20 Years as a Telethon Beneficiary

By Therapy Focus

For the last 20 years, Therapy Focus has been fortunate to be named a Telethon Beneficiary. In that time, the support of Telethon and the WA community has helped us provide life-changing equipment and assistive technology to countless children and young people with disability.

On Friday 24 March 2023, Therapy Focus Team Leader Aimee Dougan and Assistive Technology Administrator & Therapy Assistant Jesse Waghorn joined representatives from WA community organisations at the Telethon Giving Ceremony Breakfast. The event celebrated the 107 beneficiary organisations, who received a share in the record-breaking $71.4 million dollars raised by Telethon in 2022.

A man and woman stand either side of Fat Cat against a colourful wall that says Telethon. The man had brown and blonde hair and wears a purple Therapy Focus polo shirt. The woman has mid-length light hair and wears a black Therapy Focus shirt.

Assistive Technology Administrator, Jesse Waghorn (L), Fat Cat and Team Leader Aimee Dougan (R).

“The breakfast was very moving. There were a lot of videos and presentations which shared the emotional and inspirational stories of children and families who have directly benefitted from Telethon funding,” Aimee shared.

“The morning had a strong focus on kindness, which made it incredibly heart-warming”.

As an Assistive Technology Administrator & Therapy Assistant, Jesse has been spending time building programs in some of the equipment funded by Telethon’

“A lot of my Therapy Assistant work is desk work and work in the background, so I don’t get to see a lot of the results. The Breakfast was a great opportunity to experience first-hand the impact Telethon has in the lives of sick, disadvantaged and vulnerable children,” Jesse said.

The Telethon funding awarded to Therapy Focus in 2023 will enable the purchase of assistive technology, such as communication devices and mobility aids, for 28 children. Access to the equipment will provide the opportunity to develop skills that will support their participation and independence in the domains of sensory and emotional regulation, mealtimes, leisure and mobility.

Previous year’s funding has supported children like Therapy Focus customer Harrison Dunn, who is now able to join his family at the beach thanks to the generosity of Western Australians.

Looking back 20 years

Therapy Focus and Telethon have a long relationship which was first established in 2003 – just five years after Therapy Focus’ inception. In the early days, Therapy Focus was one of just 10-20 beneficiaries. We are proud to have grown with Telethon, which now supports more than 100 beneficiaries in 2023.

In 2004 we received our first grant from Telethon, which allowed us to support 11 of our customers. In this year, Little Telethon Star Tayla Divitini was the face of fundraising.