Sutherland Leisure Center: Professional Practice in Aged Care and Disability

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Sutherland Leisure Center
People with Parkinson’s Disease and Their Needs
Correspondence of Facilities to the Needs of People with Parkinson’s Disease
Recommendations for Improvements
Best Practice for Parkinson’s Disease to Undertake Swimming
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The inclusion of people with various types of disabilities is the primary task of Australian communities. It seems to be challenging and requires a specific approach. Leisure centers all over the country develop strategies in alignment with communities’ policies intended to improve the lives of disabled people. To provide the required services, it is vital to consider each separate disability condition and its peculiarities to make participants feel safe. Thus, for example, the consideration of Parkinson’s disease by the owner of Sutherland Leisure Center would allow it to benefit from a higher degree of satisfaction of people with this condition.

Sutherland Leisure Center

Sutherland Leisure Center is one of the largest leisure facilities in New South Wales, and it provides a row of services to children and adults. One of the principal activities it offers is swimming, and it is available for all of the categories of customers. Moreover, there is a lot of various training programs for different age groups such as aerobic, spin, circuit, and aqua classes on schedule (Sutherland Leisure Center, 2020). The services of this leisure center are also available for disabled groups. However, the website does not provide extensive information on such services and does not distinguish the people by their conditions.

As orientation on people with disabilities is a crucial part of Sutherland Leisure Center activities, they are covered by the community’s policies. Sutherland Shire Council’s Disability Inclusion Action Plan intends to increase the participation of disabled people in society by providing them with access to various facilities and promoting an active lifestyle (People with a disability, 2017). This program refers to all types of disability to avoid discrimination of these population groups. Its implementation is funded mostly from the annual budget of the community and sometimes from external sources (People with a disability, 2017). In the end, the Council hopes to eliminate the existing barriers to the participation of disabled people in the life of the community.

There are several organizations covered by Sutherland Shire Council’s Disability Inclusion Action Plan, and leisure centers and parks are considered too. Even though according to the original provisions of the program, these facilities are among the ones that are performing relatively well in managing a disability, there is still a lot of malfunctions that should be eliminated (People with a disability, 2017). Hence, the authors of the plan propose several improvements relating to leisure centers and parks in general.

Such improvements include mostly the necessity to change the attitude of facilities’ staff towards people with disabilities. It can be achieved through proper training at work, allowing them to learn about various conditions and ways to find solutions for people with these specificities (People with a disability, 2017). The plan also aims to cover a larger amount of conditions by distinguishing different types of disability (People with a disability, 2017). Such measures would allow including people with mental health issues as well as re-evaluating other population groups excluded from the list of services provided by leisure centers.

People with Parkinson’s Disease and Their Needs

For this study, people with Parkinson’s disease are considered in terms of their access to services provided by Sutherland Leisure center. It also provides for measures that can improve the situation. To analyze the correspondence of the chosen venue to the needs of visitors with this condition, it is vital to reveal the challenges they face and assess the information available to them.

The choice of Parkinson’s disease for this research is conditional upon the need for regular physical activity of people with this condition. According to the study, exercise tends to improve physical and cognitive functioning, quality of life, and mood in individuals with Parkinson’s disease (Zaman et al., 2019). Hence, such facilities as leisure centers can contribute to maintaining the quality of life and satisfaction of this population group. However, the programs should be adjusted to the physical capability of people with this disease. The crucial task here is to align their goals with exercise intensity to ensure the wellbeing and positive attitude of participants (Amateis et al., 2019). Therefore, the more physically active people with Parkinson’s disease are, the better the overall health of the community population will be.

There are several challenges in the implementation of such a program of inclusion of visitors with this condition. The principal issue is the ability of Sutherland Leisure Center to ensure the required degree of safety for people who have Parkinson’s disease as it is crucial in terms of physical activity (Zaman et al., 2019). The achievement of the objective implies the support of this category of visitors by the staff as social engagement is possible only in the case of their positive attitude. As for physical challenges, they relate to the fear of falling typical for patients with Parkinson’s disease, and the necessity to improve balance (Zaman et al., 2019). Hence, the creation of a safe environment for this category of visitors implies the consideration of their needs and specificities mentioned above.

Together with the equipment of leisure facilities according to the conditions of disabled people, it is necessary to provide them with extensive information on options available to them. This information should be included on the website of the leisure center. Otherwise, the lack of knowledge would complement the insecurity of people with Parkinson’s disease about their physical capability and make them refrain from visiting the facility.

Correspondence of Facilities to the Needs of People with Parkinson’s Disease

The principal factor influencing the decision of people with Parkinson’s disease to visit the recreational facility is the accessibility of the building and its internal premises. As can be seen from the website of Sutherland Leisure Center, its equipment corresponds to the needs of this population group. They position themselves as an access-friendly facility providing ramp access for entry and exit of center and pool as well as indoor pool hoist, aqua wheelchairs, change room facilities, and hand railings support (Sutherland Leisure Center, 2020). Hence, it can be concluded that Sutherland Leisure Center is a suitable facility for people with Parkinson’s disease. They can easily access the building and its internal premises without any help, and this circumstance would increase their confidence in physical abilities.

Such equipment of Sutherland Leisure Center allows people with this condition access both outdoor and indoor programs it offers. This facility is using the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) that aims at providing individualized support for disabled people (Sutherland Leisure Center, 2020). Thereby they manage to engage the visitors in leisure activities and contribute to their independence, community involvement, and general wellbeing (Sutherland Leisure Center, 2020). However, to benefit from the services Sutherland Leisure Center provides, it is necessary to evaluate the extensiveness and structure of information presented on its website.

The principal activity available to people with Parkinson’s disease is swimming. The chosen venue has both indoor and outdoor swimming pools accessible to visitors with this condition. However, despite the provided opportunities for disabled people to visit the swimming pools of the center, its website does not contain the information on the schedule for disabled groups (Sutherland Leisure Center, 2020). It also does not mention if there are special areas for people with disabilities in the swimming pool, only states the availability of a pool hoist. Therefore, it can be concluded that the website lacks the essential information that might influence the decision of members of this population group to visit the venue.

Recommendations for Improvements

To reduce barriers to the use of services provided by Sutherland Leisure Center, it is vital to include crucial information for people with disabilities on the website. As can be seen from it, the recreational facility has several medical specialists working with the visitors in the areas of exercise physiology, physiotherapy, nutrition, and hydrotherapy (Sutherland Leisure Center, 2020). However, there is no information on how they might facilitate the access of disabled people to the services of the center, improve their condition, or assist them in performing activities. Moreover, the website lacks the schedule for disabled groups, and this malfunction is the primary issue that should be resolved.

Disabled people always require attention from specialists at recreational facilities. This fact explains the need for distinguishing them by the conditions for further assistance. As people suffering from Parkinson’s disease are characterized by the constant fear of falling due to the poor control of their muscles, the staff should consider this specificity to assist them (Zaman et al., 2019). However, the available information on Sutherland Leisure Center does not include the observance of factors influencing the person depending on the condition. Thus, the owner of this recreational facility should develop and implement a strategy of diversified assistance to people with disabilities as no generalization is possible in the matter.

The population groups of disabled people include not only adults but also children and adolescents of various ages. Such visitors also require particular attention to their needs, and the equipment providing access to the center’s building and internal facilities might not be suitable to them due to the height difference. Moreover, there is no information on classes for children with disabilities as not all of the conditions leading to disability restrict the possibility to attend swimming classes. Hence, Sutherland Leisure Center should start to provide these services as well and include extensive information on them on their website.

The creation of a safe environment for people with disabilities is a challenging task, and it is the responsibility of the owner and medical personnel working at the leisure center. To comply with the requirements resulting from one’s condition, they need to understand its nature and all the accompanying peculiarities defining the physical capability of a person. For this, Sutherland Leisure Center should organize training programs for the personnel that will provide sufficient information on possible health issues of visitors and the degree of assistance that would not harm their independence. The inclusion of recommendations given above would allow the owner of the facility to improve its work and comply with the current community programs aimed at providing services for people with disabilities.

Best Practice for Parkinson’s Disease to Undertake Swimming

People with Parkinson’s disease can benefit from visiting the swimming pools of Sutherland Leisure Center. The medical personnel working at the recreational facility will assist them in it as this condition is characterized by difficulties in movement due to the patients’ low neuroplasticity (Amateis et al., 2018). However, people suffering from this disease need regular physical activity to maintain their quality of life and general wellbeing (Zaman et al., 2019). Therefore, swimming under the care of trained medical personnel would be a good option for them.

The assistants should consider the specificities of such conditions as Parkinson’s disease and provide proper services to people suffering from it. Their primary task is to ensure safety while performing the activities with consideration of the needs of such people related to social support and engagement, and the efforts of medical staff should be focused on their provision (Zaman, 2019). However, it is possible only with the successful overcoming of their fear to fall and get injured (Zaman, 2019). Such obstacles can be overcome after the proper training of personnel and improve the state of health of visitors with Parkinson’s disease.

The principal outcome of this activity is the higher confidence of the disabled people as well as their independence. The social support and engagement, in turn, would guarantee the satisfaction of people with Parkinson’s disease. The transport accesses to the venue by bus and affordable prices for services ($8.70) as well as free access to accompanying carers increase its attractiveness (Sutherland Leisure Center, 2020). As for possible adaptations of Sutherland Leisure Center, they would relate mostly to the training of personnel as the territory is already equipped with all the necessary facilities for disabled people.

Conclusion

The recreational facilities of Australian communities intend to increase the participation of disabled people, and Sutherland Leisure Center is no exception to the rule. However, to successfully implement the community’s plan, it needs to improve some areas of their activity, such as the provision of sufficient information and orientation on various population groups distinguished by both age and condition. The elimination of the revealed issues will increase the participation of people with disabilities in the community’s life.

References

Amateis, A. L., Boesel, C. L., Ehnert, B. P., Evans, A. S., Hurst, K. E., Marek, K. L.,… & Huddleston, W. E. (2019). The need for mapping personal goals to exercise dosage in community-based exercise programs for people with Parkinson’s disease.Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 35(12), 1250-1258. Web.
People with a disability(2017). Web.
Sutherland Leisure Centre (2020). Web.
Zaman, A., Ellingson, L., Sunken, A., Gibson, E., & Stegemöller, E. L. (2019). Determinants of exercise behaviour in persons with Parkinson’s disease. Disability and Rehabilitation, 1-7. Web.

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