Sit down to uplifting tale

Celebrated orthopaedic surgeon, author and human rights activist Dr Munjed Al Muderis returns to Margaret River next month for the annual Lishman Health Foundation dinner at Xanadu Wines.

Dr Al Muderis, pictured, came to Australia as a refugee and has since pioneered the use of titanium pins with prosthetics to help injured people overcome disabilities.

The fundraising event’s guest speaker was also recently named NSW’s Australian of the Year.

The dinner will provide residents an update about the work of the Lishman Health Foundation and its efforts to help individuals, families and communities in regional WA.

In Margaret River, the foundation supported the Augusta-Margaret River Mental Health and Well-being project — now rebadged as Mindful Margaret River — and produced a landmark report into the region highlighting the socio-economic divide and drug and alcohol abuse as major factors affecting residents’ mental health.

Chief executive Dianne Ritson said the foundation’s work directly affected the local community.

“The Lishman Health Foundation report prepared by the University of Newcastle’s Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health, in collaboration with the Augusta-Margaret River community, identified the way forward in addressing mental health and wellbeing is ultimately the decision of the people of the local community,” Mrs Ritson said.

“The foundation is delighted the community has formed the Alliance (Mindful Margaret River), as recommended in the Newcastle report, and that with the tight budgetary constraints faced by all three levels of government, this approach has never been more important for the Augusta-Margaret River community to forge a close alliance with practitioners and agencies to pursue all possible avenues.”

Mindful Margaret River chairman Stuart Hicks said the foundation was a “key stimulant” in lifting residents’ engagement with mental health issues.

“Mindful Margaret River owes its existence to last year’s study that Lishman commissioned at no cost to the community,” he said.

“We have been fortunate Lishman has taken such an intense ongoing interest in us.

“The dinner is an opport-unity to hear an incredible story from an eminent and interesting speaker, to enjoy a great night out, and to repay a little of Lishman’s support for Augusta-Margaret Riv-er.”

The dinner will be held on March 14, with tickets available from the website www.lishmanhealthfoundation.org.au/fundraisingdinner.