Focus on Ability Short Film Festival – LIVE on SBS: 03 December 2023

Post Polio Victoria’s winning entry ‘Lives Well Lived’ in the 2023 Focus on Ability Short Film Festival has been chosen to be part of the celebration on International Day of People with Disability which will be broadcast on SBSon 3rd December at 4.25 pm

Every year on 3 December, people around the world take part in International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD). It is a day to promote awareness, understanding and acceptance in our community.

The Focus on Ability Short Film Festival will be showcased nationwide on SBS on 3 December. This 65-minute documentary, featuring stories from various corners of the globe, will be broadcast on SBS at 4:25 pm and subsequently accessible On Demand.

Please share this extraordinary event with your communities and                  👇 Click on our winning short film presentation below 👇

Post Polio VIC. Inc. 🏆 Winning Film 🎥 “Lives Well Lived, hopes, dreams and pushing through Polio”

We wanted to share with you our amazing win on our short film, ‘LIVES WELL LIVED’ not only in Australia, but the world. Thank you to Focus on Ability Short Film Festival NOVA Employment and Noble Toyota for our new car. This was an opportunity which we are all sincerely over the moon and could not have done it without Chris Franklin – Franklin Image who helped us create our film that won!
Finally, but foremost, to all of our Polio friends and family, this win is for you!! Congratulations! 👏🏆👏

🏆 Focus on Ability Red Carpet Awards – Sunday 05 Nov 2023

Winner Announcements

Lives Well Lived Post Polio VIC. Focus on Ability Short Film Festival

The Focus on Ability™️ annual international Short Film Festival challenges filmmakers to create a short (5 minute) film that celebrates the achievements and abilities of people with disability.

All of the stars of Post Polio Victoria Inc. ‘Lives Well Lived’ short film, Shirley Glance, Robyn Abrahams and Peter Freckleton were honoured to be invited. However only Shirley Glance and Robyn Abrahams are able to attend

The 2023 Red Carpet Awards which will be held at Concert Hall in Chadtswood, Sydney and you can watch it live stream here

Sunday 05 Nov 2023 – 1.55pm – 4.30pm Sydney, Canberra Melbourne local time.

Lives Well Lived – 2023 Focus on Ability Short Film Festival

Post Polio Victoria Inc have entered the 2023 Focus on Ability Short Film Festival. Below is our sneaky short trailer!

Online Voting is from August 16 – August 22, 2023  

Your votes will help us win and most importantly get the word out about

“Lives Well Lived” hopes dreams and pushing through Polio

Shirley Glance on Q&A

On Thursday 4/8/2022 evening, PPV President Shirley Glance OAM joined the audience of Q&A with Stan Grant on the ABC. PPV committee member Robyn Abrahams was also in attendance.

If you were unable to watch it live last, please find below the recorded links and – Transcript

President Shirley spoken confidently asking the following question and making the following statement.

Why do people with a disability always have to explain their disability and justify their existence? Why is it that those with polio and other disabilities, that are over the age of 65 have been excluded from accessing the NDIS and are not receiving adequate care via the aged care system? Our parents were assured that we would be looked after, but what’s going to happen to us now?

 Twitter

https://twitter.com/i/status/1555153124075388933

 ABC Website

https://www.abc.net.au/qanda/2022-08-04/13993030

Thank you and please reach out to PPV at postpoliovictoria@nullgmail.com if you have any questions, we would love to hear your thoughts or feedback.

Thank you

How Melbourne’s former infectious diseases hospital helped prepare us for COVID-19

Read the full report

 

President Shirley Glance OAM and Secretary Robyn Abrahams were interviewed by SBS – article link below.

Both Shirley and Robyn also appeared on SBS News evening of the 30/1/2022 – video on the PPV FB site.

Esther missed out on the polio vaccine. Her children won’t miss their COVID jabs
30 January 2022
SBS
Polio survivors in Australia share their views on the importance of getting vaccinated against COVID-19, particularly as schools prepare to welcome children back.

The Age Article and PPV Response

Please see link to below article that was published in The Age newspaper on 3rd May 2021 – Falling off the ‘magical cliff’: Call for review of NDIS age limit:

https://www.theage.com.au/national/falling-off-the-magical-cliff-call-for-review-of-ndis-age-discrimination-20210502-p57o4u.html?btis&fbclid=IwAR0mzIBWDyE_SUYuGCvaWMSLC61AerS8VzNo8htcOD1oxrB5YUYwmBfiDNY

As Polio survivors, we at Post Polio Victoria (PPV), thank you Bill Moss for raising this issue, we are acutely aware of the age discrimination against over 65’s in the NDIS. We call for immediate inclusion for fair and equal service for all PWD who are 65+. This would enable PWD and their families to live a full and happy productive, dignified life.

Please see below private Letters To The Editor that were published in The Age from:

Shirley Glance OAM – president of Post Polio Victoria

Dr Peter Freckleton – board member

Liz Telford OAM – past president of Post Polio Victoria

The Age Letters To The Editor May 2021

 

 

COVID-19 Vaccines Update

Please see below links for updates on the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out:

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://health.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D5d358769e5f779a1a830c2bd0%26id%3D650b97de18%26e%3Df9ddd6fe74&source=gmail-imap&ust=1613108442000000&usg=AOvVaw0IVtZepnJqX2TRfjFZ4Et8

https://www.health.gov.au/resources/collections/covid-19-vaccine-aged-care-stakeholder-kit

https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/covid-19-vaccines/covid-19-vaccine-information-in-your-language

https://www.health.gov.au/resources/collections/covid-19-vaccine-aged-care-stakeholder-kit

https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/community-pharmacy-covid-19-vaccine-rollout-from-phase-2a

 

Polio survivors see in coronavirus era levels of fear not seen since poliomyelitis epidemics

Larissa Romensky, ABC News

Polio survivors have noted striking similarities between the series of 20th-century epidemics and today’s coronavirus — two very infectious diseases that changed the world…

With the elderly already more vulnerable to coronavirus, there is also an additional fear felt by many polio survivors.

“We’ve battled through this far, and we want to stay alive,” said PPV member Peter Freckleton.

In a letter to the Prime Minister and Federal and state health ministers on behalf of polio survivors from PPV, polio survivors insist on being given full treatment if infected with COVID-19, including the use of ventilators.

Read the full article from ABC News

NDIS: Inequality for the aged

Dr Peter Freckleton, Hampton

Letter to the Age Published May 11th 2019

The National Disability Insurance Scheme was a life-changing idea but before it got going, it was sullied by irrational ageism – the exclusion of the over-65s. A prima facie offence against the Age Discrimination Act so obvious that the act was hastily changed to outlaw complaints.

Particularly anomalous is the rejection of survivors of poliomyelitis. That was a childhood condition yet survivors are shunted onto aged care, which is illogical. Polio is not age-related, and aged care packages are a mirage. People die waiting for them. This discrimination was driven by penny-pinching, not reason, because polio as a medical condition logically falls within the NDIS. Requirements are clearly definable and modest, and the group involved is finite. The dreaded “floodgates” would not be opened by NDIS coverage.

Ron Bell’s Stance Control KAFO Orthotics

Our President, Ron Bell, was first Australian to be fitted with a Stance Control KAFO in 2005 by Doctor Darren Pereira. His remarkable improvement is documented in these Youtube videos.

He talks about the Orthotic and how it works in this video

It shouldn’t all be up to us to educate and inform: Improving Hospital Risks for Post polio patients.

Liz Telford and Fleur Rubens Polio Oz Summer Edition 2016

Since PPV was established five years ago, in response to people’s concerns about reduced services and lack of information, many stories have been shared about hospital and other medical experiences. These have included misdiagnoses, anesthesia issues, respiratory difficulties after surgery, inappropriate after surgery care, spinal injury following surgery and even unexpected deaths.

Continue reading It shouldn’t all be up to us to educate and inform: Improving Hospital Risks for Post polio patients.

What is happening to patients who have had polio? The role of the patient in assessment and management

PPV’s Margaret Cooper’s Article was first published in Australian Family Physician Volume 45, No.7, July 2016 Pages 529­-530.

Patients who have had polio in the past can present as a challenge to clinical assessment. The majority of these patients are older than 60 years of age and may report a range of symptoms that relate to impairment progression in the form of post­polio syndrome but could also be secondary health conditions, age­related concerns or an unrelated health matter. Factors involved in the management of patients who have had polio include careful diagnosis, recognition of adaptive strategies and enhancement of the patient’s self­care skills.

Read the full article here

ABC News: Australia’s forgotten disability – Post Polio Syndrome

Published on Nov 1, 2015

POST POLIO SYNDROME: AUSTRALIA’S FORGOTTEN DISABILITY

The World Health Organisation declared Australia polio free in 2000. But the disease is still very much with us.

It’s estimated there are 400,000 Australian polio survivors. And for thousands, the disease is not finished. Decades after they contracted polio, symptoms can return in the form of Post Polio Syndrome (PPS).

Polio alert is critical

Liz Telford and Fleur Rubens letter to The Age was published on August 18, 2015

Julia Medew highlights errors in clinical management that have occurred in our hospitals with some devastating outcomes (“Hundreds of patients’ deaths preventable”, 15/8). A lack of medical knowledge is another cause. Here is a real example. In 2011, a man died unexpectedly in a major hospital a month after surgery. He had a history of polio. A surgical error considered minor (as it is for someone without post polio) combined with inappropriate post-surgery care (due to hospital ignorance of post-polio management) resulted in respiratory failure. The cause of death was given as “post polio”, although it was not the disease process but clinical management that caused this man’s preventable death.

Anyone who contracted polio, whether paralysed or not (an estimated 400,000 Australians) may develop post polio, a condition that may affect the central nervous and respiratory systems. One Victorian hospital now has a polio medical alert for patients known to have had polio. All hospitals need to do the same, and patients should alert staff if they ever contracted polio. Despite the successful global polio eradication campaign, post polio will be around for decades to come and hospital staff must be educated.

Polio Australia’s Gillian Thomas on ABC’s Q&A with Bill Gates

Polio Australia is delighted to advise that our Vice President, Gillian Thomas, has been invited to be in the audience of a “Special ABC TV Q&A Forum” being televised on Tuesday 28 May, 2013 with “Bill Gates.”

Gates will be speaking on the important issue of ‘Investment in Global Health and Development’ at the University of New South Wales in the Clancy Auditorium, UNSW Kensington campus.

We recommend you watch what is sure to be a very interesting episode of Q&A if you get the chance.