Leonie Short is a Dental Practitioner and Dental Therapist. She started working as a dental therapist in Rural NSW and then moved into being an academic and researcher. Through her career, Leonie has worked at 6 universities across New South Wales and Queensland, and remaining community focused.
Prior to starting her business, Leonie, was a consumer advocate in the fields of breast cancer, colorectal cancer, substance abuse before concentrating on oral health. Her passion led her to start her business.
Seniors Dental Care Australia focuses on oral health care training and education for workers in the aged home care and disability sectors. These are the whole range of health workers from carers, enrolled nurses, registered nurses, allied health practitioners and general practitioners recognising the need to improve oral health care. Leonie talks about the passion and attention to delivering oral health care teachings.
As a hands on practitioner, Leonie typically delivers training in person and through a shift pattern at seniors or disability support facilities, and also via online. She feels in person and on site delivery is more engaging and raises confidence levels in carers.
Over the past 8 years Leonie has encountered smelly mouths, rotted teeth, infected gums and dirty dentures. Her aims are for people to have nice healthy clean mouths, to be able to smile, to talk, to taste and to eat.
Without a clean mouth, cases of aspiration pneumonia and infected endocarditis increase leading to hospitalisation and death. Leonie talks about a case in the UK of ill-fitting dentures being untreated, compounded by COVID precautions to oral examination leading to the patient choking on her dentures and dying.
Leonie’s mission is to have improved oral health experiences and outcomes, however she recognises, the health system really needs to work hard to make it happen and for people to understand why it needs to be a priority.
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Metabolic health expert talks about healthy ageing
David Beard is a highly experienced Exercise Physiologist with a specialisation in metabolic health and healthy aging. He has spent over 40 years in this profession, even before exercise physiology was formally recognised as a discipline. His extensive background includes over a decade of working in aged care and a strong focus on adult health and fitness. David has authored a book on healthy aging and dedicated the last 10 to 12 years to advancing his expertise in metabolic health issues such as diabetes, weight loss, and inflammatory conditions. He is a co-owner of HFRC in Nedlands, Western Australia, where he has worked for nearly a decade.
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Unleashing the potential of Paramedic skills and knowledge
According to a prominent paramedicine academic and researcher, paramedics have the potential to provide much-needed care in the community, changing the traditional healthcare model. Research points to paramedics having a wider healthcare workforce impact based on their ability to identify and fix problems 24/7.
Dr. Brendan Shannon is Head of Postgraduate Programs in the Department of Paramedicine at Monash University and a member of The Australasian College of Paramedicine. His interests including refining healthcare models, to ensure underserved communities receive requisite care. These alternative care pathways, like outreach programs, can work out of hospitals to provide care in underserved communities with social and complex chronic conditions.
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South Australia prioritises preventive health
On 28th November 2024, the SA Parliament passed legislation to make preventive health a key part of South Australian health system for the first time, through a new agency aptly named Preventive Health SA.
Preventive Health SA will lead evidence-informed and innovative action to prevent and reduce the burden of non-communicable health conditions and improve health equity across the South Australia population.
