Too many hydrotherapy hiccups

With no set plans from Campaspe Shire Council for a hydrotherapy facility to be developed in town in the near future, Dr Fawcett is looking to utilise an existing facility — with some minor modifications — to allow those with more severe disabilities easier access.

Campaspe Shire voted in 2018 to support the principle benefits provided by a hydrotherapy facility, consider the provision of a facility as part of any future aquatic facility development, work with other government and private parties to explore funding opportunities or partnerships and investigate transport options to existing facilities in lieu of any service provision for vulnerable residents.

However it is understood there are no current plans for the establishment of a facility.

Currently residents are travelling to Aquamoves Shepparton to access suitable hydrotherapy facilities.

However, Dr Fawcett believes there is a simple solution involving The Dynamic Fitness Centre in Echuca.

Dynamic Fitness has a hydrotherapy pool which is currently used by people from around the district for recovery.

But the access to the pool isn’t easy for people with a severe disability, and that’s something Dr Fawcett wants to help with.

‘‘It’s not about supporting the business, it’s about caring for our locals who are in pain,’’ he said.

‘‘It could be Dynamic Fitness or somewhere else, that doesn’t matter to me — but it’s here in town and we should be making the most of it. We need to give people with a severe disability and who are in severe pain access to that service in town.

‘‘It would be terrible not to have a swimming pool in town, this is the same — if not worse.’’

Dr Fawcett is registered with the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia as a Chinese Practitioner and he also has a bachelor of science with honours from Melbourne University and a bachelor of applied science/Chinese medicine from RMIT Nanjing, China.

He has also worked with people with a disability for more than six years.

‘‘These people are in serious pain. I’ve worked on people’s bodies for more than 30 years and I know the less you move it, the more pain you’ll be in,’’ he said.

‘‘As a community, we should be doing something to help. People are suffering enormous amounts of pain and having to travel an hour to Shepparton for relief.

Dynamic Fitness Centre owner Chris Fowler said the business is more than willing to open the doors to community access to the hydrotherapy pool for set times during the week.

However, in their current form the facilities are considered unsuitable as there is no disabled access to the toilets and change room, and no hoist to assist people in.

‘‘We’ve gone as far as we can in terms of what we’ve planned for a private facility,’’ Mr Fowler said.

‘‘We can fit about 20 people in the pool at once, and if we did get assistance (to make the pool entry more suitable), we’d definitely open it up to more public access.’’

The cost of the hoist is estimated between $3800 and $5000, and the bathroom remodel for wheelchair access could push that figure north of $10,000.

‘‘It would be a real privilege to accommodate more people, but we can’t do it overnight,’’ Mr Fowler said.

‘‘We get a couple of calls a week from people looking to use it, but many can’t access it (because of the stairs and difficulty to enter the pool).

‘‘It (the hydrotherapy pool) is one of those things that we’ve gradually chipped away at, but at the moment it’s (large changes) something we can’t do.’’

But Dr Fawcett is looking to get the ball rolling sooner, to help those in our community who struggle with pain everyday.

‘‘It’s not about helping the business, it’s about helping people,’’ Dr Fawcett said.

‘‘It’s the best we’ve got — the only one we’ve got.’’

Stephen encouraged anyone with an idea to start the process to email info@dynamicfitnesscentre.com.au