MOUNT Gambier Hospital’s physiotherapy and allied health staff are helping people to get back on their feet, gain greater mobility and improve wellbeing after an accident, illness or surgery.
The number of people attending on-site group exercise classes has significantly climbed over the past 12 months thanks to expanded equipment and programs being rolled out.
Dozens of clients – including those recovering from cardiac events – attended a Christmas barbecue on the hospital site this week to mingle with other clients and hospital staff.
Clinical senior physiotherapist Jared Strawbridge – based at Mount Gambier Hospital – said the number of exercise classes had increased this year to improve people’s wellbeing and reduce potential repeat hospital admissions.
Although the gymnasium had always been housed at the health facility, he said there was an effort to make this space more welcoming for client.
With up to 100 clients already attending weekly exercise sessions at the hospital, the number is expected to grow.
“My aim is to see the gym being used all of the time,” Mr Strawbridge said.
“We have seen some of the potentially preventable hospital admissions numbers almost halve, which is important.”
He said preventative health strategies were crucial for patients seeking to stay out of hospital.
“We held our annual physiotherapy Christmas barbecue at Country Health Connect Mount Gambier, which was an opportunity to get clients together who participate in exercise classes throughout the year,” Mr Strawbridge said.
He said it was an opportunity to celebrate their achievements at the classes, which would include Tai Chi next year.
“We aim to create an exercise community to try and make exercise safe, fun and accessible so people exercise regularly to improve their quality of life,” the physiotherapist said.
“The patients and clients who came along to the Christmas barbecue have either participated in group exercise classes, which includes cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation, to maintenance exercise classes as well as strength and balance classes,” Mr Strawbridge said.
These also include hip and knee post-surgery classes.
“All the classes are supervised by physiotherapists and our allied health assistants,” he said.
Clients are referred by a specialist, a general practitioner or through the hospital system.
“They are referred to physiotherapy and if deemed appropriate, they are placed in one of our exercise classes with the aim of either rehabilitating from an acute event such as surgery or procedure as well as a prevention strategy to reduce risk factors,” Mr Strawbridge said.
He said classes were also tailored for people with limited mobility, including chair-bound people.
He said a greater focus on physiotherapy had been driven by the locally-based team.
“This was led by the previous clinical team before myself, which really set the scene and changed the culture of physiotherapy publicly in Mount Gambier,” Mr Strawbridge said.
This sparked a review of the physiotherapy services at the hospital.
“We started to listen to patients more and gather their feedback,” he said.
From this, we started to create some options for people.”
