Newsletter for the Rotary Club of Greater Geraldton - Issue No.: 784 Issue Date: 13 May, 2024

I-Pad presentation to Ben Phillips

After coming back from a fishing trip, 16YO Ben suffered a sudden headache and collapsed, losing consciousness, caused by a ruptured arterio-venous malformation, thought at the time to be a terminal event, and he was sent to Perth where an 8 hour operation to relieve the pressure on his brain was undertaken.

So began a long period of recovery and rehabilitation that has seen him return to Geraldton. Ben’s main issue now is difficulty with speech and the verbal processing of language (similar to some victims of stoke). Amanda had asked our club to consider assisting Ben with the provision of an IPad that with various apps will greatly assist his rehabilitation.

As is typical one of our club members came to the fore with our newest Rotarian Paul Barrett and his Mortgage firm Let’s Finance coming to the party with a donation of an iPad, which was presented to him at the WA Centre for Rural Health on Wednesday. Present were Pres Tim, Ben’s parents Amanda and Simon, Paul to present the goods, as well as Ben’s Speech Pathologist, Kathryn Fitzgerald.

Katheryn outlined how well Ben’s rehab was progressing and that the iPad and the apps provided will assist him in recovering from the expressive and receptive dysphasia he is steadily overcoming. Teenagers love technology and this will help him practice his communication skills. As a bonus the technology will also help in the teaching of the speech and physio students who will be assisting Ben with his rehab. Amanda reported that the first piece of equipment Ben looked for as he emerged from the coma was his mobile phone!

I asked Ben what his future plans are, and he is hoping to achieve a career in the Fisheries or Parks and Wildlife.  He had a fabulous work experience there and is keen to pursue this!

After the presentation, Pres Tim and I were given an impromptu tour of the WACRH facility and simulation centre! Tim declined my suggestion he pop up on a bed for us to practice our resuscitation skills, seems he wasn’t keen on the electric shock we were thinking of trying out on him!