Well today I headed down to register at the Australian Physiotherapy Association National conference. It is being held at the Convention Centre in Brisbane and is going to be a wonderful opportunity to hear the latest research happening in all areas of Physiotherapy, but particularly for me, in the area of Continence and Women’s Health. We are privileged to have a number of world-renowned speakers including Kari Bo and Paul Hodges as well as many leaders in Australian Women’s Health such as Trish Neumann, Judith Thompson, Ruth Sapsford and Helena Frawley plus many more – too many to mention here.
Conferences are always a great opportunity to network with physios from interstate and catch up with buddies from years past (and tutors from Uni- great to see you looking so well Robyn). Of course it is also a time to make new friends over lunches and at the trade displays. Our conferences wouldn’t be nearly as comprehensive without the support of the trade and the trade display this year is enormous.
Funnily enough tonight I heard from a ‘blast from the past’ – a lovely, engaging physio who in my early years was a mentor and passionate advocate for women and women’s health physiotherapy. Mrs Shirley Owen is a Toowoomba based physiotherapist, who has now retired, but not lost her desire to remain in-touch with her profession, keeping her vibrant and connected even in her later years. Toowoomba was blessed to have had such enthusiasm for so many years. Shirley had caught up with my blog, which just shows the wonderful ”connectability” of social media. Casting a glance over the programme for the conference there are quite a few lectures talking about the influence of social media.
So over the next few days I hope to let you know about the exciting developments in our profession through some short blogs – well that is if the brain hasn’t fried from three intense days of learning. Finally, it was with shock and sadness that I watched the news today and saw the shocking images of Cinque Terre town, Monterosso, suffering at the mercy of Mother Nature. In three intense hours of torrential rain, the old town of Monterosso appears to have been devastated. It was only a couple of weeks ago that we were trekking the well – worn paths between the five towns and eating bruschetta and seafood pastas in that quaint old town. I hope they are able to get back on their feet very quickly.
Old Friends and New
