Category: News and Events

On March 31, 2023, APC held our biannual Group Meeting Day, where all four branches gathered in one location for a day of information sharing, presentations, and enjoyment!

The morning session began with Managing Director Michael Storey, who discussed our successful 2022. He warmly welcomed new team members, acknowledged important work anniversaries, and celebrated a year of manufacturing limbs and providing outstanding service to our amputee community. Looking ahead to 2023 and beyond, we explored future aims, goals, and targets, ensuring our commitment to excellence in everything we do. We aimed to make the upcoming year even more remarkable than the last. Before splitting into three separate streams (clinical, technical, and administration) to delve into each aspect of our business, Branch Managers provided brief updates about each location. Moreover, fortunate clinicians who recently attended the AAOP Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, gave an engaging presentation accompanied by a slideshow of photos and country music!

Following a brief break for tea and some heartwarming moments with Lisa from the Tuggerah branch, who visited during her maternity leave, we formed smaller groups for in-depth discussions. The Clinical team engaged in fruitful conversations that could have continued well into the weekend if not for our return to our respective homes. As usual, our NDIS discussion was exceptional, allowing us to delve deep into our NDIS processes. This was a key focus of our day, ensuring continued engagement with the NDIS, excellent services to NDIS participants, and optimal outcomes. A notable addition to this year’s agenda was sharing complex case studies from each branch, providing an opportunity to leverage our collective experience and find solutions. As the saying goes, 29 heads are better than one!

The group meeting was a valuable opportunity for our admin team to gather and share our expertise in person. Over the past year, we welcomed numerous new team members, making it even more fulfilling to see everyone exchanging knowledge and building stronger relationships. The highlight of the day was Paul, APC Hunter Branch Manager, presenting Prosthetic 101. The admin team found it immensely valuable and engaging, as it provided insight into the industry and APC’s positive impact. This newfound knowledge will enable our administration team to better understand client needs and ask relevant questions without disrupting the clinicians’ work.

The APC Day was a fantastic occasion for the technical team to come together, foster stronger relationships, exchange ideas, and share knowledge. We had several sessions covering a range of topics, from work health and safety to innovative concepts being explored. These sessions were highly engaging and informative. Our group discussions sparked great ideas and led to innovative solutions. Overall, the day featured high-quality content tailored to the practical nature of our profession. Each team member gained valuable takeaways to implement in their workshops.

APC Day (and future similar events) allows us to unite as a team, harness our collective skills, knowledge, and expertise, and create industry-leading devices that perfectly align with our clients’ goals and daily activities.

We had the pleasure of supporting and participating in the Amputees NSW Charity Golf Day on 17 February 2023. The event was a great success and we are proud to have contributed to such a worthy cause.

We had two teams of four participants enter into the Ambrose Tournament, including our lucky winners, Grant Prest, Tony Harris & Cam de Burgh. Thank you for coming along and joining our teams!

The APC North Team in white shirts performed admirably, with APC Managing Director Michael hitting the longest drive of the day at around 280m!

The day was filled with lots of fun and healthy competition, it was an amazing opportunity to support a charity that is doing such important work for the amputee and limb different community here in NSW. We are already looking forward to next years event and cannot wait to do it all over again.

Frank, Alena, Hudson, Tony, and Paul Ruddy were some of the familiar faces at this year’s Össur Mobility Clinic on the Waves on Saturday 26 November, held at Nobby’s Beach in Newcastle.

The attendees spent the morning learning the basics of adaptive surfing with the combined guidance of Össur champion Jade ‘Red’ Wheatley, and Dan from Newcastle Surf School. The attendees had the opportunity to learn some key skills for adaptive surfing and be able to experience surfing for the first time. 

 Following a small refreshment break, Amputee Physiotherapist Cathy Howells ran the attendees through a TABATA Session and other beach activities including a beach relay and a game of soccer!

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. 

 

I had first heard about the APC Graduate Program during a presentation at La Trobe University, after which I immediately applied to with my CV and Cover Letter. I was then selected for the program and began a two-month placement with APC Prosthetics in 2021 before starting the role in 2022. The experience has been amazing, and I feel incredibly lucky to be supported by the company to have a further period of learning and development, an opportunity a lot of other graduates don’t get.

Since January, I have honed in on my technical skills, making over 100 prosthetic devices of varying types, from pin and lock systems to pelite liners and foam covers. I have worked predominantly with the technical team, but everyone at APC Prosthetics has been so welcoming and helpful. I have already made long-lasting friendships in the short six months of knowing the team. With only six months left of my technical year, I aim to focus on more technically complex prosthetic devices. Additionally, I will begin to see patients – something I am very much looking forward to.

If you are considering the Graduate Program, my advice would be to simply apply! Not only is APC an incredible place to work in terms of its facilities and people, but the knowledge and experience you will gain in such a supportive environment will undoubtedly set you apart from other professionals. I hope to see you here soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To find out more about APC’s Graduate Program, click here.

Graduate Program Highlights

• $10,000 payment towards your final year study costs
• The successful applicant will complete their University Prosthetic Placement at one of the APC Facilities
• 2-year fixed contract of employment immediately following successful graduation
• Targeted mentoring and skill development working with a multidisciplinary team, exposure to a broad range of clients, and with the latest technologies
• Up to 8 weeks of temporary accommodation at the commencement of the 2-year contract
• Consideration for ongoing permanent employment at the completion of the Graduate Program

 

Assessment Criteria

Applicant Requirements

Mobility Clinic on the Snow is a 4-day event designed for amputees to learn basic skills such as skiing, snowboarding and sit skiing. The event was sadly put on hold from 2020 due to restrictions caused by the pandemic and was finally reopened for the first time since in August 2022. This year the event welcomed 8 Athletes, of all ages and abilities to participate in the event which was hosted by Össur in collaboration with Disability Winter Sports Australia.

Congratulations to APC Clients Jeanti, Sami, Tilda and Nick for their attendance at the event which saw them participate in a range of snowboarding and skiing exercises led by Össur Head Coach, Joany Badenhorst. The Athletes were partnered with a guide from Disabled Winter Sports Australia to ensure that their mobility goals on the snow were achieved.