Hilary is the Principal Advisor for Healthy Ageing at iLA. She is one of the driving forces behind the development of KeepAble and LiveUp and is excited to be the Healthy Ageing Ambassador for LiveUp.

Hilary is passionate about the future of ageing in Australia and wants to support people to achieve not only a long lifespan, but also a long health span.

Her 40-year career as an occupational therapist has encompassed work as a clinician, manager and project leader across the disability and aged care sectors, working within several clinical and community settings where her community care knowledge has enabled Hilary to pioneer the implementation of a number of major reform projects. Her passion throughout is with reabling and wellness focused service models in community care.  

Hilary has presented extensively on wellness and reablement and has co-authored peer reviewed papers on the ‘Home Independence Program’ with Professor Gill Lewin and on ‘Falls Prevention in Community Care’ with Dr Elissa Burton. She is also very proud to be a co-author on the newly released book ‘Reablement in Long Term Care for Older People’.  

If you’re looking for some advice, Hilary suggests “starting small and starting today. Don’t put off making a lifestyle change and build up slowly”. “Use it or lose it” certainly rings true where Hilary is concerned.

For further information on Falls prevention, please review the following links:

Falls and the elderly

Guidebook for Preventing
Falls and Harm From Falls
in Older People

Kirsten Campbell

Kirsten is an occupational therapist with over 30 years’ experience. She has worked across the full spectrum of aged care service provision, from hospitals and nursing homes to day therapy and community home visiting.

She has also worked in aged care recruitment. Over the years, Kirsten has developed a particular interest in education. She has enjoyed teaching roles in the TAFE sector and at Edith Cowan University, as well as creating and delivering bespoke allied health training.   

Throughout her career, Kirsten has developed a pragmatic approach to service delivery and training, and she appreciates the challenges posed by organisational and policy influences. As such, she is keenly aware of the time and financial constraints faced by service providers, especially in the face of ongoing reform and the implementation of quality and safety processes.

Kirsten is driven to develop accessible and practical industry resources that support excellent client and organisational outcomes. In particular, she wants to demystify wellness and reablement and change how society thinks and talks about age and ageing. Kirsten consistently endeavours to work in partnership with industry to ensure resources are responsive to their needs.

Sharon ‘Shaz’ Page-Firth

Shaz wears two hats at iLA. As well as forming part of the Sector Support and Development team, she is Keep Able’s Community Engagement Professional. This role sees Shaz consult with service providers and support staff on how Keep Able can best assist them through aged care reforms and achieve excellence in wellness and reablement.

Prior to joining Keep Able, Shaz spent a decade working in childhood education before moving into child protection and youth work. She then spent 4 years working in the aged care sector – supporting unpaid carers looking after their friends and family.

As a Community Engagement Professional, Shaz also delivers presentations to service providers about Keep Able resources that can help enhance their services, improve their client outcomes, and ensure they meet the evolving needs of the aged care sector. Shaz fundamentally believes in the value of Keep Able’s resources, having seen firsthand the many benefits of a wellness and reablement approach for older people in the community.

In particular, she enjoys promoting the LifeCurve™ as a visual tool for service providers, given its potential to help older people improve or maintain their independence, live better for longer, and enjoy a higher quality of life.

Alison Vella

Alison is Keep Able’s Stakeholder Engagement Lead. She brings expertise in wellness and reablement from her role as a Reablement Mentor in the Department of Health and Aged Care’s Promoting Independent Living Trial, and from her 7 years in Regional Assessment Services.

Alison holds qualifications in Reablement, Business, Management, Training, and Motivational Interviewing, and she is currently pursuing a diploma in Dementia Care. In 2021, she received the Future of Ageing – Emerging Leader Award for her significant contributions to reablement in aged care. Alison was also involved in the 2022 award-winning impact film ‘Live the life you please’, which showcased the importance of recognising and honouring each person’s unique experiences and choices during their final stages of life.

With extensive experience in service provision, Alison has supported hundreds of clients in achieving their reablement goals by focusing on their personal stories and motivations. She is passionate about collaborating with businesses and individuals to integrate wellness and reablement into daily practices for better outcomes.

Over the past five years, Alison has consulted with the Department of Health and Aged Care on training elements and reform changes, and she has served as a subject matter expert on reablement in assessment practice. Alison is excited to work with providers on enhancing their capacity to achieve specific reablement outcomes.