Canberra's new hydrotherapy pool ready to open in Tuggeranong after five-year wait

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Chronic pain patients in Canberra are counting down to the grand opening of a new hydrotherapy pool in the city's south after making do with at-capacity sessions, lengthy waiting lists and less-than-ideal alternatives for years.

Transcript

00:00Aches and pains are a common complaint as we age, but Patricia Clark's dual arthritis

00:08diagnoses take it to a whole other level.

00:11It causes me pain 24 hours a day basically, every day.

00:17To do anything standing up is difficult.

00:20The 74 year old lives alone and is dependent on a walker to maintain some mobility.

00:26She says regular hydrotherapy has become her main source of pain relief and only form

00:32of exercise.

00:33The warmth of the water immediately relaxes your body as soon as you go in.

00:38You feel this immediate freedom.

00:42You feel like a normal person, you feel normal because you're walking without any aid.

00:47Understandably, she's among Canberrans looking forward to a therapeutic dip at the Lakeside

00:53Leisure Centre.

00:54Five years after the Canberra Hospital's hydrotherapy pool closed and ACT Labor made an election

01:00promise to replace it.

01:02As the years have gone on I think I've lost patience waiting for it and thinking it would

01:07never happen.

01:08We know that there has been frustration in the community about the length of time that

01:12this has taken to deliver, but getting it right was the most important thing.

01:17Arthritis ACT is also cheering the progress after years of helping clients manage alternatives

01:23which are often too cold, too far away or too busy.

01:28Close to probably 40, 50 sessions a week are all pooled.

01:31So that's probably close to 500 people which we're trying to circle through.

01:34There's probably at least double that demand that still needs to be able to come in and

01:38access the pool.

01:39We really could do with a hydrotherapy pool built, included in all the pool centres.

01:46The new Tuggeranong pool opens on August 25th.

01:53There's also a couple of things available on August 25th.

01:54It's not like that.

01:55There must be a reason for every morning.

01:56There must be a resource for people who have been there and there are lots of unions that

01:57do not have to be able to do.

01:58The new Tuggeranong pool is a major effort.

01:59The new Tuggeranong pool is an explanation for each of the people who have been there.

02:00And when you want to do this division, you want to do that.

02:02There must be an amount of nuance around, you like a big deal.

02:03The new Tuggeranong pool is in the next chapter of the day.

02:05You should be able to do that.

02:07There must be alexigraanong pool as a few years.

02:08The new Tuggeranong pool will be in the middle of the day.

02:09You can keep it up to the center of your Tuggeranong pool.

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