April 2013

Please send all correspondence regarding InterComm to Mary at mcorbett@spinal.com.au

InterCommIssue 35

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HARMONY DAY: As part of the national day to celebrate cultural diversity in the workplace, staff in our Brisbane office prepared dishes from their family’s heritage and shared it with their colleagues. Just some of the delicious dishes included cui-sines from Hungary, Greece, South Africa, Germany, Italy, Russia, New Zealand and Ireland. And there were even some yummy Aussie pikelets!

19 AprilClassic Wallabies Luncheon, Brisbane

29-30 AprilDiscovering The Power In Me workshop, Brisbane

17 MayTransverse Myelitis Awareness Day workshop, Brisbane

Crowds flock to Services ExpoTHE Spinal Injuries Association was delight-ed with the large turnout for our Services Expo in Brisbane on Saturday, 23 March.

It was a tremendous success, members and clients gave a lot of very positive feed-back.

Among the displays were modified ve-hicles, including cars, vans and caravans. Exhibitors gave advice on different options available and how to have a vehicle modi-fied. Demonstrators with vehicle displays were Reben, KCF Engineering, Freedom Motors, Zupps, Automobility, Nybro, Auto Extras and Safe-T-Ride.

Inside the Association offices there were displays featuring Spinal Allied Health Ser-vice, Peer Support, Employment Options, Member Networks and Personal Support Plus.

There was information on employment, how to source workplace modification fund-ing and how the Association can assist in finding a career.

There was advice on Personal Support and the benefits from using our expert ser-vice, innovation and what’s new in equip-ment and services, and how to simplify the funding maze and maximise entitlements for our members and clients.

Occupational Therapist Lauren Reid gave

a presentation on Vehicle Options Subsidy Scheme and the launch of the Driving As-sessment Service.

Admission was free and attendees en-joyed a barbecue lunch, as well as a free coffee.

For more pictures, see page 10

GREAT TURNOUT: Occupational Therapist Lauren Reid giving a talk on Vehicle Options Subsidy Scheme.

March 2013 - Page 2 InterComm

BRuCE MILLIGAN

CEO’s updateLooking forward to sharing tea with staffTHE Association’s office-based staff have now participated in one of the four workshops that have been held.

We had a great response, with 70 attendees in total participating. Feedback we have received from TMS Consulting tells us that that all attend-ees have been positive, engaged and focused on solutions. I want to thank everyone that took the time to attend and also for the input you have given.

The PSW team will commence their staff survey workshops this week and we look forward very much to receiv-ing their input.

A recommendation from TMS Consulting is that we establish an Association Change Advocate Group. The role of this group will be to man-age and drive the action plan that is developed to increase staff engage-ment. We are looking to recruit one member per department, with no more than 10 in total. We are asking staff to nominate a co-worker or self-nominate to be a member of this very important group.

Another initiative that I am imple-menting as a result of feedback we have received from these workshops is “morning tea with the CEO”. I am looking to host these at least once a month and hopefully more frequently if time permits. The morning tea will provide an opportunity for me to hear from staff, first-hand. This provides an opportunity for staff to come along and talk about who they are and share the work they do at the Asso-ciation. The morning teas will be very informal, and will provide an oppor-tunity for discussion with me about anything that you may wish to raise. Times are currently being established in my diary and invitations will be sent on my behalf. I am looking forward very much to the commencement of the morning teas when I return on April 15.

It was fantastic to see so many people came along to the Asso-ciation’s first Services Expo held on Saturday, 23 March. They included members, clients and their families along with the general public. In speaking to some of the people at the

expo, I know that there was a lot of excitement around the many different motor vehicle aids and options avail-able to people who have sustained a spinal cord injury. A real highlight was the members that came along and displayed their own modified motor vehicles, motor cycles and caravans.

The day was a real scorcher and I know that those that attended appre-ciated the drinks and bbq that were provided.

I would like to thank everyone that participated and for the hard work you

all put in to ensure its success.Finally, I know that you will join

me in welcoming Mark Hosking to the position of Manager, Commercial Opportunities. This newly formed role will be seeking new, future opportuni-ties, along with growing our existing services in order to allow us to provide more support to clients.

Mark starts with the Association on Monday, 15 April and comes with extensive commercial experience, including:- Group General Manager of the Long-hurst Group of Companies- General Manager, Risk Management & Planning, Firstmac Limited- Principal at Mada Management Services- Chief Executive Officer, Moreton Bay Acquaculture Group- Manager, Finance and Administra-tion, Stallion Technologies Group.

I look forward to speaking with you at the morning teas.

Bruce MilliganChief Executive Officer

WELCOME: Mark Hosking is Manager, Commerical Opportunities.

WELL DONE: Congratulations to Frances Porter, General Manager, Member & Client Services, who is celebrating 25 years of service for the Spinal Injuries Association.

March 2013 - Page 3 InterComm

PAuLINE DAVIS GENERAL MANAGER, PERSONAL SuPPORT AND HOME CARE SERVICES

PSW update

HELLO and a Happy Easter to all of you who celebrate this season. I hope you managed to have some good times with family and friends.

It seems like only yesterday that I was writing the last newsletter and although I know I have been busy as a bee during that time, I am not sure there is a lot to talk about.

By now you would have received your invitation to the Staff Survey Workshops. We are running about seven of these across the State to give as many PSWs as possible an opportu-nity to provide some constructive ideas on how we can address the issues raised by you in the Staff Survey held late last year. The workshops are being facilitated by Marg Murray, who many of you might know. Marg has been with Spinal Injuries Association for many years and is a great supporter of the Association and its staff, especially PSWs. So please take the opportunity to contribute to our work to improve our communication and relationships with all our staff. The workshops will be two hours’ long and you will be paid for your attendance.

For your information, we have com-menced work on the development of a self-directed funding model for our clients. This will take time and we are commencing with a small number of clients in a pilot. We expect the pilot will commence about June/July this year.

I hope the automatic generation of rosters is working for you. I know there have been some hiccups which we are ironing out as they happen – always to be expected with new technology.

I want to prevail upon your goodwill in relation to the requesting of late-notice shift cancellations. As you know we have a great Shiftfill team who work hard to manage all vacancies so that our clients don’t miss out on their valuable service. Shiftfill can, at any given time, be working on 200-300 vacant shifts, that include permanent vacancies requiring recruitment as well as planned leave requests. So when people phone in with late notice of a shift they can’t make, it does present significant problems.

We do understand that everyone

Your chance to take part in staff workshop

WELCOME AbOARD: Attending PSW Induction, from left, Thomas Kargbo, Nicole Nandoo, Shelly Nichols, Nichola Addison, Gemma Bending, Joanne Whittaker, Tracy Gotshall, Pauline Thompson, Chrisstoper Gurr and Kylie Evans.

gets sick and sometimes you may have personal emergencies that require you to drop everything and attend to them. Shiftfill is very happy to assist you when these things happen – that’s why they are there. I would ask, however, that if you don’t need to cancel a shift or if you can avoid making personal appointments and engagements when you are rostered on, that would be a huge help for Shiftfill. It also means less disruption for your clients, who I know you are sincerely committed to supporting in the best possible way. Often, it is the late notices that mean we have to use agency staff and many clients feel dissatisfied with this alter-native.

I also want to note that we very often get really great feedback from clients about how much they appreci-ate the work that their PSWs do. It is really encouraging when we get this kind of feedback and we have recently commenced passing this on to you by sending a letter to you noting the positive comments that have been received. So keep up the good work, as it definitely does not go unnoticed.

I hope you all had a safe and happy Easter. Thanks to all of you for the great work that you do and the contri-bution you make to this organisation’s success.

Cheers,Pauline

INDUCTION: Stevie Annetts, Kathryn Lenton, Lauren Wilmot, Shari Ekerberg, Elizabeth Gavranich, Chao Sun, De’Anna Delaney, Lynette Hawarth, Ashley Kennedy, Janine Stevenson, Kathryn Murray, Emma Cooney and Nuria Cort-Lluis.

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PERSONAL SuPPORT AND HOME CARE SERVICES

PSW update

Letter from the PresidentHELLO Bruce,

You reported at the last board meet-ing that the staff of the Association have gone above and beyond once more in their efforts to support our members and clients during the Aus-tralia Day cyclone and floods.

The board of directors would like to extend our sincere appreciation to all the staff involved in this effort. Our staff have excelled themselves on a number of occasions over the last couple of years during our extreme weather conditions and this is another

example of how fortunate we are to have these dedicated people working for the Spinal Injuries Association.

Thank you again to all involved.Sincerely, David Riley, President, Spinal Injuries Association.

PSW survey result work-shops: BE PART OF THE SOLUTION!

To assist us to take action in the recent staff engage-ment survey results, the As-sociation Management Team needs your input.

We will be holding two-hour workshops with PSWs around the state to further explore the key findings from the staff survey and discuss solutions on how we can address these issues. This is your chance as a PSW to be part of the solu-tion.

The agenda for the work-shop is as follows:• Summary of the survey results;• Where PSWs fit in the As-sociation eg. PSW ideas and solutions;• Looking forward – what you would like the Associa-tion to be;• How PSWs can feed into the process change.

If you would like to actively participate in these workshops, please contact Erica Valadares from the Learning & Development team on 07 3391 2044 or learning@spinal.com.au with your preferred session.

Please note: You will be paid for your attendance to one of these workshops.

“If you are not pre-pared to be part of the solution then you forfeit your right to complain.”

-Anonymous-

Region Date Time Venue

Sunshine Coast Tuesday, 23 April 1:00pm – 3:00pm Caloundra Library

8 Omrah Avenue

CALOUNDRA QLD

12

Toowoomba Wednesday, 3 April 11:00am – 1:00pm Toowoomba City Library

26 Victoria street

TOOWOOMBA QLD

Brisbane central Friday, 5 April 11:00am – 1:00pm Spinal Injuries Association

109 Logan road

WOOLLOONGABBA QLD 4102

Logan Tuesday, 16 April 11:00am – 1:00pm Logan Hyperdome Library

66-70 Mandew street

SHAILER PARK QLD

Pine Rivers Thursday, 18 April 11:00am – 1:00pm Northlakes Library

Level 1

5-7 Discovery Drive

NORTHLAKES QLD

Gold Coast Monday, 22 April 11:00am – 1:00pm Nerang Library

Corner Price and White street

NERANG QLD

Bundaberg Wednesday, 24

April

11:00am – 1:00pm Bundaberg Library

49 Woodooma street

BUNDABERG QLD

Townsville Monday, 8 April 11:00am – 1:00pm Spinal Injuries Association

488 Ross River road

TOWNSVILLE QLD 4814

Cairns Thursday, 18 April 10:00am – 12:00pm Tropical North Queensland Tafe

Room S 111

Eureaka street

CAIRNS QLD 4870

Survey result workshop

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LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT

L&D update

IT’S been a busy start to the year for the Learning & Development team, including kick off of Certificate III & IV Disability Placements & Impact Lead-ership Program, delivery of First Aid training and review of current train-ing and development processes for improvement.

One of the main projects we have been working on is the development and implementation of a Learning Man-agement System (LMS), IntelLink. The LMS provides a framework to respond rapidly to the learning and develop-ment needs of the Association by balancing the technological advances in distributed learning with traditional learning methods.

Furthermore, this system will be used to automate many of our inter-nal processes and link performance to learning.

Considerable work has gone into this project and we are at a stage now of developing the system and investigat-ing e-learning options. WATCH THIS SPACE!

Upcoming training

APPLY FIRST AIDApply First Aid $45 per personCPR update $25 per person

Brisbane22 April: 8am – 12pm OR 1pm – 5pm6 June: 8am – 12pm OR 1pm – 5pm15 July: 8am – 12pm OR 1pm – 5pmToowoomba21 May: 10.30am – 2.30pmSunshine Coast6 May: 10.30am – 2.30pmGladstone31 October: 8.30am – 12.30pm

PSW SKILLS DAYBrisbane 24 April9 May24 May4 June20 JuneGold Coast9 AprilToowoomba20 MaySunshine Coast18 JuneBundaberg30 SeptemberTownsville26 April

How to register? To attend any of the above training, please contact your Supervisor/Manager or the Learning & Development team.

HuMAN RESOuRCES

HR updateTHE Spinal Injuries As-sociation is happy to announce that we have partnered with Med-ibank to launch a new corporate health plan for employees.

The Medibank Corpo-rate Health plan provides discounted rates with sav-ings of up to 8.3% when compared to equivalent retail covers.

Please see the flyer on right for details of a great offer from Medibank.

Welcome to IntelLink

To join or obtain a quote: E: qldcorporate@medibank.com.au

call 131 680ask in storeor visit your intranet

To join or obtain a quote: E: qldcorporate@medibank.com.au

call 131 680ask in storeor visit your intranet

March 2013 - Page 6 InterComm

TECHNOLOGY & INFRASTRuCTuRE

IT update

A LONG time ago in a galaxy far, far away… well, actually about two years ago, the IT team created a vision for the Association’s information manage-ment systems.

This vision required significant invest-ment in people and resources but the end result was a world class Informa-tion Technology environment that would be a key enabler for our staff and members and provide a competi-tive advantage for the Association.

By the end of this financial year, this vision will have been realised with the rollout of a new technology that provides fast, efficient and reliable con-nectivity to our end-users, regardless of their geographical location. Other achievements over this period include:• New desktop PCs and laptops; • A service level agreement;• New printers; • Business continuity planning;• New intranet; • Reliable and transparent help desk system;• Disaster recovery program; • New desktop voice/video communica-tions; • New IT infrastructure/servers; • Improved and simplified policies and procedures;• A learning management system;• An online performance management system;• Off site hosting for QUDOS; • A faster and more reliable Internet connection;• The “Fit for Growth” program which included several key projects such as: EziPay, payroll integration with Care-link, Costed Roster and a Client Portal.

All this work has resulted in a highly flexible, reliable and secure technology environment for the Association that has positioned us well for our future endeavours. However, the work is not over for the Technology and Infrastruc-ture team.

We now need to focus on ensur-ing that the quality of the service we provide to the Association’s members and staff is consistently high and meets the needs of departments, teams and individuals.

In a survey conducted in the US and Canada, 100% of survey respondents say that IT staff attitude is the most important factor when it comes to good customer service. Yet research shows

that only 23% of IT departments are considered to be service-oriented. Whilst the quality of the services that IT delivers is recognised as being important by their clients, less than a quarter of the IT teams surveyed made service quality a priority. Whilst the Association’s IT team is not historically unique in terms of a service culture, we are determined to become part of the global minority.

So we have created another vision for our team: “We will be regarded by our clients as leaders in service excel-lence.” To achieve this, we need to move past the technology and focus on our clients by improving communica-tions and being more agile, flexible and responsive to their needs.

We have now embarked on a transformational change management program that will develop our team’s customer service competencies, sim-plify communications with our clients and restructure the team to capitalise on our individual strengths. We will implement internal rewards and recog-nition based on service quality and also place a greater emphasis on measuring the qualitative aspects of our service delivery.

We will provide you with regular updates on our progress as we imple-ment the changes and as we embark on our new journey, we ask that you be patient with us. As the saying goes…”it won’t happen overnight…but it will happen”. We still need your support and your feedback will be even more important to us but rest assured that every member of the Technology & Infrastructure team is committed to realising our service delivery vision.

The journey continues

SINCE it is abundantly clear that we live in the information/internet age the volume of information we are exposed to is increasing on an almost daily basis.

The quantity of spam is also increas-ing and it is estimated that of all the email traffic worldwide over 90% of it is spam. Based on industry best practice we have spam filters installed on our internet connections by our service provider and we also have in-ternal securtiy software installed on our desktops and mail server. Despite these security devices, we still receive oc-casional spam messages into our email systems but when you think about the

total volumes involved, our security systems do a pretty good job.

Recently a few people have reported receiving spam messages into their As-sociation email account so I thought I would provide you with some informa-tion that might be helpful not only for our work based email systems but the information is equally relevant for your personal email accounts. It is difficult to stop spam, but the following steps may be useful.• Inform yourself about a business’s information-handling practices. You should read businesses privacy policies carefully to find out how they han-dle your personal information. If you

know why a business is collecting your information and who it is going to give it to, you can make an informed deci-sion about dealing with that business. If you don’t inform yourself, you leave yourself open to being spammed.• Be cautious about unsubscribing. Send ‘unsubscribe’ reply messages only where you recognise the sender and would reasonably expect to receive messages from them. For example, it may be safe to ‘unsubscribe’ to a real estate mailing list you have dealt with, but not to an unwanted ‘medication’ message from an unknown sender.

Continued on page 7

Dearest, you have won the lottery...

March 2013 - Page 7 InterComm

TECHNOLOGY & INFRASTRuCTuRE

IT updateContinued from page 6• Are you sure you know the sender? Remember, some spammers go to a lot of trouble to try to make a spam look like it is from a legitimate source – if in any doubt, delete it!• Be careful to whom you provide your email address. Generally, you should only share your email address with people you know or businesses you trust. Avoid posting your email address on large internet bulletin boards, or on social networking sites. • Disguise your email address if you do need to publish it on the internet. Some spammers use software to trawl the internet and automatically harvest email addresses. Disguising your email address can help prevent this. For example, consider writing ‘bob[at]hotmail[dot]com’ instead of ‘bob@hotmail.com’.• Be cautious about opening messages from people you don’t know. Some

spam messages will automatically send a report back to the spammer when you open the message. This lets the spammer know that your address is ac-

tive. If you think it is a spam message and you don’t want it, delete it without reading it.• Be careful you don’t agree to receive electronic messages without realising it. Some businesses use forms with pre-checked boxes as a way of getting consent to send you direct marketing. If you do not uncheck these boxes, the business may take this as permission to send you electronic messages or give your information to third parties (such as direct marketing businesses).• Make sure you have effective online protection. You can take practical steps to protect your computer, whether by through technology or how you interact on the internet. Advice on staying safe online is available at www.staysmarton-line.gov.au. The Australian Communica-tions and Media Authority also provides advice on how to protect yourself from spam. This is available at www.spam.acma.gov.au.

SPINAL ALLIED HEALTH SERVICE

SAHS updateHoist gives Gerard flexibilityGERARD BATT has a C5/6 complete quadriplegia as a result of an accident 27 years ago.

Because he was injured at a time when very little equipment was pro-vided to the patient for their life after discharge from the Spinal Injuries Unit, he has avoided the use of a hoist and a powerchair. During this time, he has transferred independently with a slide-board into and out of bed, showerchair and car and this, combined with 27 years of propelling his manual wheel-chair, has contributed to degeneration, pain and weakness in his shoulders and loss of safety and efficiency of his transfers.

Reluctantly, Gerard requested a trial of a ceiling track hoist and a powerdrive wheelchair so that he can preserve his shoulder and wrist func-tion. Because he has good power in his biceps, but reduced hand function, a traditional sling would have been impossible to get in place and attach to the hoist without the assistance of a carer, so Gerard required the band sling

option. These slings can be applied by Gerard with a little ingenuity, and by using the controller, he can indepen-dently lift himself out of his wheelchair and move himself horizontally across the bed so that he is able to get himself into bed each night without the need for a carer to be present. Apart from the financial benefit of not needing that extra shift in the evening, Gerard has the flexibility to choose when he wants to go to bed, and not have such a simple thing decided for him by a staff roster. The ceiling hoist was 50% funded by the Brisbane South Home Modification Service and 50% privately funded by Gerard.

Gerard has now been using the hoist for four months and he reports that his shoulder pain and his fatigue levels have decreased significantly now that his very difficult and tiring transfers have been eliminated from his daily routine. He has become a reluctant convert with regard to the hoist, but the jury is still out on the powerchair as he awaits its delivery in the near future.

Gail Pitt, Physiotherapist, SAHSCEILING TRACk HOIsT: Helps Gerard preserve shoulder and wrist function.

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FuNDRAISING, COMMuNICATIONS AND INJuRY PREVENTION

FC&IP update

Wallabies lunch has great prizes

sEA OF GREEN: FC&IP staff getting into the spirit of St Patrick’s Day, from left, Kathryn Farrell, Manager, Rebecca Hutton, Events Coordina-tor, Sheila Andrews, Injury Prevention Coordinator, Mary Corbett (from Ireland), Publications Coordinator, Megan Ilmer, Senior Communications Coordinator, and Sarita Divis, Fundraising Coordinator.

Shenanigans afoot in FC&IPTHE FC&IP office was a sea of green to celebrate St Patrick’s Day.

Publications Coordinator Mary Corbett comes from Cork in the south of Ireland, and her colleagues surprised her by decking out her desk in Paddy’s Day decorations.

One in 10 Queenslanders claim to have Irish heritage. It was no surprise then that more than 30,000 people packed Brisbane’s CBD for the St Patrick’s Day Parade this year.

The Irish diaspora around the world, ie. those who claim to have Irish roots, is estimated to be 80 million people. Pretty impressive for a small island with a current population of less than four and a half mil-lion people.

Many Irish came to Australia in the 18th century as settlers or convicts. In the late 19th century, about a third of the popula-tion of Australia was Irish.

The Australian Embassy in Dublin states that up to 30% of the population of Aus-tralia claims some degree of Irish ancestry.

THERE are less than three weeks until the 8th annual Classic Wallabies Lunch at the Hilton Brisbane on Friday, 19 April.

It is set to be a fantastic afternoon with great food and beverages and fantastic company.

Over 500 of South East Queensland’s most influen-tial business people will join former Wallabies and All Blacks legends at the lunch, where radio legend and rugby great Alan Jones will be the guest speaker.

Hosted by former Wal-labies captain Andrew Slack, there will be lots of great prizes available in the raffle and auction items include:• Penfold Grange boardroom tasting for 15 people;• Seven-night luxury chalet holiday in Queenstown for

six people;• Three-night getaway to the Hunter Valley Lodge for eight people;• A private chef’s dinner for eight people;• Canali Italian-made suit from Mitchell Ogilvie Mens-wear; • Framed Manchester United jersey signed by the 2012 team;• Lunch for eight people with rugby greats Rod Mc-Call and Tom Lawton at Il Centro;• Four premium tickets to the Springboks Test on September 7, including din-ner for four people at The Caxton to the value of $500 prior to the match; • Four Straight Hit tickets to a day of the First Ashes Test at the Gabba, 21-24 Novem-ber, thanks to Queensland Cricket.

If you’re interested in making a bid on any of the items listed above, please let Rebecca know by email-ing rhutton@spinal.com.au. More information will be made available closer to the event, including reserve prices.

There are still limited tickets available if you or anyone you know is inter-ested in coming along to the lunch. Tickets are $160 +GST or $1,600 +GST for a table of 10.

If you’re interested in volunteering at the Clas-sic Wallabies Lunch, please contact Rebecca in the FC&IP team as soon as pos-sible. Please get approval from your manager first, as you will need to be out of the office from approxi-mately 11am onwards.

Geoff’s story helps our appealGEOFF Starlow, one of our inspirational members who you might have read about in the last advocate, agreed to share his story for our autumn donor appeal.

Geoff works on cattle properties in the outback of Queensland and recently two of our services, SAHS and Employment Services, worked together to help secure Geoff a four-wheel-drive powerchair, allowing him to more fully ac-cess the farm.

Donor appeals allow us to connect the community with the work we do as well as bringing in much-needed do-nations for the Association.

Recently, I received a letter from one of our donors thank-ing Geoff for sharing his story: “It is always amazing to see the ability of people to rise above their physical disability and contribute to their life, the community and nation. Best wishes to the Association.”

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HARMONY DAY, BRISBANE - MARCH 21

Snap shot

March 2013 - Page 10 InterComm

SERVICES ExPO, BRISBANE - MARCH 23

Snap shot