Jennifer Mathias
MHT Director
Senior Clinician
Colleen and I spent our weekend in mid August in Adelaide for the Australian Hand Therapy Association conference. The conference theme was: Reaching Full Potential: Sport, Work, Life. It was a full program over the three days and we were able to bring back some additional clinical knowledge to share with our team of the latest research which was presented. It was nice to mingle with fellow hand therapists from all over Australia after an extended period of on-line learning during the Covid years.
In fact, we are running a special for two weeks for $20 off an initial appointment for Robin at our Eastlink rooms.
In addition to our Blackburn and East Ringwood rooms, Haley Field has now commenced working at our Deepdene practice on a Tuesday. As many of you know, our super star Haley, has worked with MHT for over 10 years. She is well loved by our patients and well respected by fellow Hand Surgeon’s. She has a particular interest in treating patients following sporting injuries. She also values treating patients with osteoarthritis of the hand and enjoys assisting them to return to the activities that they love.
Colleen Moloney and Jen Mathias
Elgar Hill Medical Suites
28 Arnold Street Box Hill
We have worked out of Elgar Hill for the previous 14 years. These rooms are considered our central hub for our practice. We have two lovely receptionists that sit at the front desk and our Business Manager and Practice Co-ordinator work in the back office. We have a purpose-built hand therapy room with state-of-the-art equipment and a huge storage area so we have all the splints and equipment on hand. Of course, Box Hill may not suit everyone for the desired location, so our receptionists have full access to all the diaries for each clinic to offer appointments at a clinic closer to the patient’s home / work. Forgot to mention; parking! There is patient parking underneath the building which is perfect as we all know how hard it is to park around hospitals.
Rock Climbing – Toby Moen
At the recent AHTA presentation we had an informative presentation by Toby Meon who is a physiotherapist that specialises in rock climbing. Although we can’t bring Toby into our practice (he lives in Adelaide) we are lucky enough to have our own very own physio, Dominic Tan who is an avid climber and boulderer. In fact, it is this that spurred his personal interest for hands, due to his own climbing related finger and shoulder injuries.
Firstly, we covered the different types of climbing grips:
We looked at the most common finger injuries:
The rest of the session was focused on assessment and then rehabilitation to allow the climbers to recover from their injuries and then repair and strengthen to return back to the sport that they love. I know its not going to be long before we get a hang board put up in our rooms at Ringwood East!
Ironically, one week after I returned back to work, I had a 21 year old patient present with a really unusualclimbers injury. So rare, that I am spending time researching and writing it up for a medical journal!
Rita Valenti
Our lovely receptionist at Latrobe is going to take it away this month with our famous fast five! Here you go, Rita Valenti…
What is your guilty streaming pleasure and why?
I am currently watching Last Man Standing, because its funny and makes me laugh. Laughing is important.
Who do you admire and why?
I always admired my mother, she had a hard life and always showed me how strong she was no matter what she went through.
What is your go-to Karaoke song?
My karaoke song is Im in the mood for dancing by The Nolan Sisters, and yes its an old song but there the best songs.
If you had to be a Disney character, who would you be and why?
Out of all the Disney characters I would like to be Winnie the pooh, because he is so kind, sweet and nothing tends to bother him to much apart from wanting to eat.
Lastly, we have to ask, what is the best thing about working with MHT?
I am so incredibly lucky and humbled by working at MHT, I never thought I could find another great place to work with such lovely and helpful people. Everyone has welcomed me.
