Prue Thomson: ‘You might as well do something worthwhile’

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, 29^th 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.’