Posted by Mead Physio Group on February 10th 2023
After 10 years at Mead Physio Group, Andy has officially retired!
Finishing up with us last week, we wish Andy all the very best for this next chapter and thank him for his time and care as part of our team.
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Here's a little bit of Andy's story and career as a physiotherapist for over 40 years!!
Andy came from a medical and nursing family, but before finally qualifying at the then Western Australian Institute of Technology as a Physio in 1981 he worked in agricultural and manufacturing jobs. These included receiving grain for CBH in the mid-west of WA, making metal castings for ESS Goods in Adelaide, making cheese powder (for one delightful day, artificial cherries) for Ballantine’s in Melbourne and cutting foam for Dunlopillo in O’Connor, WA.
His main team sporting interests were hockey in WA and a brief stint playing Lacrosse for the University of South Australia. He enjoyed both despite excelling at neither! Later he did some riding and running and when a little older some long distance walks such as the Cape-to-Cape in WA and the Camino in France and Spain.
He began his working life as a Physio at Launceston General Hospital in Tasmania but returned to WA to work at Royal Perth Hospital and in private practice in Kalamunda before commencing his postgraduate studies in Manipulative Therapy at what had become Curtin University. He spent a lot of time working in ICU at RPH to fund his studies which he completed in 1989, then increasingly moved to private practice, eventually becoming the owner and Principal Physiotherapist at a clinic in Forrestfield. Andy later continued with the Mead Physio group initially in Forrestfield and finally back in Kalamunda, becoming part-time along the way before finally retiring recently.
Andy found the experiences working in industry useful throughout his whole life as a physio, just as much as his considerable time in hospitals informed his work in private practice. Being a father, then a grandfather, also certainly helped him understand his clients. He also feels that engagement in private interests such as flying, welding and blacksmithing, solar cooking (he presented two of his own research papers at a recent international conference) and science in general helped him in his clinical work.
Like most long practicing Physios, Andy found that working with his clients was a very rewarding part of his career and was delighted to see the children and even grandchildren of some of his earlier clients. Working with, learning from and being supported and inspired by many talented people in the Physiotherapy profession as it evolved and changed with research enriched his professional life considerably. He will forever be grateful to the clerical staff in the clinics who all worked so very hard, gave so much and without whom Physio practice would have been much diminished. Physiotherapy has been a part of the general medical community since its inception and Andy is also glad to have worked with the many other stakeholders- the doctors, pharmacists, nurses, occupational therapists, speech therapists, exercise physiologists, rehabilitation providers, insurers and the clerical support workers for all of these - who together make up the broad therapeutic community.
