Health Care Consumers Association (ACT)

As many people are aware I joined the Health Care Consumers Association some time ago and was trained to become one of their Consumer Representatives.

I had the privilege of working for the Association representing it on one committee (so far) that was convened within the ACT Department of Health, concerning information management, Cancer Patients and IT.

Since then I have taken a keen interest in assisting where I can with their communication media including the new Consumer Bites and some suggestions for the management of their web site.

The other day, I was pleased to be able to meet members of the newly appointed staff of the Association who are shown in the photo.

Pictured are (L-R) Tony Greville, Kylie Martens, Robyn Hall, Darlene Cox and Lydele Thorensen

Tony Greville, the Association's new Policy Officer and I, were able to discuss my latest small contribution - some commentary on the Draft Cancer Service Plan 2008 - 2012 as Tony had been charged with formulating the Association's Response to this document.

Subsequently, I also had the opportunity to meet with Robyn Hall the Association's new Communication Coordinator with whom I spent some very pleasant time discussing the Association's future communications requirements and of course offering to assist in whatever way I could within my limited abilities.

We discussed among other things my recent article on IPTAS and how the Association could perhaps feature services like this on its web pages and mention it in its newsletter. Our discussions also encompassed some of the 'mad' notions that I have been carrying around with me about transforming what is a static representation of health consumer news into perhaps a more interactive format which would enable members of the ACT community at large to participate and ask questions which could then be answered by the erudite and experienced members of the Association.

Similarly we discussed the possibility of having expert members of the Association making contributions from their work as consumer representatives to the newsletter and to the web site content and also commissioning contributions from ACT Health Care providers about their fields of expertise.

Robyn remarked that it was likely that we had met in another life, when both of us had been employed by Centrelink.

I shamefacedly admitted that I was afraid that I could not recall this, although I had worked for that organisation and indeed its predecessor for some considerable number of years in a variety of capacities.

To hide my shame at not being able to remember her I blame an as yet undiscovered syndrome that is no doubt the flip side of what has been referred to as 'overuse syndrome, something I call "under-use syndrome." This is a state of memory where you can honestly say you really can lose it if you don't use it!

I had previously met Darlene of course, a stalwart of the Association and Lydele who had been kind enough to assist with some matters to do with the Association and especially with my paper work and phone calls.

I met Kylie only briefly - actually on my way out the door - as I was rushing off to another appointment - but even in that extremely brief encounter I felt really positive about her and indeed all of the other staff members who have been welcomed into the fold of the Association recently.

Given the high profile of the President Mr Russell McGowan and his recent appearances in the press about a number of issues, I suspect that the Association - now that it is once again fully staffed, will make 2008 a most memorable year.