This year’s national conference of Ageing Australia gathered an estimated 2,300 people at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre to discuss all things aged care.
This year’s theme, “Meeting the Moment. Shaping the Future” was all about being prepared for the big changes in the industry soon, including conversations on innovation in care models, digital solutions, design, workforce, culture and community.
As summarised by Ageing Australia Tom Symondson in an interview with Australian Ageing Agenda:
“This conference has given everyone an opportunity to engage with solutions and to check in with colleagues”, “This has been a positive opportunity to put final touches to being as ready as possible for November one.“ “We have learnt a lot from the government about the underlying pieces or work that are critical to us.”
Tom adds that despite all the preparation work there will be challenges in many parts of the new rolls out, including technical readiness and home care agreements, however, the approach of all providers is a testament to the resilience of the sector.
In his speech, Minister for Aged Care Sam Rae discussed residential aged care accommodation pricing review to be conducted by independent reviewers to lead the review into the accommodation supplement and pricing, in order to provide residential aged care to all Australians. Minister Rae also discussed support at home and stated that the government will continue to deliver more home care packages post 1 November. As quoted in an article by Australian Ageing Agenda:
“Because whether it’s at home or in residential care, every older Australian deserves the chance to age well, with dignity and respect. That’s the goal. And every one of these reforms gets us closer to it.”
The conference program consisted of keynote talks, panel discussion and fishbowl conversations covering several topics such as aged care act transition, care economics and technology, end of life care, workforce, home care, dementia care, nutrition, retirement living and seniors housing. With such a wide range of topics there was something for everyone, the only question was which sessions to choose!
While the sessions were providing information and conversations that will hopefully lead to better care in the future, the exhibition hall was filled with supplies and services that can aid in future proofing care models and services. With more than 200 booths, the companies present provided services for allied health, technology and AI, care development and many more.
It was noticeable that technology is playing a major role in so many different areas of care from management and communication, to monitoring and robotics with advancements in AI. The innovation is continuous and expands to many areas of care, speeding up the tasks, thus freeing time for personal care, supporting holistic health.
At the HUR Australia booth, we were so happy to catch up with many old friends. It was great to hear so many wonderful stories of success from our clients, especially hearing about many individual stories where our gyms have been part of improving not just health and wellness of all users, but also the quality of life of the residents. Some stories were beyond our wildest dreams, including retirement villages were more than 90 % of residents use the gym, or residential care sites where all residents are ambulant after engaging in a gym program.
Our purpose and passion are to find the best exercise solutions for every site, and it is wonderful that our services, based on evidence-based recommendations and clinically-proven models truly work. We are grateful for every partnership that we have created and are thrilled of all collaborations in providing the best health to everyone.
We also had so many discussions about future projects. The message on the importance of allied health is getting stronger with facilities from all areas of aged care planning future developments.
We were so happy that Linda Wojciechowicz, global sales manager from NuStep also joined us. NuStep is a great partner of ours, with the recumbent stepper being a super seller for hospitals, rehabilitation centres, physiotherapy practices, community health sites, retirement living and residential care facilities as well as individual homes. The functionality, and suitability to all ability levels makes NuStep an all-rounder.
We were so happy to distribute the printed copy of our Newsletter vol 2 2025, with more stories from our clients, as well as knowledge-based articles. You can find all our newsletters here.
APASC25
In two weeks, we will travel to Adelaide for our last exhibition of the year, the national conference of Australian Physiotherapy Association.
This year’s scientific conference titled “Lead the Physiotherapy Evolution” consists of 12 clinical streams, with access to more than 400 presentations across our three-day program. With additional pre-conference workshops and breakfast sessions, this conference will provide a full learning experience to many aspects of the industry.
Some of the subthemes for the sessions include behaviour change, complex and chronic conditions, diversity equity and inclusion, Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander health, Physical activity, rural and regional health as well as technology and clinical innovation.
Rehabilitation and Reablement are some of the key areas that truly benefit from the technology and design details that HUR products offer. The video below also has a summary of these features.
[More videos available at the HUR Australia YouTube channel.]
This event will give us an opportunity to share with everyone the new aspects of our product range – our award winning mobile app, all the new games and applications in our smart balance, as well as the product development in our strength equipment, as well as the HUR Smart Solutions.
We are grateful to everyone who visited us in Gold Coast, and we hope that we will be equally busy at the next event!
Best wishes,
Dr Tuire Karaharju-Huisman
Physiotherapist, Accredited Exercise Physiologist (ESSAM), PhD (Biomechanics)
Research Lead, Area Account Manager (Vic, Tas, SA, NT, WA, ACT)
People in our images: Tom Symondson, CEO Ageing Australia: Janice Chia, Managing Director, Ageing Asia; Kate Weger, Head of Clinical & Governance, Hartmann Group; Mark Ryu, Group Commercial Manager, Australian Ageing Agenda; Anthony Nguyen, Pioneers in Ageing Podcast; Frank Price, CEO, RFBI; Natasha Eagan, Editor, Australian Ageing Agenda; Katie Symonds, Operations Manager, Village Glen and Flexi Care; Linda Wojciechowicz, Global Sales Manager, NuStep; Team HUR Australia: Timo Toivonen, Dorothy Dominikowska and Tuire Karaharju-Huisman.
