By Matthew Sims
What was a impromptu decision to enter into aged care and rehabilitation for Endeavour Hills resident Professor Terry Haines has turned into a career concerned with helping improve the elderly’s quality of life.
The Monash University School of Primary and Allied Health Care head of school has been appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia in this year’s King’s Birthday honours list.
Professor Haines said he grew up wanting to be a sports physiotherapist, but had to find a job while raising his first child, landing at the Peter James Centre, providing rehabilitation and aged care services in Burwood East.
“I absolutely loved it,” he said.
“I loved being able to help people live independently.
“The actual work itself was fabulous.”
Professor Haines said he soon discovered that there was work to be done in terms of preventing falls in the facility and began work on a study, which was eventually published in 2004 in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
“What we were doing was based on an ideology, it wasn’t being driven by evidence,” he said.
“Pushing against an ideology is very hard.
“By doing research that’s trying to charge the status quo, you get a lot of responses.”
The work discovered there were a number of processes in terms of staff interaction with patients which led to more falls
“Three quarters of falls occur a metre or so from the bedside,” Professor Haines said.
He was been one of the main executive members of the Australian and New Zealand Falls Prevention Society between 2006 and 2018.
After living and working in Queensland for four years, Professor Haines and his family moved back to Victoria and put down roots in Endeavour Hills in 2008.
“I’ve never really planned my career out,” he said.
“It’s fabulous to find other areas you can throw yourself into.”
Professor Haines has published more than 330 peer-reviewed manuscripts including papers in journals including The Lancet, JAMA Internal Medicine, PLoS Medicine, and BMC Medicine.
“If I can improve the effectiveness of the hospitals by one per cent, then that’s a much bigger impact on a much bigger scale,” he said.
Professor Haines said a common theme between his various fields of work was challenging perceptions of how work should be done.
“Just because we’ve got a theory something works doesn’t meant that it does,” he said.
Professor Haines’ other field of studies has been in health economics, after he wondered why processes weren’t being changed and how hospital’s budgets could be shifted to make way for improvements.
“This is actually benefiting society way more than it costs,” he said.
Other projects Professor Haines has been working on including placing GPs in aged care facilities rather than allowing clients to be transferred to hospitals.
“When somebody’s going downhill, they can see to that straight away,” he said.
Despite his various personal achievements, Professor Haines said the thing he was most proud of was mentoring and collaborating with others.
“Being able to see their careers flourish…that really is the thing,” he said.
“I am parasitising the passion of others.”
Professor Haines said his success was also the product of his wife Emma.
“I can’t go and do all the things I do without my wonderful wife Emma,” he said.
“She has been a wonderful source of support.”
Professor Haines has also been a coach at the DSD Dolphins Basketball Club in Dandenong since 2008.
“I get a real kick out of mentoring,” he said.
“It’s great being able to help kids from a range of backgrounds.”
Professor Haines said it was an honour to be nominated and to receive the recognition.
“I feel like I’m just doing my job,” he said.
“It’s a nice thing to be recognised.”
Anyone can nominate any Australian for an award in the Order of Australia. If you know someone worthy, nominate them now at www.gg.gov.au.
