NIISQ on the road – Cairns and Toowoomba

The NIISQ Agency, in partnership with Queensland Brain Injury Collaborative (QBIC) rounded out 2024 with two final regional roadshows in Cairns and Toowoomba.  Undertaking research to highlight the need to provide better care for acquired brain injury patients, QBIC aims to build a network of researchers, health professionals, people with lived experience and industry partners to explore ways of improving care. These face-to-face events offer a unique opportunity to really listen to the those impacted directly by brain injury and to the challenges our regional areas face with treatment options and facilities.   

Earlier this year NIISQ and QBIC hosted our inaugural roadshow in Townsville (NIISQ visits Townsville as part of inaugural brain injury information sessions – National Injury Insurance Scheme, Queensland). This included two events, an information session and dinner for brain injury health practitioners and a morning tea and information event with a greater focus on community and people with lived experience.   

As part of our ongoing collaboration, two more roadshows were held, one in Cairns and the final one for 2024 in Toowoomba.   

In October we were off to Far North Queensland and hosted a dinner on the Friday night, ‘Brain injury: from critical care to community,’ with presentations from key research and service providers from the local area discussing topics such as initial critical care, inpatient care and the pathway to recovery, rehabilitation and integration back into the community, the impact of brain injury on vision and how to integrate mental health services into brain injury recovery.    

On the Saturday morning, the community event, ‘Empowering the community: navigating life after brain injury’ focused on services that already exist, how to connect to participants and their families with these services and how we can work together to improve access and identify missing gaps. NIISQ participant Mia (Mia – National Injury Insurance Scheme, Queensland), shared her remarkable story of determination to recover, highlighting the importance of open and transparent communication between health professionals and their patients.   

In November we visited Toowoomba.  The topic for the Friday night dinner ‘Integrated pathways in brain injury recovery,’ opened the floor to very frank discussions about missing connections and potential opportunities going forward. With a range of speakers from GPs, allied health roviders, to the importance of including arts and movement therapy into recovery.   

Our last community event for the year, ‘Supporting Recovery: community pathways for life after brain injury,’ brought a number of highlights. We had three people with lived experience share their stories and how they are giving back, each reiterating the importance of support, community, and social interactions. There were presenters from Queensland Ballet’s Ballet for Brain Injury (Ballet for Brain Injury lunch and learn at NIISQ – National Injury Insurance Scheme, Queensland) making us smile and move.  

All the events, across all three regional areas were well received, allowing us to see and hear about the challenging gaps in service delivery and the many opportunities the local clinicians and community members are keen to address. With the success of our 2024 roadshows, the fantastic feedback, and many new local connections we have made, planning for our 2025 roadshow is already underway!