different,
and one that I would have thought out of the
realm of possibilities 12 months ago, but things have kind
of conspired and come together that see me maintaining my
passion for skiing, but making it come full circle and
come back to its original form in terms of ski racing.

S1 (03:49):
So what happened? How did this all come about?

S2 (03:51):
I guess there's a few influences there. A couple of
big international skiers who've made comebacks, including Lindsey Vonn. Lauren
Jackson came back for the Paris Games in basketball last year.
A friend of mine, Jenny Lyons, is coming back to
ski cross Across after retiring after Sochi Games in 2014.
And I was in Thredbo and I was at a

(04:13):
race and I skied pretty well and I just kind
of got asleep, had this random thought that, you know, maybe,
maybe I could come back. And that thought grew. And
I didn't get much sleep that night and found myself awake.
Way later than I should have been on my phone
researching selection criteria and qualification levels and starting to think
this might be possible. And I gave myself a little

(04:34):
bit of time, put things in place that I thought
I needed to kind of cover off in terms of
doing some training on snow, going to national championships and
getting some race results and talking to my family. All
of those things came into place. We made a decision
collectively that we could make this a positive experience for everyone.
I kind of bribed them with a trip to Italy.
Certainly running a small business with my wife means that

(04:56):
she has to carry the load while I'm away, and
it's definitely lots of extra work for her. It's good
to have them on my side, and that's a really
important part of it for me.

S1 (05:04):
Now, after your mental application is not an issue. We
know how tough you are in that area. What about physically?
I mean a little bit over 50. Is that an issue?
Are you going to train differently? You're going to prepare differently.

S2 (05:15):
I'll turn 53 just after the closing ceremony. So it'll
be 52 at the games. There's certainly some good parts physically.
My knee's in great nick. My back's in great nick.
Some of those kind of physical components are important, but
there's definitely some physical challenges there, not just because of
my age. I've had three different primary cancers in three
different spots in my body. Post-cancer fatigue is a big

(05:37):
issue for me, and so managing that while trying to
increase my training load and getting the time on snow
required is definitely going to be a challenge. But in
the end, I think the ability to train and improve
my fitness helps mask some of those symptoms. From a
health perspective, it's definitely going to be a challenge, but
at the same time, I'm hopeful that I can come

(05:59):
out of the games at the end of the experience,
potentially a little bit better health wise than I would
have been if I didn't do all of this.

S1 (06:06):
Fantastic. What about in terms of the travel? Because I
know we've spoke about this over the years we went
to Paralympics. I mean, you're so dedicated because you spent
so much time away from Australia. That's a tough thing. Both,
I guess financially, physically, but also sort of socially, emotionally.
You've got two young kids, you've got a wife, that
sort of stuff.

S2 (06:23):
Yeah. And I guess also when I'm with the Australian
team socially, you know, I'm kind of at a different
age and different interests and etcetera, etcetera. There's definitely going
to be some challenges there for me, you know, at
the moment because of a number of things, including the
timing of when I announced my comeback. I'm not funded
at all. I'm not a categorised athlete. And even though

(06:45):
I'm confident that I'll qualify for the games, there is
no financial support to help me qualify or anything really
until I get to the games. That's a big part
of things at the moment is working out how to
pay for it. I don't think it's a good idea
for my body and my performance at the games, to
actually be on snow for the entire summer. Yeah, my
plan is to do it in in blocks a little

(07:07):
bit more. So I hopefully have a five and a
half week block in Europe before Christmas and then come home,
work on the physical side of things. Do any rehab
or anything that's required, manage the body a little bit
and then be back on snow for about four weeks
before the games.

S1 (07:20):
Are you doing that yourself? Are you getting sort of
outside support or outside help in terms of your preparation
and what you do when you do that sort of thing?

S2 (07:27):
A lot of it comes from me. I'm a pretty
experienced athlete, don't get me wrong. I make a phone
call to my old coach, Steve Graham, who's retired these
days from coaching, and there's other people I get ideas
and talk to a little bit about. I guess a
lot of that's also in terms of the on snow component,
going to depend on what sort of dollars I can
raise for this campaign. At the moment, it looks like

(07:47):
I'm probably likely to do that first five and a
half week block in Europe by myself, and so that
means lots of extra responsibilities. And if I was travelling
with the Australian team and a part of that group,
then they have a couple of coaches, they that have
a physio, they have a ski technician and all of
that support. So I'll kind of be flying solo a
little bit and that's lots of extra responsibilities on me

(08:09):
and ski prep on race days, going to the race
meeting the night before the race, being a little bit
more organized because we raced down the course in a
Lycra suit. Normally there'd be a staff member or somebody
taking a bag down with jackets and everything in it,
so some of that sort of stuff will be on
me and I'll need to be a bit more organised
and drop a jacket at the finish before I go

(08:30):
up to the start. So all of those things will
make it a little harder, and it's certainly going to
be a challenge. Steve said he's available to come to
Europe and help. If I can pay for it, that's
an option for me, but it's one that would be
really nice and certainly make things not only easier but
improve those on snow performances. But we'll just have to
wait and see where we're at in a couple of weeks. Now,

(08:50):
when we have to make the final decisions on what
I'm doing and where and when and with whom.

S1 (08:55):
Just in case there's a sponsor out there listening, uh,
you'd be happy to take a call.

S2 (08:59):
Yeah, absolutely. You know, I'm trying to cast the net
pretty wide in terms of sponsorship as a mature athlete
and somebody who's earned a living in the corporate speaking
world for a long time, I feel like I have
a lot to offer various companies, not just in terms
of logo exposure and things like that, but coming to
speak at conferences and interacting with them and their team.
I guess the fundraising side of things goes a bit
beyond sponsorship for me these days, and trying to cast

(09:22):
the net broader with pre-selling some speaking gigs. So if
you want a good discount and have me appear at
a conference or something, we're pretty motivated with that at
the moment. As a Canberra local, I'm kind of leveraging
the local community and trying to talk people into coming
for a walk, come for a walk around the lake
in Canberra with me an hour and a coffee afterwards,
and some of those kind of things to raise money.

(09:43):
And then there's a more donation stream as well through
the Australian Sports Foundation website.

S1 (09:49):
I will give those details before we wrap up. And
you've also, as you said, along with Penny, I started
a business.

S2 (09:54):
Yeah. So we've been running a retail business for the
last seven years in Canberra, and we had a store
in Sydney as well. So it's a retail based business
based around Harry Potter. So we sell licensed Harry Potter merchandise,
we run wizarding themed parties and events. And so that's
what we've been doing for the last seven odd years.
Our Sydney shop, we're in Sydney for three years, and

(10:15):
that shut down when I got diagnosed with bowel cancer.
And the timing of the games is quite a good
one because we've got lots of work opportunities coming up
late next year, with the Harry Potter books being adapted
into a television series, new fans and new opportunities that
come with that, that should be great.

S1 (10:30):
Can people check your shop out online?

S2 (10:32):
Yeah, we're called Nelly. Obviously a little bit of a
take on the Harry Potter names like Diagon Alley and
Knockturn Alley. We've got lots of stuff happening at the
store in Canberra, but also online sales, etc..

S1 (10:44):
And what about if people do want to get in
touch in terms of possible speaking gigs or supporting you
in other ways? You've got your own website for that
or through that website?

S2 (10:53):
Michael Milton. Com is my website and there's lots of info.
Very happy to get messages from from people if they're
interested in supporting or messages of support who want to
book me for a speaking engagement.

S1 (11:04):
What's it been like since the announcement? I think you've
set records as far as medals won at Summer and
Winter Paralympic Games. At such a young age, he started.
There'd be a lot of people that have bumped into
you along the way. What's the response been like since
your announcement?

S2 (11:17):
From my point of view. I've been thinking about it
and working towards it for quite a while, but we
went public a couple of weeks ago. The response on
my social media pages, etc. has been fantastic. There's lots
of positive support out there and riding that wave and
using that as motivation, particularly at the moment because the
gym programme is pretty heavy and the body's a bit
sore and things are definitely interesting at the moment.

S1 (11:37):
What do you put your resilience down to? Is there
one thing I know you talked about being a very
competitive person, and that's one of the reasons why you've
made this decision. But what makes you resilient, do you think?
Is there a secret sauce?

S3 (11:48):
It's easy to be resilient.

S2 (11:49):
For me as a skier because I just have a
passion for the sport. You know, in some ways, this
comeback is actually an opportunity to just go skiing, um,
in those terms. But I guess also that passion for
life as a three time cancer survivor, when you face
your own mortality, I think it makes you want to
squeeze the marrow out of life, but makes you want
to take the opportunities while they're there. Because in my situation,

(12:12):
it's probably more a case of when, not if it's
number four will rock up. I want to have fun.
I want to do things I enjoy, I want to
do things that I'm motivated for while I still have
the opportunity.

S1 (12:22):
Michael, it was great news. It was tremendous to hear
that you're back having a go. I think it's really fantastic.
We wish you well that I know the worst thing
that can happen is you'll give your best go, and
that'll probably be good enough to see selected. And who
knows what might happen over there in Italy. And we
wish you well too. Just give us those websites for
your business. And also Mike hamilton.com. just.com.

S2 (12:43):
Yes Michael Milton. Com. If you're interested in learning more
about me and then business is Ali.

S1 (12:49):
All right. We'll put those details up with our show
notes because we actually have show notes these days. We
put information up about who we speak to. So we've
come a long way.

S2 (12:58):
Fantastic.

S1 (12:59):
Hey, Michael, great to catch up and all this wonderful news.
We wish you well. We'll keep in touch, I'm sure.
Hopefully we can maybe catch up with you just before
you leave again for the game so early in the
new year. But thanks again so much for speaking to us.
You've been a great supporter and you've also been available
for us at Awkward Times, which you really appreciate. So
we wish you well.

S3 (13:16):
Thank you very much.

S2 (13:17):
For your support.

S1 (13:18):
Continuing Michael Milton, I am there, I guess, this afternoon.
Great Michael, to join us hopefully after the 2026 Winter
Paralympic Games.

S4 (13:29):
Hi, I'm Louise Sauvage, Paralympic medalist, and you're listening to
leisure with Peter Greco on the Vision Australia radio network.

S1 (13:39):
It's a really fascinating research regarding Deprescribing. Let's find out
a bit more about it and speak to one of
the researchers from the University of WA. Amanda. Amanda, lovely
to meet you. Thank you for your time.

S5 (13:49):
Thanks for inviting me. Peter. Lovely to be chatting here.

S1 (13:52):
Now, we've talked a bit about the background to this.
This is kind of suggested that maybe some people, maybe
many people over 65 are being over prescribed medications.

S5 (14:01):
Yes, that's right. Which is why we developed these guidelines.
I guess it's important to first explain the definition for deprescribing.
What we mean by deprescribing really is a person centered
process of stopping or reducing medications. And the goal really
is to improve patient health outcomes. And this might be
medications that are no longer needed, for example, when symptoms

(14:23):
have resolved or unlikely to return, or when the potential
harms of that medication start to outweigh the benefits.

S1 (14:30):
This is work that's been going on for quite some time.
Just a bit about those involved with the research of
these guidelines.

S5 (14:36):
Many of the Australians are taking multiple long term medications,
as we know. And actually one of our paper actually
found that 1 in 3 Australians aged over 70 take
five or more medications, which is what commonly referred to
as Polypharmacy. And I think the problem is that there's
often no clear plan for when it might be appropriate
to consider Deprescribing. We know that there are many excellent

(14:57):
guidelines for when to start a treatment, but not many
that explain when or how to safely stop one. And
oftentimes what that means in practice is that medications are
often being continued indefinitely, even when the risk starts to
outweigh the benefit. So I guess the guideline that we're
trying to develop here is to really want to help,
to fill that gap and give healthcare professionals the guidance

(15:19):
they need to support shared decision making in partnership with
their patients.

S1 (15:23):
So who's been involved with the kind of research and
setting up the guidelines, both clinicians and patients as well?

S5 (15:29):
Yes, absolutely. These guidelines are developed by a group of
72 experts, and we are very fortunate to have four
consumer representatives in our group, along with a large number
of health professionals from diverse disciplines. So we've got GPS specialists,
nurse practitioners, pharmacists, Other allied health professionals, as well as

(15:50):
researchers with expertise in implementation science and health economics. So
what we did is we worked together to review the
research evidence for Deprescribing, specifically in older people. And each
statement included in the guideline is the result of the
group consensus.

S1 (16:05):
We'll get some details as to how people can find
out more before we wrap up. So we'll give people
a chance to grab a pen and paper or something,
to write down some contact details, just a bit about
your involvement and why you've got to be involved with this.

S5 (16:17):
I first got into research during my undergraduate degree at
the University of Sydney, where I did my honours project
on Deprescribing in Older people, which is the same topic.
I'm working now for my PhD at UWA, and I
was really keen to come back to research in 2022
when an opportunity came up with the same research team
because having worked in community pharmacy, myself and I met

(16:40):
people from all stages of life, I was really inspired
to find ways to improve the quality use of medications
and really just to make a broader impact on people's health.

S1 (16:49):
What sets you on that path? Amanda, was there some
person or something that happened that put you on that path,
even to the undergraduate? That's a little bit out there.
I mean, I guess we all kind of think, oh yeah, yeah.
You go to the doctor, he gives you medication, she
gives you medication, you take it and on we go.
But you may be a bit more questioning than that.

S5 (17:06):
I guess that comes back to my original reason of
studying pharmacy myself. I guess I really want to help people,
and I work in community pharmacy for a number of years.
And all those customers that I served, they come back
every month to collect their medications, but really some medications,
there are no indications, and I just feel like my
power of improving the health is very limited in that setting.

S1 (17:28):
Fantastic. Now, I like one of the lines that you
use in your media release, less is more, and we
say that about a lot of things, but I guess
with medication it's a pretty powerful message.

S5 (17:38):
Yeah, 100%. One of the things we often heard from
people is that when it comes to prescribing or deprescribing decisions.
Consumers really want more information about the benefits and risks
of medications to support genuine, shared decision making and informed consent,
and I think most people are open to the discussion
about Deprescribing, as long as the benefits and risks are

(17:59):
clearly explained to them so that they can make that
decision themselves.

S1 (18:02):
And of course, it's getting accurate information, because you probably
know better than I that the internet is full of
misinformation as well. So I guess it's kind of sorting
through the accuracy of the stuff that's out there.

S5 (18:13):
I think healthcare professionals who are trained to give that
information as well and, you know, keep up to date
with the evidence to really try to limit medication related harm,
because we know that medications are helpful in managing condition
or preventing disease, but they also come with risk.

S1 (18:28):
Yeah, and I guess that's the point that you made
earlier as well, is that sometimes you take a medication
for a certain amount of time, and for a certain reason,
when that reason passes, there's no need to keep getting
that script filled.

S5 (18:39):
Many people are still not aware of the opportunity to
have their medication reviewed review by a professional, such as
a doctor or a pharmacist.

S1 (18:46):
Yeah, maybe we think the doctor knows best. Maybe we're
a little bit reluctant to question. Or maybe that's more
people from the past that maybe took it to word
that a doctor would say, maybe today, you know, people
a bit more questioning or wanting maybe to seek other
approaches as well.

S5 (19:00):
Yeah. Interesting that you brought this up, Peter, because we
did release the draft of the guideline for public consultation
before in April. And one of the general feedback that
we got from consumers and carers is that they feel
a bit nervous bringing up Deprescribing with their doctors. They
said that the worry about questioning the doctor and would
much prefer the healthcare professional to start the conversation. But interestingly,

(19:23):
what we are hearing from clinicians such as GP's or
others is that they often feel hesitant to raise the
topic themselves and I think partly because they are unsure
how patients will respond or worry that patients might think
that they're giving up on them. So I think sometimes
effective communication really is the missing piece to achieve great outcomes,
and I think there were a bit of focus on

(19:43):
our future research as well.

S1 (19:45):
Anecdotally, I've heard people say, oh yeah, that's a really
good doctor there, because when you go there, at least
they give you something like when you go to the doctor,
you feel like you want to walk out with something
rather than maybe try and get a bit more sleep
or try and manage your stress. You want that little
piece of paper you can take to your chemist, but
that's not always the answer.

S5 (20:01):
Exactly. Yeah. I think you also mentioned one of the
major barriers to Deprescribing as well, because oftentimes the consumer
really wants some, you know, comfort in getting something out
of the doctor in that 5 to 10 minutes appointment.

S1 (20:14):
You gotta get your money's worth. What about as far
as without wishing to alarm people? Because, I mean, there's
a lot of statistics that show that overprescribing can mean
things like hospital visits, the amount of hospital visits perhaps
each year that are due to either people not taking
the medication correctly or taking too much of it. That's
a big number as well, isn't it?

S5 (20:34):
Yes, many people might not be aware of how big
the scale is of the problem related to medication harm.
That's not to say that all medications are harmful, but
more medications often mean a higher risk of medication errors,
side effects, and harmful drug interactions. So around 250,000 hospitalizations
each year are actually linked to medication problems. And in

(20:57):
the last ten years, the number of older Australians experiencing
polypharmacy has grown by 32% due to the aging population. Yeah.
So a lot of research is now currently being done
to reduce the use of potentially inappropriate medications just to
try to improve health outcomes and reduce the rate of
medication related hospitalizations, particularly for older Australians, because they're often

(21:17):
the biggest user for medications.

S1 (21:20):
So the older we get, the more medications we seem
to be on. But you're probably too young to not
have experienced that at this stage. So hang on to
your youth. A bit of a question without notice. What
about people in aged care? Because, I mean, maybe that
that could be a bit more tricky in terms of
getting that looked at, or maybe a bit easier because
they maybe would see health professionals more regularly.

S5 (21:39):
For people who are living in aged care, there are
mostly more vulnerable than the community people because they are
often at risk of medication related harm because they're often
on multiple medications to manage their health. But I think
there are great initiatives currently. So things like aged care,
onsite pharmacies. So there's actually a dedicated pharmacist on site
reviewing the medications regularly to make sure that there's no

(22:02):
medication misadventures before it happened.

S1 (22:05):
So what do you think some of the benefits are
of these guidelines and sort of going forward, some of
the benefits from this?

S5 (22:10):
I think for doctors, we often hear that there's not
enough guidance to help with deprescribing. So we really hope
that these guidelines will be a practical resource they can
use in everyday practice and for consumers. I think one
big benefit is that Deprescribing can potentially reduce treatment burden
and better overall health and quality of life to keep
people where they want to be for as long as possible.

S1 (22:32):
I guess we all want to be healthy, but if
it's a little bit less expensive to go to the chemist.
That's a bit of an incentive as well. Not that
you want to not take medicine because of the expense,
but I guess if it's being prescribed, then maybe that
can be a little bit of a fringe benefit as well.

S5 (22:45):
Overall, it comes down to the benefits and risks of
that particular medication and in that particular person context as well,
because it's often not about the medication, it's about looking
at the overall person and the socio demographic and what
are the things that are important to them.

S1 (23:00):
So curiously enough, Amanda, in a sense, if we go
to the GP next time and say, look, can we
have a bit of a chat about these medications, even
though he or she might take you off some medication,
it might be almost a bit of preventative medicine. Maybe
it might be preventing some harm or not so good
outcomes in the future if we kind of review them today,
rather than let's wait six more months or let's wait
another year.

S5 (23:20):
Yeah, it's more like a preventative work, right? Yeah. So
it's really just to have that regular conversation with your GP.
And if they don't have time, they might also refer
you to a credentialed pharmacist. So there's these Home Medicines
review program that many people are not aware of. It's
fully funded by the Australian government that allows the GP
to refer you to a credentialed pharmacist, to go to

(23:41):
your home, to have a chat about your medications, and
really just to make sure that they're safe and continue
to work well for you.

S1 (23:48):
Okay. So you can access that at no cost.

S5 (23:50):
Yeah, it's fully funded by the government if you're eligible.

S1 (23:54):
Alright. And what about in terms of asking for that.
So the GP is the best point to do that.

S5 (23:58):
Yes. I would definitely suggest taking advantage of this by
speaking to your regular GP to see if you're eligible
for this service, because it's a great initiative.

S1 (24:07):
Well, Amanda, you've taught me at least two new words
today Deprescribing and polypharmacy.

S5 (24:12):
Yes, polypharmacy.

S1 (24:14):
Okay. Well, that's one of the great things about doing
a program like this. We all can learn so much.
So thank you for spending some time with us. Good
luck with your future studies in particularly your PhD. Where
can we go to because you've got a website as well,
haven't you? Or there's a website that people can get
lots more information from. I know you've got a podcast
and you've got some audio information up there as well.

S5 (24:32):
Yes. Love to direct people to our dedicated website, which
is called deprescribing.com.

S1 (24:38):
That's the word of the day. I think that's the
word of the week. I reckon we'll make it. Amanda,
great to talk to you. Congratulations on the initiative and
certainly your passion is very obvious. We appreciate that and
good luck with your studies. And who knows, we might
speak to you again in the future.

S5 (24:50):
Amazing. Thank you so much for having me, Peter.

S1 (24:52):
That's Amanda quick there. Who's from the University of Western
Australia talking about the word deprescribing and maybe something that
you can have a chat to your doctor about.

S6 (25:01):
You're in elite company listening to Leslie here on Australia radio,
on the radio, digital radio, radio.org and through the TuneIn
radio app.

S1 (25:12):
Well, some good news. I think from the state government.
We're always pretty quick to bash them, but we've got
to give them credit when there's good news regarding, uh,
people living with diabetes here in South Australia. Let's chat
a bit about it with the CEO for diabetes SA,
Katherine Hughes. Katherine. Lovely to meet you. Thank you for
your time.

S7 (25:27):
Oh, thank you so much Peter.

S1 (25:28):
And Ravi Subramanian is with Australia. Great to meet you too.

S8 (25:32):
Thank you. Peter. Same here.

S1 (25:33):
Now, Catherine, tell us a little bit about this. That
sounds like a good announcement to an observer. Well, what
about from you guys on the inside? How do you
feel about it?

S7 (25:41):
This is an absolutely fantastic opportunity for us to work
with South Australians in regards to preventing diabetes within members
of our community. We have a three year grant from
Preventative Health SA, which injects money directly to those who
are at now highest risk of developing diabetes, which is

(26:03):
our Aboriginal communities and our multicultural and linguistically diverse communities.
So it's very exciting for us.

S1 (26:12):
Have you campaigned for it or is it just come
off the back of a truck? How's it all come about?

S7 (26:16):
Well, I think it's come about because of the realization
from research, but also a changing demographic in South Australia
that we have more people from different ethnic backgrounds who
are joining in our community. And I guess it's interesting, um,
you know, and Ravi will speak to his experiences, but,
you know, with different types of foods, different, um, cultural expectations.

(26:39):
We find that, uh, there are now a number of
people who are coming from communities such as the Indian community,
Chinese community, and the Middle Eastern community in particular, who
are at increased risk and don't actually know that they may,
in fact have diabetes because they maybe don't have the

(27:00):
health information available in their own language.

S1 (27:04):
Ravi, you were involved with the start of this, so
tell us a bit about that.

S8 (27:07):
Peter, I want to tell you something, a fact. India
is the diabetes capital of the world.

S1 (27:14):
I think I'd be bragging about that, Ravi, but fair enough.

S8 (27:17):
So that is that is one of the reason why
I thought. After living a life with type two diabetes
for over 27 years, I thought I should do something
As a gift for the society.

S1 (27:30):
Fantastic. So, um, tell us a bit about your story then.
27 years ago, you were diagnosed, so. Yeah. How did
that how did that happen?

S8 (27:38):
I will I would like to share a little before that.
As a young boy, I had no problems with any
health issues. And I was a horse rider and a
polo player.

S1 (27:49):
Okay.

S8 (27:50):
And then I got an opportunity in the form of
a scholarship to learn to fly. So I quickly did
my 60 hours of flying training and got my private
pilot's license. And I got a second scholarship to do
commercial flying. That's for another 250 hours of flying training.
I did that training, and I was on the verge

(28:12):
of getting my license as a commercial pilot. I had
to undergo a medical examination and I failed the medicals.
They told me that I had a high eosinophil count
in my blood. I did not understand what it was
because I had no symptoms. And the doctors also said

(28:32):
I got very high blood pressure. That was when I
was just about 18 years old.

S1 (28:37):
Wow.

S8 (28:38):
So they said, we will give you six months time.
You go back to your family doctor and find out
what you can do about it and come back. And
once you're fit, we will give you the license. So
I said fine. I went to my doctors. They did
all their tests. They could not find out why I
had high blood pressure. They ignored about my high eosinophil count.

(29:02):
They didn't give any importance to that. But they worked
on my blood pressure. And after six months, they could
not bring it down. And 50 years after that, I'm
still having high blood pressure and a high eosinophil count.
But I have a lot of symptoms today, so I
could not become a pilot. And that was a very

(29:24):
huge disappointment for me because all those other young boys
and girls who did their flying along with me, they
all became commercial pilots and I was on the ground
doing nothing. So I was so disappointed that I started
eating and eating and eating to escape the stress. So
I put on so much of weight the horses couldn't

(29:46):
carry me, so I lost my horse riding. I could
not become a pilot. I thought, I am a junkie
and I started drinking as well. Now all this made
me obese. I became so obese I couldn't do much work.
But I still went to the university and did my
electrical engineering because my father was an engineer. Mother was

(30:07):
an engineer. They pushed me to study, and I did
study and became an engineer. But my heart was in
food because I was a foodie. So I came back
from UK after doing my engineering and then studied Ayurvedic
cooking and I qualified as an Ayurvedic chef.

S1 (30:27):
Fantastic. Now, that's a form of medicine, isn't it? That's
an Indian form of medicine.

S3 (30:33):
Yes.

S8 (30:34):
Native medicine?

S1 (30:34):
Yeah.

S8 (30:35):
I then did a lot of work, and when I
turned 41 early morning, I could not read my newspaper.
So I went to see my ophthalmologist in India, in Madras,
which is now Chennai. And the doctor checked my eyes
and said, there's nothing wrong with your eyes, but I
want you to do a blood test. And I did

(30:55):
a blood test and it showed high blood sugar. So
he asked me to go back to my GP in Chennai,
who subjected me to a glucose tolerance test, after which
I was declared a type two diabetic when I was
just 40.

S1 (31:12):
It says you live with this for 20 years, and
the stuff that you were doing, the the drinking and
the overeating, that was all adding to the problems with it.

S8 (31:21):
Yes, I was drinking a lot of Coca-Cola and Fanta.
So there was a lot of sugar in it. Yeah,
and I had put on so much of weight. Now, still,
I worked, and between 2012 and 2016, I was involved
in an Austrade and Government of India project to train
trainers in India. And I had the privilege of meeting

(31:45):
Indian Prime Minister who said, who held me by my
hand and said, I'm not going to let you go back.
I want you to work here and create as many
trainers as possible. So for five years I worked in
India between 2012 and 2016, and I came back to
Australia in 2016 and I couldn't get a job again.

(32:07):
So I got into another round of depression in 2019.
My wife said, you love food, so why don't you
study a little more about food? So I went back
to the University of South Australia and studied human nutrition
and exercise physiology. Three years later, I thought I should

(32:28):
do little more studies about human nutrition. So I joined
Deakin University and did a postgraduate study of human nutrition.
But I also had this problem of diabetes. My diabetes
was fluctuating and I had to give myself three insulin
injections every day one in the morning, one in the

(32:48):
afternoon during lunch and another one in the night. I
thought I should learn more about diabetes, so I joined
the IDF School of Diabetes, IDF International Diabetes Federation. They
admitted me as a student, and I started studying about diabetes,
and within a short span of six months, I completed

(33:09):
the entire portfolio of CME courses offered by the International
Diabetes Federation. I believe that was very unusual. People usually
take 3 to 4 years to complete all studies, whereas
I did it in six months because I was so
deeply passionate about finding a cure for diabetes or finding

(33:30):
out a method to manage diabetes better.

S1 (33:33):
Catherine, I guess the the funding that you've got is
kind of to help prevent stories like Ravi's here in Adelaide.

S7 (33:40):
Absolutely it is. We, um, what we've actually found is
these many stories that, um, similar to Ravi, where we're
going out, particularly into the communities such as the Indian community,
and we do screening. And when we do that screening
and we take, um, a little prick of blood to
tell us about how much sugar is in someone's blood.

(34:03):
We're actually finding that 1 in 5 people that we
are testing who don't associate with having diabetes are what
we would call highly likely to have diabetes and as
such we refer them immediately to their GP. So actually

(34:23):
there's a number of people like Ravi who are in
those years, particularly men as well, who are in that
20 to 50 year old range, who just due to
work and lifestyle and all the pressures, are actually probably
living with either pre-diabetes or diabetes. And the work that
we're looking to do is to actually prevent these people

(34:46):
from developing diabetes or delay it. And that's where medications
and the right sort of care from health professionals ensures
that somebody does not develop diabetes, which is possible.

S1 (35:00):
I was going to say there's a lot of evidence
to say that that can be done, isn't there? It's
not just a mumbo jumbo. If you look after your
lifestyle and obviously, you know, take the right medication at
the right time, there's a lot of hope for people
who might be particularly diagnosed early.

S7 (35:13):
Yeah. That's right. So if you start on a medication,
you're actually 53% more likely. So you know, twice as
likely to actually avoid having diabetes deterioration. And I think that, um,
you know, when we have organizations like diabetes SA, listeners
can call us if they're worried. They can visit our

(35:37):
retail location, which is on Sir Donald Bradman Drive. Um,
but we actually have a phone number that people can ring,
which is 130198204 that people can call, but actually specifically
about the multicultural community. We are actually going to be

(35:57):
at Victoria Square at the multicultural Festival on the 23rd
of November and doing screening there with our partners at
preventative SA so people can come up. I'll be there. Personally,
we'd love to have a chat with people and we'll
also be over at shinerama on the January the 16th
doing screenings as well because we need to get out

(36:17):
into the regions.

S1 (36:19):
It's fantastic. We'll get that phone number and website before
we wrap up in a second. Ravi, how's your health
at the moment?

S8 (36:25):
I'm okay. I cannot say I'm good, but I'm okay.
And my studies and my private research gave me to
understand one of the reasons why the subcontinent has the
highest prevalence of diabetes. Type two diabetes is because of
the food they eat. I've discovered that it is one

(36:46):
of the causes because of the imbalance of omega six
versus omega three ratio. Omega six is found abundantly in
all the cooking oils, the seed oils, and the plant oils,
whereas omega three comes only from fish and not much
from vegetarian food.

S7 (37:06):
And you know, that's a really good point, Ravi, because
we actually have a program called Meal Masters that actually
helps people understand about different foods. And we've been working
with Sav Pereira, and she's actually a finalist from MasterChef.
I'm actually going over to Sri Lanka to be the
judge for MasterChef Sri Lanka, and she's actually working with

(37:28):
diabetes SA to actually help with Mediterranean diets and looking
at the way that you eat. So if people do
contact us, we can even link them into the meal
masters program. And they might be lucky enough to meet
Sav Pereira as part of that process.

S1 (37:42):
Catherine will grab your phone number and Ravi, I'm writing
down your details. We'll have to get you back to
talk a bit more about your research. And congratulations on
all the wonderful study you've done to pilot and commercial pilot. Now, uh, cooking.
I mean, you're obviously a very intelligent person with a
great thirst for knowledge. Catherine, how can we find out
more from the diabetes assay?

S7 (38:04):
So we have our diabetes SA website, which is diabetes
SA Cosmo. you? And we have a presence on Facebook.
On Instagram. Um, and we also have our phone number,
which I'll just say again is 1300 198 204. And we would

(38:26):
love to speak to your listeners if they want to
touch base with us.

S1 (38:29):
Alright. We'll have to touch base with you again in
the future because there's so much we could have covered.
Thank you both so much for spending some Thomas Ravi,
thanks for sharing such a personal story. But, uh, we
wish you well with your health.

S8 (38:39):
Thank you. Peter, thank you very much.

S7 (38:40):
Thanks, Peter.

S1 (38:41):
So Ravi Subramanian and also Catherine Hughes there from diabetes
say with that information regarding that grant from the state government,
three years to hopefully prevent lots of diabetes here in
South Australia.

S9 (38:59):
Welcome aboard the leisure lift. Please select your floor.

S1 (39:24):
Well, we're right in the middle of spring racing season,
but the person that always makes us feel like a
winner is chatting to Alison Davies from Alison Davies. Com.au. Ali, welcome.

S10 (39:35):
Hello, Peter. You know, I just come here for the introduction.
I just come here to hear what you're going to
say each time.

S1 (39:39):
Well, tell you what, it takes me a month to
come up with one, so I've got to go to
work as soon as I hang up today. Now, speaking
about today, Ali, October in some states, certainly in South
Australia is active aging month. It's kind of, uh, emphasis on,
you know, getting old, but, uh, in a, in an
active way, in a positive way. You've had quite a

(40:01):
bit of experience with aged care, haven't you, in in
your time.

S10 (40:05):
You're going to say you've had quite an experience with
aging well.

S1 (40:08):
Your age?

S10 (40:09):
I'm in my mid 40s.

S1 (40:11):
Okay.

S10 (40:11):
I don't have that much experience yet, but. Yeah. Uh,
I worked in aged care for, oh, I guess 15
years as a music therapist, and I really specialized in
dementia care and palliative care, and, ah, it just brings
me so much joy to look back on that time

(40:32):
and just the honor of hearing people's stories and and
people with dementia. So, Melody, um, we've talked about this before.
Melody is one of the best possible inputs that the
brain can receive for retrieving long term memory. So whenever
there's melody involved. So if we we do a song,

(40:53):
we listen to a song, we sing a song. Often
all sorts of long term memories are retrieved. And I've
just been witness to the most beautiful memory sharing from
people who otherwise are not remembering. And it's just been it's. Yeah, yeah,
I love I really, really loved it.

S1 (41:12):
But for those of us that aren't maybe musical or
kind of understand the terminology, give us an idea of
what a melody is.

S10 (41:18):
So these days we have all kinds of music, like
we've got rap, we've got drumming, we've got hip hop,
we've got pop, we've got, um, you know, we've got ballads,
we've got all sorts of things. But when I was
working in aged care, everybody used to everybody in that
age group grew up listening to the same music, and

(41:38):
we sort of called them the Golden Oldies or the
War Time songs. So everyone and they were quite melodic.
So they were show tunes, or they were just little
repetitive songs like Good Night Irene or Daisy. Daisy, which
have lots of verses that have different words, but it's
the same melody just repeated over and over again. So

(42:01):
the simple melody and the repetition of the melody is
what really helps long term memories to be formed and
also to be retrieved. So it's what helps us remember
things and it helps. It's what helps bring it back
to our mind.

S1 (42:17):
I always think of something like, pack up your troubles
in your old kit bag. Something like that.

S10 (42:21):
Yes. And this is why we remember the words to
songs even from our childhood. Or songs, there might have
been a song that we heard, like an ad from
TV that was just that. We've never really. But that
will still be stored as a long term memory because
of the melody. And so this is why in dementia care,
as a music therapist is such a beautiful capacity for
doing singing groups and, and lots of song work, because

(42:46):
songs are just stored as long term memories and they're
very easily retrieved. And it's because of the relationship between
melody and the limbic system in the brain. So it's scientific,
but when it doesn't feel like we have like when
you're in the moment and you're just singing together and
then someone shares. So I've got, I've heard the most

(43:07):
incredible life stories from people who who don't remember other
things anymore. And it's just beautiful.

S3 (43:16):
So do you remember the.

S10 (43:17):
Can I share you one of my favorite stories?

S3 (43:19):
Yeah, sure.

S10 (43:20):
Okay. So about 20 years ago, I was working in
aged care, and there was a couple, a husband and
wife who came in together. The husband required to live
in full time care. And the wife didn't so much.
But they gave her an adjoining bedroom to his because
they had been together for married for 80 years.

S1 (43:39):
Yeah.

S10 (43:39):
So they were about to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary,
and I worked with them to practice some of the
songs that they used to sing, that the husband used
to sing to his then girlfriend when they were teenagers
was he was courting her, and he would take her
on a rowboat on the river and sing like old

(44:03):
Frank Sinatra tunes and stuff like that. So we practiced
those songs and we were we were going to have
a celebration for their 80th wedding anniversary, and he died
two days before their 80th wedding anniversary, which was very sad.
But the wife was, um, just grateful that, you know,

(44:24):
he was at peace. It was it was all very lovely.
They'd lived very long lives. They were almost a hundred. And, um,
but in that those few months of of practicing the
songs in the lead up to their wedding anniversary, I
heard so many stories about their dating life and how
they got together. And it was just, you feel like

(44:45):
your family when you're hearing stuff.

S1 (44:48):
And so it's not just the words that come back
to you, as in the song, the words of the song,
but it's the stuff that happened around that time around
that song.

S10 (44:56):
Yes. And it's to do with the feelings that the
song make you feel. So long term memory and emotion
and melody are all very connected. So because we feel
things when we listen to melodic songs and we feel
things with rhythmic songs as well, but rhythm tends to
have more of an impact on the physical movement. Parts

(45:19):
of the brain and melody has more of an impact
on emotions. So when we're listening to or singing or
experiencing songs that are melodic, that we're singing along to,
that have a tune, we're feeling things. And so we're
also forming memories and we're remembering we, you know, we
have memories from concerts, we have memories from festivals, we

(45:39):
have memories from songs that are at weddings and funerals
and where there's significant emotion and song involved, we often
have strong memories of those. So it's very, very common
for us to sing a song from somebody's past. And
not only can they remember the words to the song,
but they remember how their house looked while they were
listening to it, or what their parents used to do

(46:00):
or say. Or how the setup of their family was.
And then what happened when they went to school, and
all sorts of memories just come alive again, because the
melody or the singing of the song or the hearing
of the song has retrieved it all. So song or
melody is the superpower here.

S1 (46:19):
And the kind of trigger is, is, is, you know,
is not the words, it is the melody.

S10 (46:26):
Yes, yes. So the melody is what activates those memories
or what we call retrieves the memories. And so the
words can be anything. You can just be humming or
singing along to a tune, and memories will start to come.
And the emotions that accompanied the memories, which is just
such a beautiful thing. Because when you're reminiscing and sharing

(46:47):
your story and feeling things at the same time, it's
just such a meaningful form of interaction. And so I
really loved that in aged care. I personally have had
such a wonderful experience with aged care, and I know
lots of people say things like, oh, I never want
to be in a nursing home, but and I, I
can't speak to that lived experience as a person who's

(47:10):
experienced it myself. But what I have done is worked
in a lot of nursing homes, and I have experienced
such community and joy and meaningful connections. And there's a
there's a lot of beauty that happens in aged care
as well.

S1 (47:28):
And you're quite right about the melody, but just thinking
about what you're saying, I mean, it's the melody that
starts first and then the words come back to you.
Like if you just said the words, that could be
kind of any words to not really be meaningful, but
it's the melody that that is sort of underneath it
that really kind of, as you say, it's that powerful deliverer.

S10 (47:45):
Yeah, absolutely. And this is why a really good example
of that is the alphabet. There is no way that
we would remember 26 random bits of information in the
correct order. If it wasn't for the alphabet song. So
our brain does not is not designed to remember 26
things in order. Yeah, but even two year olds know
the alphabet and it's because of the song. It's because

(48:08):
of the melody. And that is why we remember phone
numbers and ads and jingles and all sorts of things
that we don't need to remember. It's because they've been
presented to us through music.

S1 (48:19):
Well, if it's something like a date with a female deer.

S3 (48:22):
Yes.

S10 (48:23):
Yes. Everything. Everything like that. And it's why we have
such strong feelings when we watch musicals or or movies
that have soundtracks. So, um, like any movies or musicals
or shows that have soundtracks, we often it takes us
on an emotional journey, and so we're more likely to
remember it. We're more likely to have emotional connections with

(48:43):
the characters. We're more likely to cry. We're far less
likely to cry in a movie that doesn't have a soundtrack.
And so it's all Intertwine the the the memories, the
feelings and the melody.

S1 (48:56):
Amazing. Absolutely amazing. And, uh. And I guess, you know,
sort of tying it into active aging in a way,
you know, that that can kind of be such a
foundational part of active aging or aging well is things
like maybe incorporating a bit more music, a bit more
melody into your life.

S10 (49:13):
Yes. And you can be doing that. Like you can
be joining a choir or a singing group or just
listening to music now as an active way of keeping
your brain developing.

S3 (49:22):
Yeah.

S10 (49:23):
Feeling things like, if your brain is if the neural
pathways are doing things, then your brain is active, then
we all know that that helps sustain our capacity. But
also if you listen or experience to music from your past,
it's going to be bringing up um, and be careful

(49:43):
because sometimes it can help traumatic memories. But, um, if
we listen to music from shows that we watched as
a children or that our parents listen to her or
our grandparents listen to that help us feel safe. It
can do all sorts of soothing, wonderful things for the
brain as well. So we can be engaged in music now,
but we can also be re-experiencing music from our past.

S1 (50:06):
And I guess, like in your situation, it's a great
way to connect with, you know, maybe generations that might
be 1 or 2 or even three, you know, generations
older than us.

S10 (50:15):
Oh, it's so. Yes. Intergenerational connectedness is huge. And you
know what? Our children might not be having the same
experience because the way they listen to music is completely different.
They listen to one second of a song and then
skip to the next song. There's stats around how people
now don't listen to full songs. Yeah, it's the previous
generations where especially where everybody listened to the same music

(50:38):
and everyone had the same records, and it wasn't in
such abundance as it is now. There was a real
connection between what people were listening to, and that just
becomes less and less because of the way we experience music.
So watch this space because things are changing and it's
not necessarily great for us. Great for.

S3 (50:57):
Us.

S1 (50:57):
Well, yeah, flicking through everything, you know, whether it's television
channels or radio stations or playlists, as you say, it's
kind of, uh, 2025, but as you say, without being
sound like an oldie. Alison, you know, maybe a bit like, uh,
living in the past.

S3 (51:12):
Yeah.

S10 (51:12):
Well, you know, and we used to listen to albums
from the first song to the last song, and.

S3 (51:17):
That's just.

S10 (51:17):
Unheard of.

S3 (51:18):
Now, Ali.

S1 (51:19):
Fantastic. Lovely memories. And I'm sure you would have triggered
a few with people listening in. Thank you so much.
We'll catch up next month. And, uh. Yeah. It's always
such a joy.

S3 (51:27):
Thank you.

S10 (51:27):
Great. I look forward to it. Peter.

S1 (51:29):
Awesome. So you want to find out more Alison davies.com
on all the social media channels as well. And Ali
joins us around about this time the last week of
each month. Well, online safety is so important to some

(51:52):
people out there doing great work to make sure we're
all as safe as we can be. Let's chat a
bit about the topic with Chris Button, who's a special
Olympic gold medalist, a coach, and a great champion for
digital safety. Chris, great to meet you and thanks for
your time.

S11 (52:04):
Thank you very much for your kind introduction, Peter.

S1 (52:08):
What has made you so interested in the digital world
and also for it to be safe?

S11 (52:13):
Because I use technology every day for everything that I do,
and I just wanted to help the community to show
that people with disabilities are very knowledgeable and they have
the abilities, and when given the opportunity, they can shine.
And in the digital world, there is a digital divide

(52:35):
for people with a disability, in particular because we are
being excluded from this world. But I would say for myself,
why I like technology is that it's everything that I do,
things I get to do for my work. Also for
being being part of this wonderful radio interview. It's really

(52:59):
interesting to learn about technology and all the things that's
happening around here. Also, I like to learn new things
about internet, online safety and all the digital tools. And also,
it is important for everyone to help us stay connected
in this digital world, to find information and also learn

(53:21):
from digital threats. Protecting ourselves from online threats, scams, scams,
trolling all those computerized and digital protection that we need
in our everyday lives.

S1 (53:35):
What are some of the things that you do to
keep yourself as safe as you can?

S11 (53:39):
Through my work with who sees Australia as a champion,
I have learned a lot of important skills and tools
to use to keep myself safe online. It's not just
being safe online, it's also using our digital technology confidently
as well. So we learned about how to spot a

(54:02):
scam and how to resolve those issues. Besides that, also
saying things like trolling for scams, spam, and also how
to create strong passwords and using multi-factor authentication, and also
the social media platforms personal privacy. I mean, our technology

(54:25):
because sometimes things go wrong and then you make a hat,
for example. Also phishing emails and misuse of our personal
information and also the advancements in technology, in particular AI.
We have to be careful of what we do with
it and all the things that we do in our

(54:45):
daily lives using data as well.

S1 (54:48):
Chris does a great thing, but sometimes it can be
a situation where people with disabilities might feel a little
bit excluded. Or you talked about the digital divide, what
about some thoughts in that area? How can we kind
of better include people with disabilities?

S11 (55:05):
This is a broad idea where people with disabilities don't
have the right access to the digital world. In the
areas of like remote areas, they still have to learn
some of the digital literacy skills, um, to help that
we still face barriers as people with disabilities, not to

(55:26):
fix the problems. We just need to remove some of
the barriers. To do that, we need to raise awareness
about the digital divide, that it is a thing that
we need to know about because I'm a big Advocate
for people with disabilities and also a leader in my
own right. We need to, with all the leaders who

(55:48):
have a disability and all the other people who are
leaders in this space. When you can inspire others so
that we can show them that it's all about encouraging
participation within the digital world. If someone doesn't know how
to use anything with a digital device, we will go
to them. We will show them how to use an

(56:09):
iPhone or how to use a computer, for example. And
then if they like it, they might buy it for themselves.
That's what we try to encourage them to do. And
the most important thing is to advocate for change. That
is what we all need to bridge the digital divide.

S1 (56:28):
You make a great point regarding people in rural or
remote areas because sometimes, understandably, they can feel very excluded.

S11 (56:36):
Yes, there's one area, but the other other people with
a disability. Sometimes they are not inspired enough to follow
through as well. Like for example, if someone at school
who doesn't belong in a sense they can ask someone
who they know and they can inspire them to use

(56:58):
their devices more confidently. And that's what we do as champions,
we inspire others to use technology. Another thing is that
because of the digital divide, there are lots of scams,
lots we have learned through our digital devices, also through the, um,
through the news as well. We we heard that some

(57:21):
people got scammed, some got hacked. We we have to
know all these things so we know what we can
do later on in the future so we can follow
through and be protected.

S1 (57:32):
What are your favorite digital devices? What do you either
like using the most or what do you get the
most out of which?

S11 (57:38):
Well, I use different devices for different things.

S3 (57:42):
Yeah.

S11 (57:43):
So I have Apple devices, I have a Microsoft account
as well, and a HP laptop. I've got an Apple Watch,
like an Apple iPhone. Like an Apple iPad. I've got
how I use different devices for different things. So webcam
for interviews or for meetings. Microsoft Suite I use for

(58:09):
all my work that I have to create. Like for
all my gymnastics coaching I've created through the, um, Microsoft Word.
Sometimes I have to. If I'm not at my computer,
I can use my Apple notes on my phone and
I can get back onto it. I can get on
to that device for my Apple Watch. I track my

(58:31):
fitness and also check my notifications as well. Another thing
is that I like to teach others on how to
use their devices. For example, if I don't ask me
for advice on how to clear storage on the iPhone,
I would help them. Another contact I use my phone
for contacting my family, friends, co-workers, whoever I work with

(58:56):
and I love it.

S1 (58:57):
That's been really good to be able to be in
touch with people much more easily these days, compared to
years and years ago. You had to write a letter
or make an expensive phone call. These days it's much
easier to keep in touch, isn't it?

S11 (59:09):
Yes. One thing that I say is that let's don't
go all the way through using technology. Don't own technology.
We need to have a balance between both digital and analog.
Because if we lose our ability of doing analog way
like writing, it will lose that skills in that field.
We need to have a balance between both. That's one

(59:31):
thing that I advocate for, because if we don't use
digital technology all the time. We will lose our ability
to write, to read, to develop important skills that we need.

S1 (59:42):
I agree with you. We've got to use it. Otherwise
we lose it. Chris, great to catch up with you now.
I know your organization, Good Things has got a website.
We'll put those details up on our show notes about
them and a bit more about the work that you do.
But thank you so much for speaking to us. An
important topic. You've covered it very well. So strong passwords obviously.
Be very careful about scams. And also two factor authentication

(01:00:04):
is also very important as well.

S11 (01:00:05):
Thank you Peter. I just wanted to say a few
things before we finish up.

S3 (01:00:10):
Okay.

S11 (01:00:10):
So the main message I want to get across is
that inclusion means everyone Nazis. Together we can make sure
every voice is heard and valued, and we want to
have a seat at the table where decisions are made
about us, with us, not without us. That is the
main message I want to get across to everyone in

(01:00:30):
this world.

S1 (01:00:31):
That's a great note to end on, Chris. We wish
you well. Thanks so much for speaking to us.

S11 (01:00:35):
Thank you very much.

S1 (01:00:36):
That's Sir Chris Button. He's a digital champion and a
champion in all sorts of areas as well, including coaching
and a gold medallist at the Special Olympics. Great to
talk about this very important topic, this very important week.

S12 (01:00:49):
G'day. I'm Brad Dubberley, head coach of the Australian Steelers
wheelchair rugby team. You're listening to Leisure Link with Peter
Greco on Vision Australia radio network.

S1 (01:01:10):
Time for yoga on the radio, which means we get
to say hello to Reeva Brice, our yoga expert. Reeva, welcome.
Thank you again for joining us.

S13 (01:01:19):
Hello, Peter. Yes. Going quickly.

S1 (01:01:24):
It is indeed. What have you got for us this evening?

S13 (01:01:28):
What I'm doing today, Peter, To escort Namaskara. The salute
is the English term for it. It's an internal energy block. Asana.
In yoga it's called bandhas or to lock. And you
might say, well, what is an energy block? Energy in

(01:01:49):
the form of prana, which is vital. Energy is in
every part of the body, and it should be in
a state of free flow due to faulty chemical reactions
in the body, free flow of this prana is impeded
and this results in stiffness and muscular tension. Energy block
asanas eliminate toxins in the body and ensure that the

(01:02:12):
reactions in the body are both correct and in balance
with each other. One of the common malfunctions in the
body is faulty operation of endocrine gland system and scientific
experience carried out in the world in various countries conclusively
prove that asanas and energy lock exercises are very powerful

(01:02:35):
in harmonizing the endocrine system. So that's the basics there. Peter.
Now precautions. Knees and hips are the main and arms
and shoulders. Another technique for that is we come into
a squat position as low as you can, with the
feet flat on the floor and the knees wide apart.

(01:02:58):
Make sure you are balanced. Don't want anyone falling, going,
falling back at all. You just do what you can here.
Now close your hands together in the prayer position at
the chest and press your elbows against the inner knees.
So you're squatting there and hands in the prayer position,

(01:03:20):
and you press your elbows against the inner knees. Inhale,
lift the head up and gently push the knees out
as far as possible with your elbows holding for a
few seconds. Then you exhale, straighten the arms, keeping the
hands together so they point forward. Bring the knees close

(01:03:41):
to each other. Then you bend forward and downwards, rounding
your back and head down between your arms. And that's it, Peter.
And then you return to the start position and repeat
3 to 5 times. There's quite a simple one. Now

(01:04:01):
let's go down to benefits. As mentioned earlier, helps prana
to flow throughout the body. It eliminates toxins in the
body and ensuring that the body is in balance harmonizes.
In endocrine system. The nervous system and body's body organs

(01:04:21):
has a very powerful effect on the nerves of the
thighs and knees, shoulders and arms. So that's it.

S1 (01:04:28):
Okay, now, you were saying to me earlier that you
could also do that if you're sitting in a chair.

S13 (01:04:35):
Yes, I think it would be possible. Peter. Um, yes,
you can do that. You can take your knees apart.
You'd have to move forward a little bit, I think,
you know, to, to get your elbows against there. So
you sort of round a little bit when you do that.
But it, you know, you can be able to you
might have the, the elbows might be a close up,

(01:04:59):
you know, on your thighs more so than the knees.
You have to, you know, sort of sort it out
a little bit yourself doing it in a chair. But yes,
it can be done in a chair.

S1 (01:05:09):
A little bit of improvisation.

S13 (01:05:11):
We're not used to squatting. Some people, you know, can
easily squat. And others, again, I think the majority of us,
we're not used to squatting. So it can be a
bit difficult. And that's why, you know, just squat down
as much as you can. You need to be balanced,
those feet nice and flat and firmly planted on the floor. Um,

(01:05:33):
the other thing is, don't try and stretch the knees
out or your thighs out too far. You don't want to,
you know, tighten up your muscles there at all by
overdoing it. I'll go through it again.

S1 (01:05:44):
Yep. That'll be great.

S13 (01:05:45):
Come into squat position as low as you can with
the feet flat on the floor and knees wide apart.
Place your hands together in a prayer position at the
chest and press your elbows against the inner knees. Inhale,
lift the head up and gently push the knees out
as far as possible, with your elbows holding for a

(01:06:06):
few seconds, and you exhale and straighten your arms, keeping
the hands together so they point forward and bring the
knees close to each other. Then you bend forward a
little bit and downwards, rounding your back and head down
between your arms. Your arms are starting point forward. And

(01:06:28):
you keep them at that level. You bring your head down.
When finished, he returned to the start position. Repeat 3
to 5 times. So you go. Now you're still in
that squatting position when you take the arms forward, and
then you just repeat. Bring the hands back onto the chest.

(01:06:51):
And then using the elbows so gently push those knees
or thighs out. Now the benefits again as mentioned earlier,
helps prana to free flow throughout the body. Our energy
eliminates toxins in the body and ensures that the body
is in balance. Harmonizes the endocrine system, the nervous system

(01:07:14):
and body organs. And again, that brings our body all
into balance. That's a very powerful effect on the nerves
of the thighs, knees, shoulders and arms.

S1 (01:07:26):
Okay, simple, but very powerful. Riva, thank you so much
for that. Unfortunately, it hasn't been the clearest of lines,
but I think we've certainly got the gist of it now.
If people want to contact you for some one on one,
they can get in touch.

S13 (01:07:39):
Yes they can. I'm on mobile 041286096041286096.

S1 (01:07:50):
Riva, thank you for persisting. We really appreciate that. We'll
catch up again next month and hopefully the planets will
align a bit better.

S13 (01:07:58):
That's all right, Peter. I don't mind one little bit.
This year seems to have gone so far. We've just
got November coming up and then we've got that break
until January.

S3 (01:08:08):
Then we have a break.

S1 (01:08:09):
Goodness gracious.

S13 (01:08:09):
Me. Yes.

S1 (01:08:10):
Riva, you take care. We'll speak next.

S3 (01:08:12):
Month.

S13 (01:08:13):
Good, I enjoy it. As I say.

S1 (01:08:15):
We enjoy having you. Thanks, Riva. Good night.

S3 (01:08:18):
Good night.

S1 (01:08:18):
Riva. Yeah, but you want to contact Riva 041286096. Apologies
for that line not being as good as it can be.
A couple of points that Riva made was that there's
a lot of evidence to show that if you can
unblock those, um, piranhas or those, uh, situations in the body,
if you can unblock that emotional energy, it can also

(01:08:39):
be proven to be very, very helpful for all sorts
of information. Riva crouching pose there also you can do
sitting in a chair. Maybe you have to improvise a
little bit. And also Riva was making the point that
particularly the um, eastern cultures are much more used to
sitting on the floor, sitting on the ground, uh, squatting, uh,
Western cultures a little bit less so. So we've got

(01:09:02):
a little bit more careful with our knees and hips
when we, uh, go down into those positions. So, uh, certainly, uh,
striking a blow for the flexibility of the eastern culture.
Maybe something we can start. Or is it ever too late? Anyway,
if you want to contact Riva 041286096. River joins us
the last, uh, week of each month with a yoga

(01:09:24):
segment is doing it for over 20 years, and Reba
has been doing yoga for over 70 years.

S6 (01:09:32):
On the Australian network, through your favorite podcast service on
1190 7 a.m. in Adelaide, you're listening to leisurely.

S1 (01:09:52):
Get the latest news in the era of technology and
speak to adjunct professor from USC, Denise Wood. Denise, welcome.

S14 (01:09:59):
Hello, Peter. How are you?

S1 (01:10:00):
I'm going. Well, maybe better than a bit of tech
that's going at the moment.

S14 (01:10:04):
Ah, yes, it's October, you know, October is an interesting month.
You know, we, uh, most months we talk about all
the exciting new product releases and upgrades. But, uh, October
was marked with a few challenges, and most people would
have probably heard that. Amazon Cloud services down about 3 a.m.

(01:10:25):
Monday US time. And while that might not mean much
to many people, um, there are many, many, many businesses
and services that rely on what's known as AWS Amazon services.
That includes Snapchat, zoom, ring cameras, Reddit, uh, various gaming platforms.

(01:10:49):
Apparently smart bed owners, uh, who have, uh, automated technologies
with their bed were left sweating and stuck in an
upright position because they couldn't command the bed to change
temperature and, uh, recline. So, uh, yes. And I think,
you know, many people rely on their ring cameras to

(01:11:11):
check on loved ones. And, uh, so there are a
whole lot of implications when these systems go go down. Uh,
the issues were pretty much resolved by us time Monday evening, but, um,
many businesses and services had backlogs. So users were reporting

(01:11:31):
still having major issues even on Tuesday for those that
are interested. It's, uh, the problems they eventually released were
something to do with the domain name service. We often
refer to DNS, which prevented applications from finding the correct
address from the AWS cloud database. So um, also uh,

(01:11:55):
messaging services such as signal, which is more popular in
the US, you've probably heard Trump refer to signal were affected,
which raised a whole lot of issues for non-government organizations
who use signal for freedom of expression. And, uh, you know,
so they're not just technical issues. Um, you know, they're

(01:12:15):
they're all about services for people that rely on them. Yeah.
So this isn't the first time, uh, Amazon services from
that particular location have gone down, but let's hope it's, uh,
not a current, uh, or an ongoing issue. Um. Now
on to new releases. We were excited to see pixel

(01:12:36):
ten finally released its new Pro Fold phone, uh, which
everyone had been waiting for. Um, but unfortunately, it's copping
a lot of criticisms because, uh, many users are saying
it's heavy, bulky compared to competitors like Samsung. Um, the
cameras are mediocre, uh, missing features found on their other

(01:13:01):
pixel phones. Um, there's issues raised around durability and all
of that, and it's not really significantly cheaper than some
of the competitors. So, if you are looking for a
fold phone, you might want to wait till a future
release of the Google Pixel. Based on the reviews coming
in so far.

S1 (01:13:22):
This is a hardware problem and it's not going to
fix that unless they get a new hardware, are they?

S14 (01:13:27):
That model took her out, right? But since you raised hardware,
there's also some issues for Google Pixel phone users who have, uh,
you know, we've talked about, uh, not being at the
bleeding edge of new releases of software and, uh, those
that adopted the new version of what's called Android Canary

(01:13:50):
Software have found that, uh, those that rely on Live
Caption toggle, uh, which was under the volume slider, which
allowed them to turn on um and off. Live caption
no longer works in this version of the software, so
they are working rapidly Lee on a fix. But again,

(01:14:12):
you might want to wait till a more stable version
of the Google Pixel software. Um.

S1 (01:14:18):
But is that a variation on the canary in the
coal mine? Denise?

S14 (01:14:21):
Yes it is. Might well be. Uh, but, you know,
don't dismiss Google products, uh, at all because Google phones, uh,
they have bought on, uh, a global head of brand
accessibility a few years ago. Um, and she's really been
championing the way for, um, ensuring people can connect those

(01:14:43):
with disabilities using Google products. So, uh, Google has done
amazing things, but, uh, sometimes you need to wait until
it's more stable. Speaking of criticisms of I of phones
by 17 has got, uh, a fair bit of criticism, uh,

(01:15:05):
over what they're calling scratch gate, which is that the
aluminium anodization and is causing some problems with stretching. And
also there's something now for Colgate, which, uh, has been
a discoloration for rose gold cameras, so I am sure

(01:15:27):
that Apple will be addressing that. But again, it's that
version of the phone. So, uh, yeah. So not all
good news stories this month in terms of new product
releases and the problems with Amazon. Um, but I guess
that's a timely warning, isn't it? Uh, Peter, that we

(01:15:48):
do rely on these. Yeah, we also do need to
have full back positions. So, um, but on the good
news front, uh, University of Michigan has, uh, released, um,
new VR, AR technology, which allows people with physical disabilities

(01:16:08):
to be able to control a virtual hand without being
able to physically use their hands. So, uh, so there's
some good news stories floating around, but, uh, also some
cautionary warnings about some of the early releases that we
get all so excited about.

S1 (01:16:26):
Doing with the iPhone 17 is that, uh, sort of
scratch gate, as you call it, there's something with all
models or.

S14 (01:16:33):
Uh, well, it's the iPhone 17, I believe. And I
believe it's to do with the, the, um, particular back
where the camera sits, you know, because it's got fairly
high powered camera lenses now. And apparently it's that area
of the phone that's very prone to scratching. So it's
not the whole phone. Um, but it's that particular area

(01:16:54):
is scratching. So, uh, but this, uh, this coloration issue
is something that has just literally popped up in the media.
So we'll wait and see how that pans out, I guess. But, uh, yes,
if you wanted a rose gold color, you really don't
want it to suddenly look like orange?

S3 (01:17:12):
No.

S1 (01:17:13):
Well, if you choose one color, you kind of hope
it stays that color for the rest of its natural life.

S14 (01:17:17):
It seems to be to do with sun exposure. So, uh, but,
you know, people use their phones in the sun, so, uh,
you would hope it would be a little bit more
robust than that.

S3 (01:17:28):
Well, especially in Australia.

S1 (01:17:30):
The sun in Australia. So.

S3 (01:17:31):
Yeah.

S14 (01:17:32):
Exactly. Yes.

S3 (01:17:33):
Alright.

S1 (01:17:34):
Well I'm not sure what we'll talk about next month,
but I'm sure you'll find some good news. And of
course there's the, um, information regarding open AI and maybe
new browsers. So that might see its way onto the.

S14 (01:17:45):
Yes, yes. We need to end the year on positive stories. Hopefully.

S1 (01:17:51):
Uh, end of the year.

S15 (01:17:52):
You're kidding. It just seems like it started.

S14 (01:17:54):
Yes.

S15 (01:17:55):
Well, uh, next month will be the end. I can't.

S1 (01:17:58):
Believe it. It is fast approaching. We'll try to slow
it down a bit, but in the meantime, thank you
so much for that. And as I said to you
off there. You bring us the latest news. Doesn't matter
necessarily good news, but it's it's the accurate latest news.
That's why we got you there for it's.

S14 (01:18:13):
Got to be honest reviews for.

S1 (01:18:15):
People. Please catch up next month.

S14 (01:18:17):
Look forward to that Peter. Thank you.

S1 (01:18:19):
It's the very wonderful, uh, adjunct professor at Eastwood from
USC with always great news and look forward to seeing
how the year ends out at the end of November.
Fascinating stuff here from uh, Denise. Amazing. I think Apple
this week announced their numbers as far as sales in

(01:18:42):
the last three months ago. Let's see how the, uh,
iPhone 17 has gone a bit of talk about the
iPhone air maybe not being very popular as well. So
plenty to look forward to. And no doubt we'll catch
up with Denise in November. Haven't been able to synchronize
our clocks and watches very well this week, but tomorrow

(01:19:02):
or Sunday, depending on when you're listening. The national AFL
Inclusion Carnival get underway where athletes with intellectual disabilities. There's
that competition and also AFL wheelchair competition on a world
with different states get together and play. So that gets
underway this week. Hopefully they'll be back in time to

(01:19:22):
wrap it up next week, if not certainly the week after,
but just haven't been able to get anyone to chat
to this week. Sometimes the preparations and our programs don't
necessarily work in tandem, but that is a big event
and certainly something to look forward to. Will keep you
up to date with how that goes in the next
week or two. Now, if you're a member, or if

(01:19:44):
you're a borrower from the Vision Australia library and have
been over the years, particularly if you've got yourself into
a little bit of technical difficulty, chances are, gentleman, Jamie
Kelly has been the one to rescue you. I know
he has with many, many people. So Jamie actually this
week finished 34 years of working at the Vision Australia Library.

(01:20:06):
So Jamie, congratulations. 34 wonderful years, a real technical whiz,
very much aware of any issues with the different types
of technology that Vision Australia clients have used over the years. So, Jamie,
we wish you well. Uh, 34 great years. Hopefully we
might be able to catch up with Jamie in the future.
To reflect a little bit on this time, we'll give

(01:20:28):
you a chance to catch his breath and maybe get
used to a different kind of lifestyle. Well played Jamie
Kelly next week on the program. Of course. It's a
Melbourne Cup week coming up, so we might see if
we can have a little bit of a crack at
the Melbourne Cup. My, uh, I was going to say impeccable.
More like my impeccable tips have been somewhat lacking over
the years. Sometimes we've flicked it. We'll see what next

(01:20:51):
week brings. And reminder if you haven't caught up with
news that the Christmas pageant, the National Farmers Christmas Pageant
on the 8th of November will be audio described on
Vision Australia Radio. So if you haven't heard what audio
description is, tune in November the 8th in the morning
and you'll hear the audio description of the National Pharmacy's

(01:21:12):
Christmas pageant. Now we have a couple of quotes. Meredith
has said to quite through Meredith. Always pretty good with
sending quite through. Meredith says you'll be surprised how well
the ripples of kindness work. Next time, try it and
take notice. Rather appropriate. We spoke to who wasn't Megan

(01:21:35):
Power from Ripple Ability over in West Australia a few
weeks ago. So the ripples of power and one from
Francisco who sends quotes through all the time. Francesco, we
try and sort of separate them and use their different
ones at different times, but we always appreciate you sending
yours through. Francesco is quite for this week is we
are pupils at school, But we are students for life. Thanks, Francesco,

(01:22:01):
for sending that through. Really appreciate all the quotes you said.
And as I say, we'll share them around a bit
and we'll certainly be using yours in weeks and hopefully
months and maybe indeed years to come. Some birthdays before
we go. Now, we don't do this very often, but
I sent Pharrell a birthday wish on Wednesday night on
Focal Point. We'll do it again this year, I think.

(01:22:22):
Faye was our first listener to Leisure Link back when
we started all those years ago. Still listening in, say
happy birthday to you. It's happening tomorrow as you listen in.
So have a great day and let's hope that North
have a great year next year. Always. Happy birthday to
Sean Kendrick, one of our present blind cricketers. Often we
salute the past. Sean's playing at the moment. So happy

(01:22:43):
birthday to you Rachel Lim having a birthday over there
in Western Australia, a mad Perth Wildcats supporter may be
a bit unhappy about Bryce Cotton playing in Adelaide, but Rachael,
happy birthday to you. Hope life is going well can
mean having a birthday. Cameron, who last year got an
OBE over bloody 80. He now enters his ninth decade

(01:23:05):
of living. So. Cameron, one of our loyal listeners. Happy
birthday to you. And that's the thing. Be having a birthday. Esther,
of course, a candidate for the Dignity Party in the past.
An author, a speaker, a great advocate for a particularly
multicultural people with disabilities. So a happy birthday to you.
That's it for the program. So thanks so much for

(01:23:27):
your help. Pam Green, thanks so much for your support.
James and Kat, thank you both very much for all
your expertise helping us put the programme together, reminding you
that listening is available wherever you get your favourite podcast.
Please tell a friend about the show now. If you're
listening through 1190 7 a.m., you stay right where you

(01:23:47):
are because you'll be listening to Vicki Cousins with Australian Geographic.
Be kind to yourselves. Be thoughtful and look out for
others all being well. Let's look back at the same
time next week on Vision Australia Radio and the Reading
Radio Network. This is leisurely.

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