Joan Blair is retiring!

After 19 years at Lifecare Point Walter, our iconic physio Joan Blair is retiring!

Although we’ll miss working with her every day, she has had an epic career and definitely deserves some downtime.

Joan started her career 53 years ago after graduating from the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in 1971.

She spent the next 7 years working in orthopaedics in hospitals and rehab centres in Edinburgh, Sydney, Townsville and Perth, before getting her Postgraduate Diploma of Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy from Curtin University in 1978.

In 1980, Joan moved back to the UK to work as a Senior Physio in the Outpatient Department at St Stephen’s Hospital in London.

This is also when she began training the next generation of physiotherapists, teaching post-graduate students from the UK and Ireland on the weekends.

In 1984 she moved back to Western Australia.

She worked in a variety of private clinics, hospitals and continued teaching and providing clinical supervision to post-grads.

In 2005, she finally joined the team at Lifecare Point Walter, where she has been ever since!

We’re so grateful to have had Joan as part of our community for so long.

Some of the physios who had the pleasure of working with Joan had some things to say about her:

“I still recall first meeting Joan at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in my first year of Physio (a million years ago).  I was in awe of her knowledge and skills. I was then in the hospital fund raising skit show, and Joan was part of that too, and I was in awe of the fact she can really sing!”

– Cameron Tweedie

“As the second oldest physio at the clinic, I have always admired my senior colleague who has been an incredible role model. Her dedication to her patients and work ethic is admirable as is her ongoing enthusiasm with her approach every day. But just one last reminder as she missed the requalification this year …CPR has NOT changed…it is still 30 and 2 and yes we do do the breathing! Wishing you much joy in your retirement Joan but your legacy remains with all who have worked with you.”

– Madeleine Stockden

“Joan has taught me so much and is such a friendly presence in the clinic.”

– Hannah Faller

“Such commitment to her career and the physiotherapy profession is something I will always admire in Joans journey with Lifecare. She is always up for a good chat and will be greatly missed in the clinic.”

– Kylin O’Callaghan

“Joan is a very knowledgeable physiotherapist and I am grateful for the expertise she has shared. It has been a pleasure to work alongside her.”

– Holly Boyd

“Always loved my Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at work because it meant Joan was on too! Right from the moment I started working there as a grad, she made you feel welcome. Always willing to answer questions and help out with tricky presentations… it was like she hadn’t forgotten what it was like to be new grad, which is no surprise because she is so down to earth. We had a heap of laughs over the few years I was there and consider myself so lucky to have worked with Joan!”

– Chris Basile

“Joining Lifecare Point Walter as a young Practice Principal was quite daunting, but I immediately felt welcomed and supported by Joan. I truly admire Joan’s passion, enthusiasm and commitment to the profession and it has inspired me to further my education and continue my journey in the world of physiotherapy. I will miss our chats about difficult cases, our love-hate relationship with the game of golf and just about life itself. I’m a better physio and a better person having worked with Joan.”

– Jonathan Tan

And a few words from the amazing Joan herself:

“I think my career highlight was actually surviving the rigours of the Manips course in 1978 and managing to pass the exams! Following this, my skills in the Musculoskeletal area improved significantly and it renewed my enthusiasm for physiotherapy as an ongoing career. Gwen Parry and I did the course together and I’m sure she can vouch for the trauma during the year but it was so worth it in the end!