HFSA Update

COMMUNITY GET TOGETHER

Adelaide, South Australia
Friday 3 July 2015

We hope you will be able to attend an informal get together of the South Australian bleeding disorders community on Friday 3 July in Adelaide.

Come along and connect with others, meet some of your health professionals and hear about some important topics affecting the bleeding disorders community.

An invitation by post or email has been sent to everyone with a South Australian address on the HFA database, but if you know of anyone else who may be interested to attend please ask them to contact HFA on 1800 807 173.

OTHER REPRESENTATION

South Australians would be aware that HFA wants to create opportunities for people in different parts of the Australian bleeding disorders community to keep in touch with one another and feel connected to the wider community, even though we do not have an official patient organisation in South Australia.

The HFA Council tries to make sure a voice from South Australia can be heard, even if not officially, and a community member in always invited to attend Council meetings as an observer. We also receive updates from the SA volunteers who attend the SA Haemophilia Treatment Network. This Network is a South Australian committee which includes health service providers and government representatives. A consumer representative has always been a part of this network and we have been grateful that Paul Bonner and Sharyn Wishart have kept this connection up since HFSA was wound up. HFA also has a good connection with health professionals at each of the Haemophilia Centres in Adelaide.

In the last two years HFA has been able to invite South Australians to participate in national youth activities, the HFA youth website, www.factoredin.org.au, and several young people and adults have been involved in community consultations about initiatives such as MyABDR. HFA provided part or full funding to 12 South Australians to attend the 2014 World Congress.

We hope there will be interest and drive from local South Australians to re- establish HFSA in years to come. We don’t want there to be a crisis to prompt this to occur, but we hope a leadership group will emerge in the future. In the meantime, HFA will try to keep connected with people with bleeding disorders, their families, health professionals and other relevant organisations in South Australia in different ways. Please feel free to contact Sharon Caris, Executive Director or other HFA staff if you have any concerns about local issues that you think HFA could help with.

GOLD COAST CONFERENCE FUNDING
As we did not need to use former HFSA savings for any of the 2014 World Congress expenses there is potential to provide some additional support to South Australians to attend the 2015 Haemophilia Conference on the Gold Coast in October in addition to the general funding we are making available. If you are keen to attend the Conference please complete the funding application form before the due date – for details and an application form go to www.haemophilia.org.au/conferences or call HFA on 1800 807 173 for a form to be emailed or posted.