In this episode
Professor Fiona Wood and MAK.
In this episode Professor Fiona Wood AO explains the importance and life-changing nature of Telethon WA funding for medical research, detailing how her own research in burns medicine and technology has benefitted from it. In its inaugural year, she discusses how the Premier’s Telethon Challenge is empowering kids to help kids through fundraising and community action. She points out that every student donated $1, it would provide so much support for new and continued medical research which benefits the people of WA. Professor Wood also chats about her Ben & Bella Burnsafe Superheroes Storybook and why burns education is so important at such a young age.
About Professor Fiona Wood AO
Professor Fiona Wood is a world leading burns specialist who has spent more than 30 years pioneering research and technology development in burns medicine.
She is the director of the Burns Service of Western Australia (BSWA), Consultant Plastic Surgeon at Fiona Stanley Hospital and Perth Children's Hospital, co-founder of the first skin cell laboratory in WA, Winthrop Professor in the School of Surgery at The University of Western Australia and co-founder of the Fiona Wood Foundation (formerly The McComb Foundation).
Professor Wood developed the innovative ‘spray-on skin’ technique along with co-inventor Marie Stoner, a pioneering medical advancement that is now used worldwide. Her previous work in skin growth was crucial when she led the medical team at Royal Perth Hospital when saving the lives of survivors of the 2002 Bali bombings.
Among a long list of recognitions and accolades, Professor Wood received the Order of Australia Medal (AM) in 2003, the National Living Treasure (Australia) in 2004, Australian of the Year in 2005, WA Women’s Hall of Fame in 2011 and Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2024.
Transcript
MAK
A warm welcome. I'm Marie-Anne Keefe, but please call me MAK.
She's been called Australia's living treasure, is an Australian of the Year, and is best known to West Australians as a world-leading burns specialist, a surgeon, a researcher, an innovator. But today we are going to reveal that Professor Fiona Wood has a surprise string to add to her bow, and that is one of author.
The Ben and Bella Superhero Storybook series is a fun way to help kids learn about burn prevention and first aid and to tell me all about it, I am very, very happy to introduce Professor Wood.
Fiona, how are you? And welcome to Ed Talks WA.
Professor Fiona Wood
I'm very well. Thank you. And thank you for asking me to come along, it's really exciting.
MAK
Well, the burn safe superheroes are such a simple but such a clever idea with a very powerful message. Tell me about the inspiration behind that.
Professor Fiona Wood
Well, many years ago, we understood that burns first aid is actually fundamental in actually changing outcome.
We did a big publication and we saw that if you had adequate first aid, you reduce your length of stay in hospital, you reduce the need for surgery, reduced infection. So how are we going to get this message out? And of course, burns is very common in small children and they're one of our biggest groups.
So we kind of got together with an educationalist and we said, ‘let's work out how to get this message across’ and that became Ben and Bella. And then we thought, ‘oh, how do we get this into schools?’ And then we had to learn about curriculum and how to make it integrated and all that sort of thing and so we had a lot of support to do this and funding, of course. But it's made a difference because we often get children who the older sibling may have been in the classroom and they've said, ‘oh, yes, when my younger sister, I knew what to do’ and they're very proud because there's nothing like being able to affect change in outcome.
And they're very proud of the fact that ‘I knew it was clean, cool, running water’, you know, and it changes something that is just overwhelmingly negative to an opportunity to use knowledge to improve outcome.
MAK
And so let's talk a bit about burns in children, 23% of the burns you see are paediatric, are in children, 74% of those occur in the home.
Which was shocking to me. It sort of makes sense. And most of those are scalding, I understand. Is that hot water or?
Professor Fiona Wood
Yeah, hot water, hot food. Yes, those sorts of things.
The pattern has changed a little bit with legislation around the shower temperature, around curly flex, like not having the flex on a kettle, having the kettle on a stand makes a difference because there's less opportunity for a kid to pull on something and tip over.
But unfortunately it still does happen.
MAK
So all of this information and all of these really important messages have obviously been folded into this series so that you can actually really target educating these children.
I understand that it's linked to curriculum from kindy through to Year 2 about what to do in the case of a burn. You'd think kids that age are too young for this sort of learning, but they're not, are they?
Professor Fiona Wood
I think we've demonstrated by our early work now that the kids aren't too young at all. And things like putting it in the Ben and Bella superhero framework, we talk about sunburn, we talk about camping, we talk about skull injury, we talk about picking up hot things or not, marshmallows, roasting marshmallows in a fire. We talk about things like that, normal things. And so they're really engaged.
Yeah but of course, we've had to have help from the education side to make this, to make it land the right way at the right age.
MAK
So you've had all the subject matter experts involved. There's a teacher's guide, resources, discussion books, and it's all mapped to the kindy to Year 2 curriculum.
So how long did all of this take? And what was your role in putting all of this together?
Professor Fiona Wood
I think my role in it was like, ‘I know this is important, I'll drive it’. So, And then ‘how are we going to fund this?’ And so then asking, knocking on doors for funding, and then a subject matter expert, but then bringing the whole team along and it's, you know, everything I've done has been a team event.
I mean, just burns care on a daily basis. In 1991, when I took over the directorship of the Burns Service of Western Australia, I took over a great team. Nursing, allied health, surgery, infectious disease, and all the support services of the hospital around us.
We're a small team, but we're multidisciplinary and have been all the way through and that recognition that the team matters is really important to me.
MAK
So how can our teachers who at this point, thinking I need these, I want these in my classroom, how do they get hold of these resources?
Professor Fiona Wood
Well, I just have to say that I think from this perspective, then education, the teachers are part of our team, yeah?
And so, contact the Fiona Wood Foundation, that's a little embarrassing because it wasn't the Fiona Wood Foundation when I established it. It was the Macomb Foundation as a great mentor of mine, but the team changed it to me, which as I say, is a little embarrassing, but it means you can remember it.
MAK
Absolutely.
Professor Fiona Wood
And so contact the Fiona Wood Foundation and away you go.
MAK
And I've undertaken with you that we're going to explore how perhaps we can internally through the department work with you and your team to make these resources available through our own educational resources systems through the Department of Education.
So make them more widely available to people. So that's going to be a little project for me to work with you with moving forward.
Professor Fiona Wood
That would be fantastic because we know this makes material difference. It will change outcome.
And so, you know, it makes the difference. If you've got clean, cool, running water, it makes the difference between a burn injury that may require surgery or not. I mean, it is as black and white as that. So that's really excellent. Thank you.
MAK
Pleasure. Something else that makes a very big difference to outcomes is Telethon.
As a former Telethon general manager, which is where we have met in a different lifetime, it's a cause very close to my heart. It's a cause very close to your heart.
What difference has Telethon made to you, your work, and to the people of Western Australia?
Professor Fiona Wood
Well, I think certainly, where do I start?
Everywhere I look in that, to the people of WA, to the work, to myself, there's positives. For example, the skin culture laboratory that we worked in in 1993 was established with the Telethon grant from the people of WA through that whole system.
So the people of WA are benefiting all the time and I think this challenge is just fantastic.
Kids for kids, everybody can make a difference. And I think Telethon exemplifies that.
Once a year, we see mums and dads and kids putting, pledging their pocket money and actually making a material difference because over the years, there's many programs that our research has undertaken.
Most recently, we've got a study called the Einstein Study, where we're doing functional MRI brain scans on children who've had a burn injury and their friends who haven't. You know? And so that's funded by Telethon.
And so all these things just are so material. And so for kids not just have to wait once a year, but to realize that they can make a difference to somebody they'll never meet. Doesn't matter. And actually, it may make a difference to somebody they do know, or even themselves.
So, you know, things can happen to us all at any time. But to be part of a movement like this Telethon Challenge, that you can make a material difference, gosh, it makes me feel good.
MAK
It makes all of us feel good. We are so incredibly proud to have launched the Premier's Telethon Challenge.
Already it's raised $20,000 and we know there's more to come. You've talked about the fact that Kids Helping Kids has been a mantra in your work and life for decades now.
And I'd like you to share a story about Marmion Primary School and the Jack the Wagtail Foundation. And I guess they're pretty much the gold standard in terms of kids helping kids.
Professor Fiona Wood
Absolutely. The Jack the Wagtail Foundation started in honour of Jack Dunn, a young boy who unfortunately died of a massive burn injury in early 2003.
And so to cut a very long and involved story short, over the last 20 years, I was just at the 20-year anniversary just before Christmas, the Year 7s have run a leadership program under initially Bucky, their deputy head before he retired, where they undertook a series of different fundraising activities throughout the year.
And so it was part of their leadership program, they'd involved the whole primary school in different aspects of, you know, whether it be a sausage sizzle or doing something for someone else or a whole range of different things over the years. I just can't begin to describe them. Some of them were very innovative and some, like at one stage, there was a triathlon on the beach that was, you know, you had to go and pay to be part of and so forth.
And each year, part of a team would go along and accept a very big check. And so over the years, over 20 years, it's almost a quarter of a million dollars has been raised by that single primary school by them just focusing on kids for kids.
And it's just breathtaking. And so, yeah, that's the gold standard, that's what we can all aspire to.
MAK
Because it's easy for young people to believe that they are powerless. They don't make a difference. They're only one little person and it may only be $1 or a pocket money donation.
But actually, this is a very powerful way for kids to make a difference.
Professor Fiona Wood
I know it sounds trite, but the ocean's a lot of droplets, yeah. And a lot of drop in the ocean makes a difference. And I've always thought, I've worked in very strong teams all my life, and together we're so much more powerful than apart and this is giving an opportunity for kids to come together to be more powerful.
MAK
Yes and I think people look at you, your work, the foundation and think, ‘oh, there's money coming from everywhere. There's always going to be another source of income for you’. But that's just not the case, is it?
Professor Fiona Wood
Gosh, no. The one thing that keeps me awake at night is how I'm going to fund the research tomorrow and, you know, it's really hard. And so having a relationship like we had with Marmion meant that there was some regularity where we knew we could top up one of our PhD students each year, yeah?
That is gold to have that reliability and so, no, research funding is tough. And so, any strategy to link different primary schools with different research groups, I mean, let's think, how many primary schools are there in the state?
MAK
Well, I can tell you that in the Department of Education, there are 832 public schools.
Combined, there are half a million students across Western Australia that are part of this challenge. Now, if every student raised $1.
Professor Fiona Wood
What an opportunity. I mean, that's just awesome, isn't it?
MAK
Or donated $1. Now, imagine if every student donated or raised $10. So, the potential here is so huge.
I would love for you to share a message to our students about why they matter and why this is important?
Professor Fiona Wood
I think fundamentally every person on this planet matters. And so when you say that every kid in WA can make a difference, this is a real material way you can.
We can all stand up and be counted in this space. And you will make a material difference to someone you may never meet and that should make you feel good.
MAK
Well, it makes us feel good. We're going to be working very hard to make this happen, as are all of our students.
Thank you so much for your time. I look forward to catching up with you at the end of the challenge and being part of this mega check presentation and enjoying a very long relationship through the Telethon Challenge with you and your foundation.
Thank you so much.
Professor Fiona Wood
Well, thank you so much. This is very exciting.
MAK
You've been listening to Ed Talks WA.
This podcast has been recorded on Whadjuk Noongar land. We pay respect to the traditional owners and to their elders, past, present and future.
Notes
Learn more about the Ben & Bella story book here.
Get involved with the Premier’s Telethon Challenge on the Department’s website.
Visit the Fiona Wood Foundation website.