‘National lifetime achievement award winner’ can now be added to APA member Jennie Hewitt’s list of achievements. Jennie was acknowledged on 5 September for her services to aged care in Sydney as part of the 2018 Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA) aged care awards.

Jennie had had a solid and satisfying career running her private practice in Parramatta, and then in Tweed Heads, but in 2008 she decided she wanted a change of lifestyle and more time with her family so she accepted a contract at an aged care facility near Tweed Heads. ‘It really took a bit of strength to go from something quite cutting-edge, and I thought to myself on the first day, “I do not know if this is going to be for me but it was good for my family so I will try it”,’ she says. It turned out that it was good and on that first day, as she drove out of the town, Jennie thought that her life had just changed and she was not looking back. ‘I shut the doors on my practice and as my patients got better I didn’t replace them. I built up my aged care contracts, which meant going from village to village to provide physiotherapy care to the residents.’ Jennie has been exclusively working in aged care since 2010.

With a master’s in health science and sports physiotherapy, Jennie realised that with her expertise, she could help to change someone’s whole life. ‘Because I had a rehab background, and particularly exercise background, I could see that I could assist somebody who is wheelchair bound and help them walk again, or I could help somebody that was lying in their bed and get them to the point where they could sit up in a wheelchair and be able to go out in a taxi and go visit their family homes. Just with physiotherapy rehab programs.’ Jennie saw life-changing improvements in patients when she was able to develop individualised programs to meet their specific goals; although, physiotherapists are only able to provide this type of care at the discretion of the particular aged care village. She says ‘the fact that I could see this as a potential, and physio was limited in the way that government fund physio in aged care, is what led me to do my research.’

Jennie completed her PhD through the University of Sydney in July this year after conducting a randomised controlled trial to test the effectiveness of an evidence-based strength and balance program on falls and quality of life in residential aged care.

‘The purpose of the trial was to prove to the government that they were funding the wrong thing. So I took a look at what outcomes the government might be most interested in and realised that falls prevention was probably going to be something they’d listen to on account of the fact that falls cost the Australian healthcare economy more than any other injury, including motor vehicle accidents. While my personal driver is quality of life for the residents, the outcome I expected that they’d be most interested in at a policy level is something that would save healthcare dollars.’

The ‘Sunbeam Trial’, which has been published in various journals, included 16 aged care facilities and 221 residents. The results showed a 55 per cent reduction in falls for participants, which is the most encouraging outcome of any similar trial to date. Jennie was given the opportunity to present this research to industry leaders, and among them was Minister for Aged Care Ken Wyatt. ‘He approached me following the presentation and personally thanked me for the research. He assured me that the results would be beneficial because there is currently an aged care review underway,’ Jennie says. The findings were shared with the working party currently reviewing aged care funding and the research is now being used to inform policy makers of new effective therapies in residential aged care.

Jennie’s ultimate goal for physiotherapy in aged care is that ‘we are able to use clinical reasoning and match it to the residents’ goals to come up with an individualised program that suits the resident, rather than being prescribed treatment options by somebody in Canberra who has never seen the client.’

After completing her PhD, Jennie now supervises students at the University Centre for Medical Health on their rural placements. ‘It is my goal to try and inspire a new generation of physiotherapist to be passionate about caring for our elderly. I also want to keep working with the peak bodies and policy makers, if I can, to just help them form best practice programs for residential aged care,’ Jennie says. ‘I do not want to lose at least some of my week spending time with the aged care residents because that has been my greatest passion. I love my job and not many people can say that. Next year will mark 30 years of me being a physio and so for me to be able to reinvent my career and find something I truly love after all those years is a gift.’

For information on what the APA is doing in aged care policy email policy@australian.physio