A disability and development organisation
Motivation Australia recently worked with the Mango Tree Rehabilitation Centre in Tonga to mentor staff through a seating clinic; providing wheelchairs for children with more complex needs. The focus of the clinic was to further develop the knowledge and skills of a technician, and an Australian volunteer physiotherapist working at the Mango Tree.
Last month saw Motivation Australia complete a mentoring and support visit to work with the team at ASSERT in Dili, Timor-Leste. Last year ASSERT participated in piloting the World Health Organisation’s intermediate level Wheelchair Service Provision training course. Since then, ASSERT have been working with children and adults who need additional support to sit upright in their wheelchair.
Motivation Australia was pleased to be involved in a Motivation project in Haiti, in conjunction with Handicap International and Healing Hands for Haiti.
Healing Hands for Haiti’s rehabilitation centre was destroyed in the 2010 earthquake, and since then they have taken over a temporary site in conjunction with Handicap International. Together they have been providing clinical and technical services for Orthotics, Prosthetics, therapeutic programs and wheelchair and seating services.
For two weeks in November Motivation Australia’s Lauren Houpapa (Occupational Therapist) and Ray Mines (Wheelchair & Seating Designer) worked with national staff of the Solomons Islands CBR (Community Based Rehabilitation) unit in Honiara to trial the new Wheelchairs For Kids wheelchairs.
Motivation Australia and the Sirindhorn National Medical Rehabilitation Centre (SNMRC) are working together to enhance wheelchair provision in Thailand.
In September 2009 and February 2010, Motivation Australia ran short courses in wheelchair provision for clinical and technical staff at SNMRC. The first course focused on providing staff with skills in wheelchair assessment, prescription, assembly, fitting and providing wheelchair users with instruction in wheelchair mobility and general health care. The second course took the staff skills further, enabling them to address the needs of children and adults who require supportive seating.
