Author Archives: Cameron Hicks

ANZFPS EMCR Webinar Series: Falls Prevention in Residential Aged Care Settings.

With Presentations from Dr Jennie Hewitt and Rik Dawson.

Presented by the ANZFPS Early-Mid Career Researcher Sub-Committee

Presenters: Dr Jennie Hewitt and Rik Dawson

Dr Jennie Hewitt will discuss the implementation of Sunbeam (successful fall prevention intervention) into RACF. Rik Dawson will discuss his experience delivering fall prevention exercise using telehealth focusing on the user experience. Jennie and Rik will also discuss how AN-ACC has influenced fall prevention activities and provided opportunities for practice change in RACF.

Dr Jennie Hewitt is a physiotherapist, educator, and academic researcher with a passion for delivering best practice. She has been awarded an Australian National Lifetime Achievement Award, and a National Commendation for Better Practice for her work on the Sunbeam Aged Care Exercise Program. She attained the Morley Award, for the paper most likely to influence policy and practice, from the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. Her work has been used to advocate for Australian Aged Care Funding Reform, she appeared as an expert witness at the Royal Commission and has worked as Technical Advisor to the Federal Chief Allied Health Officer on the implementation and scaling of the Sunbeam Program in 119 aged care facilities across Australia. In 2022 she won the innovAGEING award with Whiddon for a project that used exercise to address chronic pain and deconditioning and in 2023 she was named as an Ageing Asia Global Trailblazer.

Rik Dawson graduated from Sydney University in 1993. Rik is a titled Gerontological Physiotherapist, Vice President of the Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) and the APA representative on the Aged Care Quality Standard Clinical Working Group. Rik was the owner of Age well Physiotherapy, a practice that employed physiotherapists and occupational therapists in Aged Care across Australia. Rik sold his practice in 2020 and is now enrolled at Sydney University as PhD candidate where he is focusing on telehealth for older people. Rik is a graduate of the AICD and has been a Director of the APA since 2017. Rik was a member of the Audit and Risk Committee and the Director member on the Physiotherapy Research Foundation where he worked to connect research to policy and practice. Rik currently chairs the Nominations, Remuneration, and Governance Board sub-committee. He has a passion for communication, advocacy, leadership and good governance. Rik believes that linking strategy to member value is key to non-profit organisation’s success.

Australia and New Zealand Falls Prevention Society and World Falls Congress 2023 Joint Conference

The 10th Biennial Australia and New Zealand Falls Prevention Conference (ANZFP) will for the first time be run as a joint conference with the World Congress on Falls and Postural Stability at the Perth Convention Centre, from the 26-28 November 2023. Up to 400 delegates are expected to attend the conference from throughout Australia, New Zealand and overseas.

Late breaking abstract submissions are now being accepted (submission deadline Friday 15th September). The opportunity exists for a limited number of oral presentations in a session dedicated to new information or important findings not fully available before the general abstract submission deadline. Late-breaking poster submissions will also be considered.

Early bird tickets are still available until Friday the 15th September. For more information visit the website: 10th Biennial ANZFPS Conference 26-28 November 2023

To join our mailing list to be kept up to date with information on the conference, click here

An interview with Dr Sandra Luliano: Keynote Speaker 2023 Joint Conference of the ANZ Falls Prevention Society & World Falls Congress

In the lead up to the 2023 Joint Conference of the Australia and New Zealand Falls Prevention Society & World Falls Congress, we chat with Dr Sandra Luliano, one of the keynote speakers. A Senior Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne, Sandra recently completed a trial in 60 residential aged care homes. Her randomised controlled trial investigated the effect of of supplementing the daily diet of older residents with additional dairy foods, on falls and fractures. 

An interview with Prof Stephen Lord: Keynote Speaker 2023 Joint Conference of the ANZ Falls Prevention Society & World Falls Congress 

In the lead up to the 2023 Joint Conference of the Australia and New Zealand Falls Prevention Society & World Falls Congress we continue our series of interviews with the keynote speakers to get to know them and their research interests. Today we speak to Professor Stephen Lord. Steve is a Scientia Professor at the University of New South Wales and Senior Principal Research Fellow at Neuroscience Research Australia. His research interest involves the identification of neuropsychological, sensorimotor and balance risk factors for falls and the development and evaluation of fall prevention strategies.
He will be presenting an overview of the updated Australian Fall Prevention Guidelines which will be launched at the conference.

An interview with Prof Anne Tiedemann: Keynote Speaker 2023 Joint Conference of the ANZ Falls Prevention Society & World Falls Congress 

In the lead up to the 2023 Joint Conference of the Australia and New Zealand Falls Prevention Society & World Falls Congress, we are launching a series of interviews with some of the keynote speakers to get to know them and their research interests. Today we chat with Prof Anne Tiedemann. A Robinson Fellow at the University of Sydney, Anne recently completed the first trial internationally to evaluate the effect of yoga on falls in people aged 60 years and older. Her research develops and evaluates scalable physical activity-based strategies to promote health and prevent falls in middle to older age.

Focus on falls in people with Parkinson’s disease and cognitive impairment

Falls are a major problem in the senior community with 1 in 3 people aged 65+ falling at least once a year and this risk increases as they age. This rate almost doubles for seniors living with Parkinson’s disease and cognitive impairment (60%), making falls the leading cause of injury-related disability and death in this age bracket.
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A blog posted at NeuRA written by Professor Stephen Lord. Published 22 August 2017