Youth News

THE HFACT CAMP WAS A HUGE SUCCESS!

Geoffrey

Geoffrey is an HFA youth leader and mentor. Geoffrey attended the HFACT camp in April 2016, was part of the planning committee and facilitated the youth program activities.

This was my first experience of being part of a planning committee and going through the process of organising everything from scratch. We were all quite nervous but watching our efforts come together was very satisfying and the feedback we got was great.

 
Geoffrey at the ACT camp

The kids loved the dance lessons, Easter egg hunts, surfing, T-shirt designing and soccer. I even overheard parents speaking about hospital experiences and exchanging phone numbers with plans to meet up later. It was cool to see the bleeding disorder community growing in front of my eyes! Choosing to have the camp at the coast meant people from Canberra got to enjoy the beach while at the same time making it easier for those living down there to attend.

The whole reason I got involved in committees was so that I could be a role model for younger kids, and for the first time I really felt like I was achieving this. It was great to show the young kids that even as a haemophiliac, I was playing soccer and surfing and they could too! – and they did!

Overall it was great to be part of the HFACT camp and I look forward to my future involvement immensely. It was a pleasure to work with everyone on the committee and a big thank you to all who helped out.

A BIG SHOUT OUT to Hamish, another HFA youth leader and mentor, for doing a self-infusion demonstration in front of everyone! It went so well, the kids had fake veins strapped on to their arms and they all jostled for a front row seat to watch Ham stick needles in his arm. It was great to show them how easy it can be to manage their own medication.

Geoffrey and Hamish at the ACT camp

SAM AT THE WFH WORLD CONGRESS 2016

Sam
Sam received a Go For It Grant to attend the WFH World Congress in July 2016. To acknowledge his role as an HFA youth leader and mentor, HFA Council also invited him to attend the WFH General Assembly with the HFA President as an Australian delegate. Sam is a passionate and active member of the youth community both Australia-wide and within his home state of New South Wales.

Sam met many new people and attended many of the sessions the Congress had to offer and wanted to use social media as a way to involve other young Australians with bleeding disorders who couldn’t attend the Congress to share his experience.

Sam created a Facebook post about his attendance at the youth session:

“It was very exciting and inspiring. It was amazingly inspirational to hear treatment and transition stories from other countries around the world”

The Youth Session focused on transition with a presentation by Jenna who is on the WFH Youth committee.

Another Facebook post captured Sam standing at the Factored In poster written by HFA.

Sam taking a selfie with the HFA poster about Factored In.

We look forward to hearing more about Sam’s experience with a full Congress and General Assembly report coming soon!

Go for it grants are sponsored by Pfizer.