AOPA Congress 2022

As part of our continued effort to remain industry leaders and provide the best outcomes for our clients, the APC team went to Melbourne to attend the 2022 AOPA Conference, held at the Crown Conference Centre. We had great representation from across the APC branches. 

Clinician Courtney Crichton convened the conference, taking on the mammoth task of coordinating many parts of the event including before, during, and after. Clinicians Alex Grieve, Sarah McConnell, and Rebecca Bowes, as well as technician Rhys Clenton presented on a range of interesting topics. 

Clinician, Paul Nixon, and Managing Director, Harvey Blackney joined Deep Dive Panels to discuss lower limb prosthetic prescriptions and Ethics in Orthotics and Prosthetics. Most notably, Harvey was awarded an AOPA Life Membership for his service to the profession over many years. 

Presentations: 

Northmead Clinicians Alex Grieve and Sarah McConnell ‘unleashed’ the evidence on the challenges of canine prosthetic management for Louie the Labrador. They shared the different prosthetic designs trialed and their learnings along the way to allow him to run again. Their final design featured a child’s running blade placed backward. 

Another interesting case was presented by Sarah McConnell looking into the journey of rehabilitation of a young below-knee client with an extremely short below-knee residuum and demanding lifestyle. This client challenged himself and his prosthetic abilities to make it to Nazare and surf one of the biggest waves in the world. 

Rebecca Bowes from the Hunter Clinic presented on extension prostheses for paediatric clients. Rebecca explored the complexities of the needs and goals of this niche clientele and identified themes across each of the case studies. 

Our Central Coast technical services manager Rhys presented “Laminations: What is strong enough?” in the technical stream at AOPA Congress. Rhys’ presentation discussed how we (APC) set out to prove that the lamination layups we were doing were correct, by investigating the science behind lamination theory and the available evidence, to find a formula to give us the answers. 

Harvey AOPA  Life Membership Award:

This year Harvey Blackney, one of the founding fathers of APC, was awarded an AOPA Life Membership for his exemplary dedication and advocacy for the industry over his illustrious career.  

For many years, Harvey has advocated for clients and the prosthetics profession through service improvement initiatives in NSW, positive publicity, awareness, and recognition. He has also influenced the development through his provision of input and support for a variety of projects and tasks, and ever-changing the structure of AOPA to Company Limited by Guarantee in 2014. 

This award is an acknowledgment of the generosity, vision, motivation, and hard work that Harvey has given to fellow prosthetists, orthotists, and the profession as a whole. The AOPA Life Membership is a testament to the positive influence that Harvey has had on the Prosthetics and Orthotics industry.