Daniel and Lauren were in Suva, Fiji for part one of the Training of Trainers (ToT) course from the 25th to 29th of November. The ToT course assembles participants from Fiji (4 participants), the Solomon Islands (2) and Vanuatu (3)…
Building a skilled and knowledgable workforce is essential to increasing access to appropriate, local wheelchair services in the Pacific Region. Over the past 10 years, much of that training has been completed by international organisations, such as Motivation Australia, through a…
Mr Albert Kaiapam is the Principal Physiotherapist at the Ministry of Health in Vanuatu. He has oversight of the Physiotherapy Department at both Vila Central Hospital (VCH), the country’s main referral hospital, and Northern Provincial Hospital (NPH), the second largest…
Celebrating the Conference Theme: ‘Pacific Leaders creating Sustainable Services’, delegates from nine countries in the Pacific region, inclusive of those who use, provide and manage services worked together to share ideas, discuss and learn about how to build inclusive rehabilitation…
John Bule is a physiotherapist at Northern Provincial Hospital in Santo, Vanuatu. He trained at Fiji National University from 2013 – 2016, before returning to Vanuatu to work at Vila Central Hospital in Port Vila. John reports he was interested…
Last week Motivation Australia’s (MA) Claire Ibell spent time on the island of Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu, providing support to our partners at the Northern Provincial Hospital as part of the Pacific Mobility Device Services (MDS) project. Northern Provincial Hospital…
Mobility device service (MDS) providers in Vanuatu recently completed a one-day ‘Walking Aid Training Package’ with the support of Motivation Australia. John Bule, physiotherapist at Northern Provincial Hospital, and Claire Ibell, Motivation Australia Project Officer, jointly delivered the training to…
Motivation Australia and the Cerebral Palsy Alliance recently collaborated to deliver an intermediate level, wheelchair training course for 20 Fijian, Ni-Vanuatu and I-Kiribati personnel in Suva, Fiji. Intermediate level wheelchair services provide wheelchairs with extra support for children and adults…
We met Ellen during the recent basic wheelchair service training where she was being fitted for a new wheelchair. At 39 years of age, Ellen is not new to the wheelchair prescription process. Unable to walk since being admitted to…
“I think I’ve learned so much during this two weeks of training, I strongly believe that it will help VSPD to improve our services” Motivation Australia recently facilitated a ten-day Wheelchair Service Training Package – basic level (WSTPb) in Vanuatu,…
Intermediate level wheelchair service training builds the capacity of personnel to provide wheelchairs and supportive seating for children and adults who need additional postural support. A recent children’s wheelchair clinic in Vanuatu aimed to extend the skills, knowledge and confidence…
The situation: a whole island in Vanuatu was evacuated due to increased volcanic activity “We were at church…and we noticed ash falling down. We thought ‘the volcano has fired up’. A man came to tell us that we needed to…
Motivation Australia (MA) has been working closely with the Vanuatu Society for People with Disabilities (VSPD), the Vanuatu Ministry of Health (MoH), and the Ministry of Justice and Community Services (MOJCS) to strengthen mobility device services (MDS) in Vanuatu through…
During late September and early October 2017, Motivation Australia and our Ni-Vanuatu partners were able to respond to the evacuation of the residents of the island of Ambae, due to our previous partnership work strengthening walking aid and wheelchair services…
Following the recent evacuation of the entire population of the island of Ambae in Vanuatu, Motivation Australia has been working alongside our Ni-Vanuatu partners the Vanuatu Society for Persons with Disabilities (VSPD), the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of…
In recent days, the entire population of 11,600 from Ambae, a small island in Vanuatu, have had to face the reality of leaving their homes, due to an escalating threat of the Monaro volcano erupting. The residents of Ambae do…
Katrina from Motivation Australia (MA) visited Vanuatu in January to provide mentoring and support in the provision of wheelchair services to service partners at Vanuatu Society of Persons with Disabilities (VSPD), Ministry of Health (MOH), Ministry of Justice and Community…
During our July in-country visit to Vanuatu, Motivation Australia had the opportunity to provide basic level wheelchair service delivery training to eight personnel from the Vanuatu Society for People with a Disability (VSPD), the Ministry of Justice and Community Services…
Our recent technical support visit (May 16) to Vanuatu to meet with stakeholders involved in the Vanuatu wheelchair service provision project proved how valuable the time we spend to “tok tok” with our partners is. Combined with the delivery of…
Running a successful wheelchair (or any other assistive technology) service requires management level support. That means that managers need to understand how to plan, implement and manage their service; motivate personnel; and ensure that the right resources are in place…