Speak Out April 2017 low res

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April 2017 Speak Out 35
Tasmania
TAS 99
members
as at February 2017
SOME MEMBERS WILL remember Michael
Wingrove, a long time member of Speech Pathology
Australia and manager of the Speech Pathology
Department in Launceston, Tasmania. He has retired
after 37 years in the profession.
Michael is probably best known nationally as
the inaugural re-entry portfolio holder when the
Australian Association of Speech and Hearing
became Speech Pathology Australia. He held this
important position for many years. His role was to
guide members, who had been non-practising for
five years or more, back into the profession. And
there were many, which is not surprising in such a
female dominated profession.
Without his guidance and support, I’m sure that
many lapsed members would have been lost to
the profession. Michael can be proud of his role in
helping practitioners regain their confidence and
clinical competency, and return to paid employment.
Michael was not only a stalwart of AASH and SPA,
he was a great champion of speech pathology in
Tasmania. He has served as Branch President and
was Tasmania’s Board Representative for AASH for
many years, not to mention his years with SPA. He
was also a long time delegate for HACSU’s Allied
Health Professional sub branch, and fought many
a battle for improved wages and conditions for all
Tasmania’s AHPs.
In his 28 years as the Speech Pathology Manager at
the LGH, he greatly expanded the range of services
provided and was responsible for doubling the size
of the department.
Michael oversaw many changes within the
profession too. In the late 70s, when he trained
at Lincoln Institute, preschool stuttering treatment
did not exist, nor was dysphagia something that
speech pathologists understood, let alone treated or
viewed on VFSS. Cochlear implants and speaking
valves for laryngectomies were “pie in the sky” ideas
and aphasia theories seemed to change with the
weather. Resources were all paper based, especially
for AAC, and PCs were still far in to the future.
Michael embraced these changes and helped guide
his staff through them too. He maintained a clinical
caseload throughout his career, and although he
dealt with bureaucracy like a pro, his expertise with
strokes, traches and larys will be missed. The staff
he leaves behind will also miss his genial support
and collaborative management style.
Michael left the LGH on a high note, just as the
newly refurbished and integrated Allied Health
Department opened in December 2016. It is
particularly fitting that the old speech pathology
section will now be known as the Wingrove Wing.
Michael finally left the LGH on 25 January, just shy of
44 years service to the Tasmanian public service. He
is keen to enjoy an active retirement with his wife,
Jenny and their two adult daughters, Chelsea and
Kate.
Profession leader retires