At the beginning of August, we held our annual Move for Better Health conference. This year’s theme was ‘Move Together’, focused on the wide-ranging expertise of our practitioners and support staff, and what we can achieve when we work together!
Our team consists of Physiotherapists, Exercise Physiologists, Podiatrists, Psychologists, Dietitians, Remedial Massage Therapists, and administrative support staff, which allowed for lots of information to be shared and learned.
The conference spanned across two days, and was held away from our clinics at the fantastic Unley Oval Hub venue. We had a number of guest speakers, as well as some of our team, present to our group. The aim of this conference was to look for new ways in which we can work together to provide the best level of care for our clients, and to provide multidisciplinary management.
We were fortunate to have the support of OPC Health, who was the major supporter and conference partner of the 2023 Move Together conference. OPC Health is a long term supplier to Move for Better Health in South Australia. We are very grateful for their support of our team’s learning and development.
In addition to our Conference Partner, we would also like to thank the following sponsors for their support of our program. BMS Insurance, Perks Business & Wealth and Commuserv with many of them also presenting to our team.
The conference opened with guest speaker Melina Lipkiewicz, a high performing leader, coach and facilitator who helped us reflect on our shared strengths, values and purpose. Our team strives to create a positive environment for both our clients and each other, so it was a fitting opening topic for our conference to discuss and understand what we’re working towards and why!
For something different, this year we hosted a Pecha Kucha competition for our staff. A new concept for most of us, Pecha Kucha is a fast-paced presentation format where the speaker covers 20 slides with a strict limit of 20 seconds per slide. We had 6 of our team members present on topics close to their heart, which were both very entertaining and informative! The winner of the competition was Exercise Physiologist, Dave Lowrey, who provided a brief history of questionable gym equipment. The prize money for the top 3 presenters (as voted by their peers) were all generously donated to charity by the winners. We can’t wait for our next Pecha Kucha competition!
We then broke up into groups for more specific professional development. Our Physios and Podiatrists teamed up to hear from our conference partner, OPC Health, about the latest supports and braces that we can use to help our clients in their treatment. Our Exercise Physiologists and Psychologists heard from Clinical Psychologist, Patrick Carson, on behavioural change and what we can do to help make long lasting, meaningful changes in our clients lives. Our support staff also teamed up to look at what we can do to provide a great experience for our clients and practitioners!
We had a jam-packed second day of conference, and were particularly privileged to have guest speaker Associate Professor James McLoughlin present to us on Motor Control and Clinical Reasoning. James did a fantastic job in covering the various concepts and principles of motor control, which can apply to almost everything we do within the allied health space. This can impact general movement and mobility issues, rehabilitation, specific health conditions (especially neurological conditions, like Vertigo or BPPV, stroke or Parkinsons), and even how we design exercise and rehabilitation programs.
We continued on with a case-study discussion, involving Physiotherapy, Psychology, Exercise Physiology, Podiatry, Dietetics and Remedial Massage, to better understand how each allied health discipline could help with different presentations and conditions.
Max Martin, Exercise Physiologist and co-owner at iNform Health & Fitness Solutions, also shared some case studies specifically relating to iNform’s Fitness Forecaster program. This is an innovative and data-driven program, developed to achieve optimal fitness and well-being for future years. We are all familiar with the concept of financial superannuation to help you save for your future. The Fitness Forecaster program provides an analysis of your current physical capacities to ensure you have enough ‘physical superannuation’ to help you achieve your goals in the later stages of life – like carrying a heavy suitcase on overseas trips, or picking up your children or grandchildren. As the Fitness Forecaster now has a year of data to reflect upon, it was clear to see the positive health outcomes that clients have been able to achieve!
Conference sponsor BMS Insurance joined us after lunch to discuss best practice in the allied health industry, and the many things we can do to ensure our clients have a positive experience with us.
To close the conference, another of our sponsors and Adelaide-local Commuserv joined us to share information about Cyber Security. Many Australians have been affected in the last year or so by wide-spread corporate data breaches, so our cyber security is something we take very seriously especially working in the healthcare industry. It provided our team with some great tips on maintaining high levels of security and confidentiality.
Ultimately, the Move Together Conference for 2023 provided a fantastic opportunity for our wider teams to meet and share their knowledge and expertise. We were incredibly appreciative of our conference partner and sponsors and guest speakers who provided some excellent information and teachings.
We hope our strong focus on professional development and multi-disciplinary care continues to benefit our clients, practitioners and support staff alike!
