Uthsac newsletter september

BRFEANtity

Dr Jodie Whillas 30 Sept – 3 Oct Dr Scrim 18 – 21 Nov

The Great breakaways bolt COBRA young riders all finish 35kms in 35 degree heat.

Dentist

Keonie Bailes with his proud family

Nicky Carmichael is aiming to beat his time next year!

The quiet achiever – Robert Brown

George with the bike winner: Glenn Clarke

14 – 16 Oct 9 – 13 Nov

Diabetes Clinic 30 Sept – 4 Oct Asthma Clinic 21 – 23 Oct

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e Robert, Keonie, Nicky and Roy all qualified from COBRA for a bike after their health checks.

Principal of EDSPACE, Maggie Fanning helps Glenn Clarke, Commonwealth Gold Medalist in cycling.

Robert kept riding and riding and riding with Gary, Jose and George encouraging him

A huge THANK YOU to 6 EDSPACE students who, with their principal, Maggie Fanning and teachers Ron and Glenn drove the round trip of over 3,000km to deliver 50 restored bikes to UTHSAC. All students at Edspace have autism or a learning difficulty but are achieving great things through this innovative independent school.

They arrived the day before the Great BreakAways Bolt and worked with a group of keen young boys to put front wheels back on, check the gears etc. Next day all donned COBRA shirts to support the young team of COBRA riders who took part in the challenge riding from Oodnadatta back to Coober Pedy just 2 weeks ago.

EDSPACE students mentored local students in putting together the bikes brought over for our community.

Congrats to Glenn Clarke who won the riders’ stage of the BOLT. Although a Commonwealth gold medallist for cycling in his day, 9 years ago he suffered a stroke.

Glenn needed to learn to walk again and has limited use of his left arm still – a story of overcoming hard times which he shared with

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Email from THE CHANGE CYCLE showing how many people worked together for the BIKE PROGRAM 2013 Hello All, This is an email of gratitude and thanks to everyone that has helped prepare, gift, or transport recycled bikes for Umoona Tjutagku Health Service, Coober Pedy. News from Coober Pedy informs us that the 2013 bikes have been successfully delivered and here are the photos from the talented Ali Laslett to prove it: http://www.lifephotography.com.au/breakawaybolt There is a cast of thousands to thank which shows that The Change Cycle is very much a community project with many people involved.

A big thank you to Maggie Fanning and the team at Ed Space, www.edspace.org.au Your wonderful generosity and commitment to bicycle recycling is inspirational. You have a brilliant program. Thank you for your offer to transport bikes to Coober Pedy. I hope you had a wonderful adventure and learning journey!

Toorak College- thank you greatly for the use of the trailer. Without this generous contribution, transportation would have been a huge obstacle. You saved the day last year and you saved the day this year as well. Thank you to Toorak College staff who donated bikes (or still have them on offer).

A special thanks to the Rowing Team. We are speechless at your generosity.

Thank you to Flinder's Christian College- you are credited for motivation and energy.

You have some inspirational goals to kick in 2014 and I look forward to working with you next year. Mt Eliza High School - thank you for carefully storing and caring for our bikes. I appreciate your interest and energy in the project. An ongoing thank you to the Church of Christ Opportunity Shop, WIlson's Rd Mornington, the Leader for your early support and promotion and the community at large for your ongoing donations and assistance. Last but not least Stuart Allen- my husband - you are the expert, the guru, and the king of recycling bikes. Your hands have touched every bike we have ever recycled. Thank you for giving your love to the bikes and to the people of Coober Pedy.

Thank you to Ali and George Laslett for the amazing work that you do at Umoona Tjutagku Health Service (UTHS) in Coober Pedy. We know these bikes go to inspirational initiatives and special homes. Pricilla Larkins, CEO of UTHS- a special thank you also . Thanks for supporting us! Until next time, Kelly, Stuart and Georgie X

COBRA Team Coober – Oodnadatta Bike Ride Adventure Who would have thought that the first two weeks of Spring would be too hot to ride from Oodnadatta to Coober Pedy?

The adventurous team of twelve teenagers headed out by bus on Monday 2 September with a support team to conquer the 200 kms of dirt track in stages over 3 days.

Sponsors Mark Bell – Oz Minerals; Colin from IGA; and Tina Doulgeris from Medicare Local Country North SA cheered the team on and commented on how much they admired the enthusiasm that the young COBRA team all showed for this challenge. Other staff from the newly opened Activity Centre on Hutchison St braved the flies and heat outside to send them off.

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COBRA Team 2013 Gary Merryfull drove the rowdy riders in the bus while Laura, a social work student from Adelaide Uni, sat with the young lads and got to know them.

Oodnadatta Aboriginal School kindly opened their gym and full facilities so that the COBRA team could rest, eat and get ready for the first day on the ride.

Paul Elliot and Byron Wright from ADAC came prepared with generators and data projectors to share drug and alcohol messages. Videos of these sessions were recorded by Dave Laslett and show the lads listening intently to the presentations. The nightly campfire was such a unique opportunity for UTHSAC staff to engage effectively with the young people and some deeper relationships and trust was definitely built.

7am on the first day the COBRA team started riding back to Coober Pedy. All were keen and gave it their best, but few lasted more than a few stages.

Mentored by DAS staff including Jose, the new UTHSAC nurse and Gary, the Activities Coordinator, it was evident that this ride in such heat was going to be a big challenge for even the young and fit ones.

The hills of Oodnadatta too were difficult but the hot north westerly wind was helpful as the rode down past a very dry Hookey’s Hole. Some riders pushed on into more hills including Stevie Murray, Keonie Bailes, Nicholas Carmichael and Roy Murray.

These four COBRA riders stood out from the group with the amazing effort they put in. It was soon important to take shelter under the trees as the mid morning saw temperatures rise too high again. We sheltered until after lunch but the flies, wind and heat meant that we needed to move onto Mt Barry and our camp at Lora Creek. After some refreshing cold showers, the sun went down and we sat down to enjoy the T-bone steaks fresh from Mt Barry station. Paul Elliot and Byron Wright got the attention of the young riders with their multi-media presentations.

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We did it! – TAKE THE CHALLENGE They punched home messages focusing on the effects of:  binge drinking  safe levels of alcohol use  the effects of alcohol on the body, mind and spirit and  foetal alcohol syndrome.

These dramatic DVD’s led the young people to ask quite deep and probing questions around the camp fire. All agreed this COBRA was a great time but just too hot. We decided to return home late in that second evening.

There were actually some very real benefits from even this short time away together:

 Building trusting relationships is so central to any effective therapy and workers from Umoona Health got closer to the young people in a way that would have been impossible in town.

 Young ‘at risk’ males were exposed to drug and alcohol information that they may not gather together to hear in Coober Pedy.  The group experienced a growing sense of depending on each other in a team environment and thus a greater sense of community.  They all engaged in some fun exercise  They accepted the challenge of the desert and the weather and pushed through building a sense of resilience  Most of the riders began to talk about the next ride.  There was a real sense of joy about ‘going bush’ and a connection to country as many of their families are from Oodnadatta or have relatives living there still.  The riders had a taste of what could be possible in their future as they take on such challenges as a group.

It may seem that we were beaten by the flies and the heat, but the outcomes above gave the 16 young men an idea of how to tackle a challenge together. Our shirts said on the front in bold letters

“We Did It! – Take the Challenge” After the BreakAway Bolt the 4 lads who participated and have a HEALTH CHECK will each receive a second hand bike Thursday 26 Sept (next Thursday at BASKETBALL). The bikes are donated from EDSPACE in Victoria.

We want to thank our sponsors for helping to make this happen.

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IDENTITY – an insight into As part of NAIDOC 2013 illustrative artist Dave Laslett was commissioned to create a series of set portraits in the newly opened ACTIVITY CENTRE on Hutchison St. These portraits brought a buzz and a sense of fun and adventure to the grounds of the centre with fifty prints subsequently framed and available to the participants.

This also filled a large gap of absent photography documentation of the people of this region. The purpose of these portraits is to embody the identity of the people and act as a mirror. The joy witnessed was palpable as subjects and family members crowded around the back of the camera to see the end results.

The process also gave Dave and the DAS team a chance to engage with the people and hear their stories and where they are at with their lives, struggles and joys.

A variety of images from this commission can be viewed at www.davelaslett.com Photos can be collected from the ACTIVITY CENTRE when attending a program.

All images from Dave Laslett copyright 2013 UTHSAC

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New DAY CENTRE Opening in Photos Hutchison St, Coober Pedy - 6 May 2013

Lyn Breuer MP, Hon Warren Snowdon MP, CEO Priscilla Larkins

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Dogs and Children Environmental Health Worker: Dylan Warren It is easy for puppies that are not toilet trained to pass on infections to young children.

Teach your children to wash their hands after playing with animals, and always before eating..

Dylan can help families make homes healthy for dogs & kids.

Puppies and dogs should also be regularly treated for worms.

Children can pick up worm eggs from dogs..

As environmental health workers we look at things that make people sick which is caused by the where they live.

Things we look at are: 

Dog issues

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Personal hygiene

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Waste management

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Pest control

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Water management

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Storage

Getting to see the * Doctor * Dentist * Foot Dr * Physio & other specialists Phone 8672 5255 or pop in and see the friendly Nishadi 8

Nurses / health workers are popping into homes to help families stay healthy

Diabetes Checks on Tuesdays Healthy Hearts on Wednesdays Kwa as CLINIC MANAGER is happy to say that this year many people have had: 1. LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE & 2. LOWER BSL’s Staff asked clients how they would like UTHSAC to support them and they said things like 1. “Phone me each day to remind me” and 2. “Can you visit me each day and remind me to take my tablets?” – so they do.

DO YOU HAVE TROUBLE BREATHING? Come any Tuesday and Thursday to The ASTHMA CLINIC Respiratory Physician Dr Igor Nikitins visits on 21, 22 & 23 October

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Don’t put up with feeling: Worried Angry Sad Trapped Hopeless

Day Centre activities Come Along + Bring a Friend

MEN’S BUSH TRIP 10.30am – 2pm

Tuesdays & Thursdays

YOUTH BASKETBALL 5-8pm at the BBCourts

Thursdays

WOMEN’S ART

10am – 12pm WOMEN’S MUSIC GROUP 2 – 4pm

MEN’S MUSIC GROUP

11am onwards

Fridays Fridays Fridays in the Men’s Shed 10

Glenys Dodd Won the Gladys Elphick Award Glenys :  is a mother of 5 along with 18 Grandchildren whom she supports from time to time  is a very caring and gentle person and always finds time to help others in need  is seen by other members of the community as someone to look up to.  has a very large extended family and relatives will always seek assistance from her due to her caring and respectful nature.  has also been working at the health service for over 10 years and this in itself an extraordinary effort and a shining example for other members in the community.

Glenys started at Umoona Tjutagku Health Service in 2001. During this time Glenys wanted to improve her lifestyle and build strength within her family and provide a

stable home for her family.

Glenys recalls a comment:

“she can’t do the job as she’s a drunk!”

This was stated by a community member.

She used this as a force to show that they are wrong and she has what it takes.

As a resourceful and a lateral thinker, Glenys works well with others. Her positive nature has an effect on other staff and it has been my pleasure to be her CEO. She believes that being the best at what she does, is to never give up on your

dreams, keep pursuing your goals and to build trust with members in the community.

As soon as Glenys started work at UTHS Glenys went straight into her course doing the Cert 3 which she successfully completed and then went on to complete her cert 4.

She has so many certificates that no wall is big enough to hang them all on!

Over the years Glenys has showed a lot of enthusiasm to learning new things and went on to do the hearing course, and now trains others with her skills.

Glenys over the years have completed several certificates and completed much training through UTHSAC. This award recognizes her for all her achievements.

She is always looking for other challenges.

Glenys is a very reliable employee.

Glenys, you are a pleasure to work with!

You have deserved this honour.

You have made your family proud!

Youngest Ceo’s Contribution & AwArD Priscilla Larkins was nominated for the 2013 Aboriginal Nurses /Midwifes’ Award on the 10th of May in Adelaide. Priscilla was nominated for her achievements in providing high quality health care for the Aboriginal people in Coober Pedy.

At a celebration hosted by the Premier of South Australia, Mr Jay Wetherill M.P., at the Adelaide Convention Centre she was presented with the award for Best Aboriginal Nurse/Midwife.

Priscilla is the Chief Executive Officer for Umoona Tjutagku Health Service Aboriginal Corporation in Coober Pedy. She has been in this position for three years and has achieved many things in a short period of time, even being the youngest Aboriginal CEO at thirty four when she first started, is a big achievement in itself. Priscilla was able to successfully take the organisation through a three year accreditation in her first year as interim CEO and has accomplished many other achievements along the way.

Priscilla thanks her parents for setting an example in her early years and providing the foundation for her choices. Her husband, Patrick Larkins has also been her rock and has provided her the support throughout the years, helping her through the good and bad experiences. He and her family continues to support her through all of life’s challenges.

Big congratulations to Priscilla in her major achievements from the Board, staff at Umoona Tjutagku Health Service Aboriginal Corporation and the people who use its services each day.