Thank You, HEA, from Your Australian Friends
In August of this year, five of our BEECHAC, Inc., members were privileged to attend the ABC/HEA conference in Pittsburgh. Our BEECHAC association is the first national organization in Australia for people and their families with BEECH conditions. “BEECHAC” stands for Bladder Exstrophy, Epispadias, Cloacal Exstrophy and
Hypospadias Australian Community. We only started as an association two years ago and so have a lot to learn about how to effectively support our members throughout Australia.
We all found the conference incredibly worthwhile, with so many informative sessions about all the conditions BEECHAC covers. We were also really pleased to meet so many wonderful, inspiring and brave people with so many experiences similar to what we have undergone down under in Australia. We found the HEA members at the conference so friendly and approachable, especially Chris Arnold, Jason, Tiger, Franci and Billy. The only disappointment for us was that we didn’t get to meet Betty Engel as she couldn’t attend the conference due to health reasons.
When we set BEECHAC up we were asked by several doctors why we included Hypospadias in our conditions. Our answer to this question is simple: One of the important aims of our association is to strengthen a more holist approach to the health care for our members. This includes addressing the psycho/sexual/social issues related to having any of the conditions we cover. This area of support is greatly lacking in Australia and we hope we will be able to help change this situation.
Thank you HEA for your hospitality, for sharing your knowledge of Epispadias and Hypospadias and importantly for your acknowledgement of the need for lots more support in the psycho/sexual/social side of health care for all our members.
We are having our first national conference from 11th till 14th June 2010 in Sydney and we are hoping HEA members will come along and facilitate some sessions, be part of some panels and/or just meet with us in friendship and solidarity. Please check our website at www.beechac.org for more information about the conference.
Thanks again,
Regards,
Chris Sylva, Alana Sullivan, Nick Weir, Imogen Yang and Katy Hargreaves