Speak Out
December 2014
25
BRANCH news
tasmania
It has been
a busy time of
year for Tasmanian Speech
Pathology Australia members.
We recently held two events
to continue to raise the
profile of the importance of
communication.
In September, we launched
our own short film,
Build a
Nation for Communication
.
A link to the film can be
viewed at
Take
a look and share it! Thanks
to all the Launceston-based
members who worked hard
to make this event happen,
especially Gail Bennell with
her superb video-editing skills.
Thanks also to Independent
Living Centre Manager Karen
Frost for hosting us and to St
Giles CEO Ian Wright whose
poignant speech set the scene
for the launch of the film. The
film would not have been
possible without the speech
pathologists and clients who
submitted footage for the video.
In October, The Lieutenant
Governor of Tasmania, the
Honourable Justice Alan Blow,
and Mrs Blow hosted a reception
at Government House to mark
the culmination of the year’s
awareness raising activities of
Speech Pathology Australia’s
Tasmanian Branch. Thanks to
the Hobart-based members who
organised this event!
Kate Day
Speech Language Pathologist &
Tasmanian
Speak Out
Editor
Busy building a Nation for Communication!
“When I walk into Landfall butcher after work on a Friday, I don’t think about how
I am going to ask for the steak that I want to buy for dinner. Nor do I worry about
my ability to read the price per kilo, or about working out which of the coloured
notes in my purse I need to pay for my steaks. I think it’s fair to say that for most
of us, we focus only on finding out what the specials are and perhaps whether we
want the eye fillet or the scotch fillet.
But for over 1 million Australians, something as simple as buying meat at your local
butcher can feel like being in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language.”
– Nicola Dunn, speaking at the Tasmanian Branch film launch
The Aphasia Community team
is excited to launch the
new website and online forum:
This website and forum are a dedicated, volunteer-run initiative.
Aphasia Community is designed to support individuals to build
strong and sustainable aphasia groups at any stage of life with
aphasia. Along with the forum, it includes details of our aphasia
group research, resources, and an up-to-date database of
aphasia groups running across Australia.
We hope you will visit the website at
and join us in the Aphasia Community forum. Please spread the
word about Aphasia Community and feel free to email us via
if you have any queries. We hope to
see you on the forum soon!
aphasia community team
Dr Miranda Rose, Lucie Lanyon, Michelle Attard
Aphasia website/forum launch
Stroke-a-Chord Choir concert
branch news – Victoria
Speech
Pathologists
Nicola Dunn,
Greer Maine and
Rachael Zeeman
with St Giles CEO
Ian Wright, and
Stefanie Keil, one
of the “stars” of the
Build a Nation for
Communication
film.
From left: Gail Mulcair (Speech Pathology Australia CEO), Leigh McGovern,
Jill Curtis and Jacquie Petrusma (Minister for Human Services) attended the
Tasmanian Branch reception held at Government House in Hobart.
The Stroke-a-Chord
Choir
was formed
in 2010 from a group
of enthusiastic stroke
survivors with little to no
speech (aphasia) in order
to continue learning to
communicate and socialise through song.
Chief Executive Officer Gail Mulcair recently attended the
fourth annual Stroke-a-Chord concert in October
(pictured
above)
in support of this wonderful initiative which tells the
story of stroke survivors who sing but cannot speak. If you
would like to learn more about the Stroke-a-Chord Choir,
visit
