Biographies
Dr Beatriz Cardona
Dr Beatriz Cardona is a Research Fellow at Macquarie University. She has conducted extensive research on outcome measurement and was one of the initial researchers involved in the design and implementation of the Australian Community Care Outcomes (ACCOM) pilot study with aged care service providers in NSW. Dr Cardona also conducts research on health equity and aged care reforms.
Jenni Carlin
Jenni Carlin, NESST Project Officer, has 25 years’ experience in the Aged and Community Care industry. Jenni has qualifications in Aged Care Nursing, Diploma in Diversional Therapy, Diploma in Management, Cert IV in Training and Assessment and has National Case Management Certification.
Jenni is currently studying a Diploma in Dementia through the University of Tasmania.
Miranda Charlwood
Miranda is an Accredited Practising Dietitian working at Gateway Health in Wangaratta, Victoria. Miranda works as part of a multidisciplinary team with older adults and people with disabilities in the community throughout the North East region to increase their capacity to be as independent as possible and to stay living at home. One of the most rewarding aspects of this role is working with clients to help them to overcome barriers to accessing good nutrition for themselves. Miranda has particular interests in gut disorders, progressive neurological conditions and feeding behaviours in children.
Ada Cheng
Ada Cheng is a qualified Social Worker and holds a Master degree in Community Management. She is the CEO of Australian Nursing Home Foundation and always ensures innovative and consumer directed services are being delivered to the highest standard in ANHF services. Ada was appointed on the Steering Committee of the National Ageing and Aged Care Strategy for People from CALD Backgrounds which supports the implementation of the Living Longer Living Better Aged Care Reforms. Ada also served on the CALD Aged Care Strategy Working Group (2015-17) to support and guide on-going implementation of the Strategy. She is currently serving on the Board of Ethnic Communities’ Council of NSW.
Margaret Crothers
Margaret has been an Advocate/Educator at the Seniors Rights Service for the past 13 years. She moved to the South Coast in 2013 as the South Coast Regional advocate providing face to face services and increased access to and collaboration with SRS in that region. Margaret is currently involved in the expansion of SRS services to regional areas as Regional Co-ordinator.
Melissa Docker
Melissa Docker is a Policy and Development Officer at Carers NSW. Melissa has a clinical allied health background in disability, dual diagnosis, aged care and employment and has practiced in acute and community settings. Melissa completed a Bachelor of Psychology at Western Sydney University and Master of Occupational Therapy at University of Sydney.
Christine Ellis
Christine is a social worker by training and also has qualifications in Public Policy, Adult Education and Dementia Care.
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Christine has worked at MidCoast Assist for 6 years, leading the Active and Older team who provide CHSP services for people over 65 years. Prior to that Christine worked in NSW Department of Education for 20 years where she was instrumental in designing and delivering equity and funding programs. She also worked at the Office of Youth Affairs, as well as the Commonwealth Department of Immigration and community based organisations providing settlement services to people from culturally diverse backgrounds.
Professor Michael Fine
Michael is Honorary Professor in the Department of Sociology at Macquarie University, Sydney. He writes a bi-monthly column for Aged Care Insite, and is International Co-Editor of the International Journal of Care and Caring and an editor or board member of a number of other academic journals. He is also a member of the NSW Carers Advisory Council and the NSW Ministerial Advisory Council on Ageing. Over the past 40 years Michael has undertaken research on community and aged care policies and provisions, has published over 100 academic articles, monographs and books, and presented research papers and invited addresses at local, national and international conferences on his work.
Mischa Gwaspari
Mischa Gwaspari works at Newtown Neighbourhood Centre and is the current Team Leader of the Boarding House Outreach Service (a specialist homeless service) and the Individual Social Support service under the Commonwealth Home Support Programme. He has worked at Newtown Neighbourhood Centre for the last 6 years and prior to this worked in various roles within mental health and childrens services sector in both government and non-government roles in the UK.
Wendy Hill
Wendy is the CHSP Project Officer for Carers NSW for the 3CP Project. She is an aged care adviser with community nursing, research and program management experience. In a previous role, Wendy led the transition to a CHSP wellness and reablement approach, and a number of reforms in the Home Care Package space for a national home care provider. Wendy has a nursing background with a Bachelor of Nursing at University of Sydney and a Masters in Public Health at University of New South Wales.
Bethany Langford
Bethany Langford is a mobility and transport activist with the goal of access, inclusion, equality and independence for all people. Working in mobility for aged, frail, disability and transport disadvantaged Bethany focuses on social value and impact through smart business models with an emphasis on human rights.
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She is the Chair of the Community Transport Organisation – Australia’s premier accessible transport peak body, the CEO of The Community Transport Company, and sits on Australia’s National Reference Committee for Mobility as a Service.
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Love, Leadership, Impact, Fearlessness and Excellence are the keywords that Bethany works to, believing that the cycle of disadvantage for many people can be broken through flexible transport solutions.
Kenny Lau
Kenny Lau, registered psychologist, is the Executive Support Officer of the Home Ageing Services in CASS Care. He has been managing the CHSP services run by the organization since 2017. Before working in CASS Care, Kenny was a college teacher providing training to social work students in Hong Kong. He has extensive experience in working with the community. In particular Kenny has strong interest in exploring new approaches in service delivery to improve the well being of the customers under his care.
Gai Marheine
Gai Marheine is an Aboriginal Sector Support and Development worker in the Workforce and Industry Development Team with Aged & Community Services Australia (ACSA). In her role, Gai assists Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) services across NSW build greater capacity in Aboriginal Cultural Awareness & Safety for all aged care organisations.
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Gai is a Darug woman from Mulgoa and Cabrogal with connections across Sydney and NSW. Gai has a long history of community capacity building and assisting many organisations from basic Aboriginal Cultural Awareness to Cultural Competency.
Dr Gabrielle Meagher
Dr Gabrielle Meagher is Honorary Professor in the Department of Sociology at Macquarie University, and Guest Professor in the Department of Social Work at Stockholm University, Sweden. The main focus of her research is paid care work in publicly-subsidised services such as aged care, disability support, child care and child welfare. In recent years she has been exploring how market ideas and practices, such as competition and consumer choice, have affected systems that provide care, including care for older people.
Ann Mehaffey
Working in the aged-care industry builds on Ann’s experience in service and program design, management and measurement in the health and community sectors in different contexts. In her role at ACSA, Ann works with the Workforce & Industry Development team to boost the aged-care workforce to meet current and future demands.
Susanne Morton
Susanne Morton has worked in community services in the ACT for over 15 years as a project and event coordinator. In her current role with Carers ACT, Susanne is responsible for designing and delivering services to carers over the age of 65 and the person they care for, to access respite and social opportunities.
Courtney Nelson
Courtney is an Accredited Practising Dietitian working in community health at Gateway Health in Wangaratta, Victoria. She works throughout the North East region with older adults living in their own homes, and uses capacity building approaches to help improve their independence and social participation. Prior to completing her Master of Dietetics, she worked in product development in the food manufacturing industry and enjoys experimenting with her own recipes at home. Her areas of interest include gut health, mental health and sports nutrition.
Emily Newman
Emily is an Accredited Practicing Dietitian and for the past 3 years has worked with integratedliving providing individualised medical nutrition therapy for older adults in the community and delivering group based health education in the form of Wellness for independence programs. As the Health Services Operations Manager (Allied Health), Emily leads integratedliving’s multidisciplinary team including podiatry, occupational therapy, psychology, physiotherapy and dietetics services with all disciplines working together to help our clients achieve optimal health outcomes and greater independence.
Beatriz Occhiuzzi
Beatriz’s dance experience ranges from classical ballet, jazz and tap as a child, to belly dance while touring the Middle East, Flamenco while living in Spain, and Salsa - which strongly represents her Latinamerican heritage. These dance styles, interwoven with her mission, are incorporated into her own “Goddess” program, which she has delivered at events such as the Australian Women's Conference and Headspace for teenage girls. She also works in Primary Schools delivering dance and empowerment programs to young people. She was lead teaching artist for Big Dance 2018; a dance movement celebrating Aboriginal culture and connection to country.
Her focus however, is to empower our ageing population to live more active, connected and healthy lives; through the power of music and movement.
She believes the 3 key ingredients to healthy ageing are to remain:
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physically active
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mentally stimulated and
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socially connected
In 2009 she created the ‘Salsa for Seniors meet, dance, live Program’ in Melbourne Victoria. Since then, she’s moved back to Sydney, had 2 children, had serious health problems and at half the age of some of her students, understands the difficulties people face when living with pain and mobility issues. For this reason, she’s determined to help elders everywhere to live with more joy and connection; and less pain and suffering.
Beatriz shares her message of love and kindness for our elders through delivery of her health and wellness programs. She believes everyone should have access to programs that will enable them to live healthier and more joyful lives, regardless of their age, personal wealth or mobility level.
Melinda Paterson
Mel Paterson has enjoyed over 25 years of her working life in community care, beginning with a statewide research project about consumer experiences in the Home and Community Care Program (HACC) in 1995-96. She served as the HACC Development Officer (then SSDO) in Sutherland Shire from 1998 to 2018, which included extensive and passionate advocacy for the sector and its consumers. She loves CHSP so much that she became a Neighbour Aid provider in 2018 and immediately volunteered to pilot the Australian Community Care Outcomes Measure (ACCOM). Her hope is to see Social Support valued and resourced as the foundation for healthy and happy ageing
Debra Pugh
NESST Executive Officer, Debra Pugh has a wealth of experience. Debra has worked in the community sector for almost 30 years. She has Nursing and Teaching qualifications, and experience in community care service provision and has completed several university qualifications culminating in a Masters Degree in Adult Education and Training.
Bharat Rai
Bharat has been with Ethnic Community Services Cooperative (ECSC) since 2007 and currently working as Programme Manager - Multicultural Aged Care Services in Sydney, Australia.
He has a master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies, Postgraduate Diploma in Development Studies, Graduate Certificate in Management Studies and a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.
He has over 25 years of professional experience in Nepal and Australia working in program management, international development, community development, organisational development, training, monitoring and evaluation.
Peter Rath
Peter joined the Technology for Homes project team in October 2019. His 35-year career includes middle management roles in IT, Operations and Business Development Management in organisations such as The Smith's Snackfood Company, responsible for managing the organisations office & manufacturing IT systems across Australia. He then accepted an appointment with Boeing Constructors Inc in Alice Springs based at the Joint Defence Facility, Pine Gap maintaining IT systems for material management, medical, hospitality and security, then moved into a financial markets information systems role with Marketsource International Pty Ltd, international distributers of live financial market data to brokers, bankers and traders. He recently completed 7-years of service with Catholic Schools Office, Diocese of Broken Bay in the role of ICLT Service Desk Manager and facilitated a program whereby senior high school students provided technical support for older people in their community.
Melanie Rebane
Melanie Rebane joined Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) as a permanent operational firefighter in 2002. Melanie was stationed at City of Sydney, Bondi and Parramatta Fire Stations. After completing the Senior Firefighter program in 2008, she was appointed as Community Safety Coordinator for Ageing and Disabilities in FRNSW’s Community Engagement Unit. Melanie’s role includes project management; policy and program development; and developing strategic partnerships to reach high risk populations across NSW.
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In 2016, Melanie was awarded an Australian Fire Services Medal (AFSM) for her commitment to the safety of the NSW community. Melanie is currently seconded to the NSW Office of Emergency Management working alongside Defence and Police in the Joint Recovery Taskforce.
Heath Reed
Heath has worked in the National LGBTI Health Alliance’s ageing & aged care project, Silver Rainbow for the past 2.5 years, working across areas of community engagement, government advice, capacity building with external organisations and Silver Rainbow training.
Richard Scenna
Richard Scenna is the Co-Founder and Director of YourLink. YourLink is committed to seniors having access to the quality of life that includes happiness, sense of purpose and a feeling of being valued through an improved relationship with technology. Richard’s enthusiasm and drive comes from his personal desire to create a more inclusive digital and social community for all, particularly seniors.
Sharon Scott
Sharon has worked with Carers ACT for 7 years and is currently managing Aged Care Services including several CHSP programs . She is committed to quality, flexible and innovative service delivery for older people and their Carers. Sharon completed a Bachelor of Health, Ageing and Community Services in 2012 and often speaks with carer and community groups to assist with navigating care systems such as My Aged Care, NDIS or Carer Support.
Dr Joyce Siette
Dr Joyce Siette is a Research Fellow at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation at Macquarie University. Her research focuses on dementia prevention, quality of life in dementia, and successful ageing in cognitive adversity. Dr Siette combines neuropsychology and informatics together to answer the difficult questions aged care providers currently face. She is committed to translational research and has successfully supported the integration of new quality of life assessment tools into standard processes within community aged care. Her current work involves identifying social factors that can delay dementia, sensor-based technology in residential aged care, and promoting memory assessments in the community.
Dr Craig Sinclair
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Craig is a postdoctoral research fellow in the ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research, based at the University of New South Wales. His training is in psychology, and his key research interests include advance care planning and supported decision-making, particularly in the context of cognitive ageing and dementia. His recent work has cut across a range of disciplines including human rights, elder law, health and aged care. This has generated a number of practical interventions aimed at educating and empowering people living with dementia, carers and professionals.
Glen Sorensen
Glen Sorensen founded his consultancy firm, Age Communications in 1988. He has worked for over 37 years in the community care sector with a wide variety of government, charitable, community-based and private stakeholders. For the past five years, Glen has been specialising in wellness and reablement approaches, conducting briefing sessions and training workshops for Boards, paid and unpaid staff and consumers. He has also developed a number of resources on this topic for the sector. He is the author of two books on ageing and is is accredited in the MASK-ED ™ (KRS Simulation) technique and to deliver the Easy Moves for Active Ageing (EMAA) program for older people.
Louise Sutcliffe
Louise Sutcliffe has had extensive experience in a range of positions across the community sector for 37 years. While currently coordinating this Meals on Wheels NSW Emergency Preparedness 18 month pilot project, over the past few years she has also been providing consultancy support for local Councils, Aged, Disability and local Community services in the Blue Mountains region. Her roles over her career have included project management, advocacy, community development, policy and sector support within aged and disability services.
Gillian Whalley-Okafor
Gillian Whalley-Okafor is the Manager of Aged Services at Canterbury City Community Centre and has been working in CHSP (and the former HACC Program) for over 30 years.
She is a firm believer in the power of social connections and having a good laugh, especially as we age.
Ben Whitehorn
Ben Whitehorn currently manages Randwick/Waverley Community Transport in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney. He also sits on the ITS National Mobility Service Reference Committee.
He is interested in the use of technology and collaboration to extend the exposure of Community Transport and its many benefits, whilst trying to improve access and address the issues related to transport, in highly congested locations.
Allison Yee-Brogan
Allison Yee-Brogan has 8 years’ management experience in a CHSP funded service. Her career has spanned direct care and executive roles in the disability, aged care and youth at risk sectors. These included Autism Spectrum Australia, the Benevolent Society, Marist 180 and AFFORD. In addition, she has management consultancy experience with Price Waterhouse Coopers and the former SPICE Consulting (through the Multiple Sclerosis Society). Allison has professional qualifications with Chartered Accountants Australian and New Zealand, in addition to a Masters in Community Management and Bachelors Degree in Economics. She has a strong background in organisational planning and business development and is passionate about developing thriving, sustainable grass roots organisations.