Caleb wins at Boccia - Novita Children's Services

10
11
Novita
sporting
stars
Chris Okely
T
he recent edition of the Australian
Paralympic Committee’s ‘Talent
Times SA’, lists the achievements
of South Australians in a variety of
Paralympic sports. Eighteen current
Novita clients are named in this
newsletter with many competing
in sports at a national level.
What an inspiration these people
are. Thank you for showing us that
sometimes what holds us back is only
ourselves. For some more inspirational
scenes, look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=_0t74lT8iBg
Child & Adolescent Service (South)
Brayden Davidson
Nash McLean
Chris Okely
Paralympic Football Bronze medalist at National Championships.
Gold 400m, 800m, Silver 100m, 200m and long jump at Athletics
State Championships.
Paralympic Football Bronze medalist at National Championships.
Paralympic Football Bronze medalist at National Championships.
Sam Paech Gold 1500m, Silver discus, shot put, 400m, Bronze 100m, 200m,
discus (able-bodied competition).
Amy Davies Gold wheelchair 100m, 200m and 400m.
Jesse Aungles
Emily Musitano
Jack Netting
Caleb Crowden
Connor Holdback
Child & Adolescent Service (North)
Jimi Curtis
Darcy Thompson
Sean Docherty
final 50m breastroke at 2012 Australian Swimming Championships.
Attending Sydney for National School Sport Swimming
Championships in July.
Gold and 2x Silver SAPSASA State Swimming Championships.
Attending Sydney for National School Sport Swimming
Championships in July.
2 x Bronze SAPSASA State Athletics Championships.
Bronze medalist at Senior National Boccia Championships.
Silver medal (team) and Bronze medal (singles) at National Table
Tennis Championships. Connor recently travelled to China on a
9-day junior scholarship program to train with top coaches.
Paralympic Football Bronze medalist at National Championships.
Paralympic Football Bronze medalist at National Championships.
Gold: discus, shot put (new U18 Aust record) at
Athletics State Championships.
Jemma Lee Gold: shot put, discus (new U16 Aust record) Silver; 100m,
long jump at Athletics State Championships.
Joshua Grace
Allison Oliver
Regional Services
Ellie McInerney
Lochie Charity
Gold medal at Cross-Country Championships. Silver and Bronze
medals at SAPSASA State Swimming Championships.
3 Bronze medals at SAPSASA State Athletics Championships.
2 Silver medals at SAPSASA State Swimming championships.
Attending Sydney for National School Sport Swimming
championships in July.
3 Gold medals SAPSASA State Athletics Championships.
First
prize
NATIONAL
AWARD FOR
NOVITA
RESEARCHERS
T
wo Novita researchers, Rob
Garrett and Toan Nguyen, have
won first prize for their paper
submitted to the Telecommunications
Journal of Australia as part of the
Journal’s annual Christopher Newell
Prize papers sponsored by Telstra.
The Christopher Newell Prize
recognises and commemorates the
ground-breaking work that the late
Revd Canon Dr Christopher Newell AM
undertook within the telecommunications
industry from 1990 to 2008 in representing
the needs of people with disability.
Rob and Toan’s paper, ‘Together we
can find telecommunication solutions
for people with complex
communication needs’ describes the
development of the community-based
Newell Network (www.newell.org.au),
a Web 2.0 site centred on empowering
individuals with complex communication
needs, their carers and support
organisations. The site enables these
N
individuals to add information on available
telecommunication solutions and be
directed to known applicable resources.
Well done Rob and Toan!
Exciting new project with Disability Services
ovita will be starting an exciting new collaborative project
with Disability Services, funded by the Department for
Communities and Social Inclusion. The project, led by Dr
Angela Crettenden, will explore factors which contribute to parents
of children and young people with disabilities who are clients of
Disability Services placing their child in out-of-home care.
A recent report by the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human
Rights Commission suggests the consequences for children in
being placed in care and their families are severe. The report points
to the role of services in providing early intervention for families
under stress.
Busy time in Physical Rehabilitation
Novita’s Physical Rehabilitation
Program (PRP) has been quick out of
the blocks this year.
They have been arranging and
staffing clinics at the Novita offices in
collaboration with the Rehabilitation
Paediatricians and Orthopaedic
Surgeons from the Women and
Children’s Hospital (WCH).
“Our PRP team has developed
in-depth knowledge about surgery and
best post-operative management to
assist our clients to achieve their
goals,” PRP Service Area Manager,
Sue Bostock, said.
Brett Williams is PRP Team Leader
and a senior physiotherapist. His
expertise includes physical management
after procedures such as surgery or
Botulinum Toxin A injection, gait analysis
and orthotics prescription. Brett has
vast experience at Novita and provides
PRP services to Darwin and Alice Springs
hospital clinics with staff from the WCH.
“We welcomed Kerrie Kuszczakowski,
senior Physiotherapist (PT) to our team
in late 2011,” Sue added. “Kerrie came
from Novita’s Child & Adolescent
Services North team and brings
in-depth PT experience and dynamic
enthusiasm to our team. Abbie
Robinson is also a senior PT in PRP and
has worked in many other Novita
services including the Equipment Service
and Acquired Brain Injury Service.”
PRP Occupational Therapists Angela
Gerhardy, Louise Ganser, Jane Mangos
and Sarah Whisson have specialist
knowledge regarding physical
management of children’s upper limbs.
They work with the Statewide
Occupational Therapists to provide
advice and treatment for children with
complex splinting and upper limb
management. They also attend medical
clinics with the Rehabilitation Paediatricians
to assess and discuss potential for
surgical intervention for the hand and
arm as well as Botulinum Toxin A
injections to muscles in the arm and hand.
“People may have also met our
Occupational Therapists when they
provide assessment and therapy
following Botulinum Toxin A injections
to the arm and hand to optimize the
outcomes of this procedure,” Sue said.
Meanwhile, Speech Pathologists
Emma Grace and Xanthy
Hatzigeorgiou work in a variety of ways
providing clients with specialist advice
and therapy on mealtime management.
“This advice can be done by directly
advising the client and their family or by
providing support to their local Novita
Speech Pathologist,” she said.
“The PRP Speech Pathologists also
host various workshops tailored to school
staff, families and therapists around
mealtime management. Our team works
closely with a dietician and they liaise
frequently with the medical team
ensuring best possible care for our clients.
“We are so happy to welcome Linda
MacGillivray to PRP,” Sue said.
“Linda has more than 30 years of
experience at Novita, working as an
Allied Health Assistant (AHA) and has
also been very involved in supporting
Girl Guide groups and camps for our
clients over many years. Jen Gormly
also works as an AHA in our team and
is very warmly welcomed back to PRP.
Jen has been working with CAS and
Early Childhood Services teams in the
St Mary’s office (SMO) and will
continue to work from both Regency
Park Centre and SMO.
“Karen Mentha is our pool attendant
and works with clients in the pool as
well as managing the daily pool
maintenance regime. Karen teaches
swimming skills to prepare children for
recreational swimming in their
community as well as following
programs devised by our
physiotherapists,” Sue said.