Achievement Unlocked – First ever solo talk

I didn’t sleep a great bunch last night, as today I was doing my first ever solo talk.  This was for year 1 Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy students.

So here is a little game plan, I knocked up 

“Hello my name is Justin Scrimaglia and I have Friedreich's Ataxia (FA for short)

Out of interest does anyone here know or have heard of FA???

FA in a nut shell it’s a rare inherited disease that causes progressive damage to the nervous system. FA is the most common form of hereditary ataxia, affecting a 1 in every 50,000.

It is from my understanding that I am here today to share some of my experiences to help give you a real understanding of the importance of communication in health and social care.

On with the show...

I was diagnosed with FA at 15, I remember the neurologist said we have the results back we now know what it is and you have Friedreich's Ataxia’. I was like ‘wow what the hell is this’, then he started going into it with all the doctor terms and using big fancy words (Academic language) which I then I stopped him and said can you explain it in a way that I can understand please, and he looked at me and said ‘I won’t lie to you but by the time your 18 you’re going to be in a wheelchair’. That news broke my heart I began to cry I got up and walked out

I have been under teams of doctor and having Hospitals appointments since I was 14, and in my time I’ve experienced things from being told from the x-ray team “if I don’t keep still will be here all day” to being left waiting for 4hours for an appointment because the secretary was too scared to tell us the surgeon I was scheduled to see had been called away. 

The biggest lack of communication came almost 2 years ago, when I was sent to Salisbury Hospital waiting to have an operation on my foot. The plan was to be back in Bournemouth Hospital on the Wednesday to have my other foot operated on, clearly that was not going to happen so myself and family kept telling Salisbury Hospital can you please let Bournemouth Hospital know what’s happening. Sure thing they said we will, 8.30am Wednesday Bournemouth Hospital ring my home asking where I am because they are waiting for me in theatre, my mum was like he’s still in Salisbury Hospital did they not tell you that... and they were like no... So a whole day of theatre got wasted because the message never got passed on. 

If I can leave you today with any advice, hints or tips: then it’s this just be kind, don’t always use academic language and check the note’s because I am now 27 and still to the very day I see doctors and specialists and they don’t even know that I am a wheelchair user and to be honest it drives me up the wall when it’s In the notes.”

Plug my blog and any questions...

I should add that I never read off the sheets of paper, they were just there as a guide line for me. The talk was in BG14 (Ground Floor, Bournemouth House) which is a smaller lecture theatre and there were 55 students. Safe to say I was shiting a brick and I went first my game plan went out the window and I just went on the fly but in a roundabout I pretty much covered everything I set out to say. 

I probably spoke for a little longer than I was met too, I do that I just get in the zone and can’t stop. They laughed at my funny parts and I got some good questions from the students, I just hope I helped them to understand the importance of communication in health and social care.

I’ll post the feed back in a few days when I receive it.

Achievement Unlocked – First ever solo talk

I do really like doing them, yeah I get scared at first (But to be honest, anyone would) I feel it’s my little way of giving back by sharing my experiences, I come away with a sense of achievement and hope I helped the students in some small way with their future careers.