Wizzybug ‘On the Move’ team highly commended in Yooralla’s Excellence Award 2021
The Wizzybug 'On the Move' team have consistently shown their dedication, passion and courage to achieve positive outcomes for children.
2021 Excellence Awards Highlights
If you haven’t heard of the Wizzybug, now is a good time to be introduced to the team who are making it possible for children with a disability to move independently with some very fun and enticing assisted technology.
The Wizzybug 'On the Move' team, consisting of Physiotherapist, Claire Georgiadis, Occupational Therapist, Victoria Barling and Electronic Equipment Library Administrator, Candice Urbanovski have consistently shown their dedication, passion and courage to achieve positive outcomes for children.
A team effort
When asked to speak about the success of the ‘On the Move’ program, Claire, Victoria and Candice acknowledged each other, showing the strength of their teamwork.
“I am most proud of the hard-working team that make up the OTM powered mobility program and how we have reviewed and changed the program to meet the needs of our clients and their families,” said Claire
The team is dedicated to adapting and improving the program.
“The service is continuously developing which makes the role challenging, interesting and a bit crazy at times. I’m proud of what we manage to achieve while working one day a week. It’s good to have our hard work recognised,” said Victoria.
The team support each other while contributing their skills and expertise.
“I feel very supported and lucky to be working with such a great team,” said Candice.
Courageous and passionate
The Customer Human Rights and Outcomes Award is for employees who demonstrate high quality customer service delivery over a sustained period, with significant positive customer outcomes. The Wizzybug team was nominated by Manager, Therapy and Wellbeing, Kim Magee. Kim has seen how the team overcome barriers to funding and location.
“They have worked so hard to ensure that children with a disability have access to trial a Wizzybug, which looks like a little car, so they can experience moving independently,” said Kim.
While Claire and Victoria have travelled all over Victoria to assess and setup the Wizzybugs, Candice has supervised maintenance and liaised with referring therapists.
“Claire, Victoria and Candice have shown their courage and passion about the work they do by overcoming a number of challenges to provide opportunities for children to experience using a Wizzybug.” said Kim
The amazing Wizzybug
The Wizzybug is a custom designed mobility device suitable for children aged from twelve months to approximately five years of age. It is a bright red car design with a friendly, smiling face and designed to be fun and easy to use.
“I always find it so motivating seeing the smiling faces of children and parents who are using the Wizzybug for the first time,” said Candice.
The Wizzybug promotes independence as well as developmental and social skills. Playing and communicating with peers is enhanced by powered mobility, allowing children to participate at their own pace. Yooralla has a fleet of twenty-five Wizzybugs for hire for children with delays in their gross motor skills, this may be due to a diagnosed physical disability.
“There is still work to be done in the area of powered mobility for younger children and Yooralla’s OTM program is in a position to contribute this. This motivates me to strive for excellence and lead the way in this area,” said Claire.
The importance of funding
With the help of Yooralla's philanthropic team, funding was obtained to allow Wizzybug trials for eight children who were unable to access timely funding through the NDIS. An opportunity that would have been inaccessible to them if it wasn’t for the funding. The program has proven to be a great success and has now been extended into NSW, QLD, and Tasmania.
“My expectations for what is achievable have been raised after the last year working with young children and Wizzybug,” said Victoria.
Congratulations to Claire, Victoria and Candice on being highly commended. Your passion for your work has provided opportunities for children with disability to be independent and improve their quality of life.