IAHA Students Runners Up in National HFTC Event!!

GMACK team members Gabe, Maddi, Ash, Celeste and Kirsty after the Final Showdown.

A HUGE congratulations to IAHA’s superstar student members Gabe , Maddi, Ash, Celeste and Kirsty (GMACK) who were named Runners Up at the national Australian HealthFusion Team Challenge (HFTC) competition, held in Brisbane on Thursday 17 September 2015. The competition was fierce, and GMACK certainly rose to the challenge, combining their experience and perspectives from their studies in exercise science, podiatry, social work, mental health and occupational therapy.

On coming second out of seven teams, social work student and GMACK team member Celeste is proud, stating “This is teamwork! We may have lost the Challenge but we are all champions at heart… We came together from different time zones, states, universities and allied health professions – but together we were a team.”

The Australian HFTC saw top interprofessional student teams representing six universities from across Australia, and IAHA as a Wildcard entry, work in their teams over four weeks to develop a management plan in response to a complex case study. The teams then presented their plans live at the Australian HFTC event day in front of an audience and panel of expert judges before responding to a range of previously unseen, challenging extension questions, activities and reflection exercises, all under timed conditions. Congratulations to the University of Queensland who took out first place.

Unlike the University teams, GMACK team members were scattered across Australia from Darwin, Perth, Townsville, Bourke and Brisbane, so they used technology to connect and prepare before the competition. Despite this, their respect for each other and their cohesiveness as a team was evident to all, especially to the judges who commended them on their teamwork and communication skills.

“It was such an eye opening experience, where I was able to meet with other allied health students from some of the top Universities in Australia,” said Celeste.

“I loved working with students from other health disciplines and learning about how they approach the same case,” added Maddi, GMACK’s final year podiatry student. “The HFTC is an awesome experience for any health student as it pushes you out of your comfort zone and is heaps of fun as well.”

GMACK team members are now looking forward to competing in the the IAHA 2015 HFTC, a similar event aimed specifically for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, to be held in conjunction with the IAHA 2015 National Conference later this year.

National HFTC participants from Indigenous Allied Health Australia (IAHA), University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, Monash University, Deakin University, Griffith University and the University of Western Sydney.