What an
inspiring person I’ve just been talking to. Prue Thomson’s face lit up when she
talked about the young people she has helped over a lifetime of caring for those
with physical disabilities, and those at risk from abuse and neglect.
Prue is one of the loveliest people you could hope to meet, and my photo of her, left, sadly far from does her justice!
We were
in my home, sharing cups of tea and Anzac biscuits, and Prue was telling me she
felt humble because she was about to receive a Medal of the Order of Australia,
an OAM. It’s a deserved reward and, since we spoke, she has received it – on
Tuesday, 29th April this year – from His Excellency General David
Hurley, Governor of New South Wales. She was among the first awardees in this
April-May Investiture period and invited her grand-daughters, ‘the love of my
life’, to the luncheon that followed the
ceremony.
The
award came because, ‘I helped design a tilting platform to lift a wheelchair’
so that special-needs patients would be on a level with their dentist, who
could conveniently work on their teeth. The design was developed in
collaboration with John Otago of the Western Australian Cerebral Palsy
Centre.
Prue was
Dental Assistant Manager at the Cerebral Palsy Alliance in Sydney for 39 years,
until retiring recently. Right from the start she applied herself seriously to
the clinical work, undertaking special training, studying radiography and
designing specific programs to help her patients to care for their teeth and
gums. The tilting platform Prue designed with John Otago was taken up for use
in hospitals and its success put new demands on Prue who explains, ‘We had to
do sterilisation and infection control’ in the hospitals. Prue is positive
about all the challenges her work brought saying, ‘I enjoyed it, and I saw
little children grow into these wonderful adults who never complain about their
adversities.’
OAM recipients
are not told who their nominators are, but Prue guessed that they were from
among colleagues at another charitable organisation she serves with. This is
Stepping Stone House, a charity offering a safe, stable home environment to ‘at
risk’ teenagers and young people aged 14 to 24.
She has
served at Stepping Stone House for many years, going these days in an after-work
role, talking to the young people, offering friendship, support and interest:
the sort of loving care they lacked in their own homes. ‘I go in the evenings,’
she says, ‘and we cook a lovely dinner. It’s about being interested in them. We
go to their Christmas parties and their birthdays.’
She mentions
the success story of an abused girl who, encouraged by the support at Stepping
Stone House, returned to school after dropping out, received extra tuition,
worked hard and later graduated from university.
Although
Prue has retired as Dental Assistant Manager at the Cerebral Palsy Alliance, she
still goes there as a volunteer helping young children exercise in the pool;
without a dedicated volunteer they are not permitted in the water. Prue loves
the involvement. ‘It’s being able to see them get so much pleasure in the pool,’
she says. ‘The joy on the child’s face and the improvement she (‘her’ child,
Annabel) is making in kicking.’ Prue keeps
in touch, too, with some former clients saying, ‘I still visit a few of them.’
Prue
Thomson has had her own challenges. She was widowed while still a young mother,
but there are no self-pitying words about her bereavement and grief. She simply
tells me that she went back to work as a pre-school teacher. There are no moans
about the hard work of caring for her children: James was then aged eight,
Penny was six and Scott only four. For extended periods of time, Prue also took
care of the two children of her sister, who died from cancer as a young mother.
Fortunately, in-laws in the country were able to help take the children for
some of the time during holidays.
Prue says
she ‘adores children. I only have to see small children and I melt.’ However,
with youngsters at work and at home, after a time Prue began looking for a
change. New work came as an assistant to her dentist in Macquarie Street: her
initial involvement in dentistry.
A while
after, she saw an advertisement for Assistant Manager in the dental clinic of
the cerebral palsy charity – then called the Spastic Centre. To take up the job
Prue enrolled at a major TAFE (Technical and Further Education) centre in
Sydney, did the necessary training and studied radiography, and worked first in
the centre in suburban Mosman and later at the larger Cerebral Palsy Alliance
premises at Allambie Heights in Sydney.
These
fruitful associations were not Prue’s only charity work. For years she was
involved with a reading, comprehension and numeracy program in Marrickville
West, another Sydney suburb, helping young children get the strong start in
learning that would equip them to do well in school.
She is
still involved in this work, though she has now moved to North Sydney
Demonstration School. And it is still rewarding. ‘I love to see the improvement
they make and the enjoyment they get knowing they are improving at reading and
numeracy. It’s the confidence they gain, and confidence is so important,’ she
says.
When I
ask about Prue’s own motivation and how she found the confidence to overcome challenges,
she puts it down to faith. ‘Faith, and wanting to help those poor little kids,’
she says. When I say sincerely that I believe she must be a strong person to overcome
her own difficulties and achieve so much, Prue immediately refers to her
mother. ‘You only pass through this life once,’ her mother told her, ‘so you
might as well do something worthwhile.’
