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8Novita athletes have performedabove expectations by winningsilver and gold at the 2011National Junior Championships, thefirst major meet for many of them.In the U16 girls’ events, Jemma Leewon bronze medals in the 200m anddiscus, setting a new Australian record.Amy Davies won two bronze medals inthe 100m and 200m sprints.NOVITACLIENTSwinning goldand silverZac Ivanoffwon silver inthe 100mand BraydenDavidsonwon silver inthe 400m,and a bronzein the longjump.Also in theU16 age group,Sam Paech won abronze medal in thediscus and SeanDocherty won gold in theshot put and a silver in discus.Sean set new Australian records inthe 100m, 200m, and discus events. Inthe U18 age group, Josh Seaman wonsilver medals in the 100m and 200m.Nathen Arkley, one of the world’sbest junior wheelchair racers, whohopes to represent Australia at the2012 London Paralympic Games, wonthe junior category of the Oz Day 10kmrace in Sydney. He has also won a2012 South Australian Institute ofSport scholarship.Read about Nathan’s exploits in aninterview with ABC’s ‘Behind the News’at http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s3370412.htmThe London Summer Paralympicsare coming in September. The OpeningCeremony for the first recognisedParalympic Games was held in Romeon 18 September 1960, with a crowd of5,000 spectators welcoming 400athletes from 23 countries to Rome.At the 2008 Beijing ParalympicGames, Australia was placed fourth onthe overall medal tally with 23 gold, 29silver and 27 bronze medals out of 147countries. Australian paralympians willbe competing in a number of sportsincluding boccia, goalball, powerliftingand wheelchair rugby.Want to know more aboutParalympic sport and sportingopportunities? Contact Cathy Lambert(SA Development Coordinator)08 8415 6802 or emailcathy.lambert@paralympic.org.auFor updated event details,news and other information visitwww.paralympic.org.auEquipment service survey outNovita clients responding to agovernment survey havereported improvements in theprovision of equipment services offeredby the Department of Communities andSocial Inclusion (DCSI).43 of the families who responded tothe survey offered to be involved in afollow-up interview. Novita hascontacted many of those families tolearn more about how we might makeimprovements.Many families reported animprovement in equipment provisionprocesses over the past 12 monthsand offered very useful suggestions.To improve communication by -• offering information to clients andfamilies in a variety of ways,including face to face, phonecontact, letters, website, brochures,fridge magnets• providing clear information regardingthe stages of equipment provisionand options for equipment funding• individualising the timing of updateson where the process is up to forany particular item.• providing updated contact details forNovita offices and services such asEquipment Service or DomiciliaryEquipment Service.• sending reminders to families torequest pick-up and return ofunwanted items.Waiting for equipment was a concernhighlighted by the survey. We arecommitted to improving the experienceof equipment provision for families andthe implementation of these suggestionswill be an important part of that. TheDCSI will conduct the survey again in2012 to evaluate any changes thathave occurred over the past two years.Assessment is importantEnsuring your child has the rightequipment for their individual needs isvitally important. That’s where Novita’stherapists come in. They conduct anassessment to determine the rightequipment to meet your child’s needs.Requests for equipment are beingresponded to and the assessments arecompleted as efficiently as possible,but the number of requests does resultin a wait for a therapist to carry out the