ALUCA REHAB SUB GROUP
The ALUCA Rehab Sub-Group was formed in January 2016 reflecting the growing recognition of the importance of focussing on recovery and return to work to support Life Insurance customers.
This has been an exciting first year and we have had over 200 attendees to our events which have included:
- Presentations on management of post-cancer fatigue in Sydney and Melbourne
- Expert speakers on biopsychosocial factors, including Dr Peter Cotton and Sir Mansel Aylward
- Joint presentation with Vic ALUCA on rehab/return to work issues
In addition, rehab representatives from several Life Insurers collaborated as part of a TPD Working Group to develop the first ever guidelines of Employability Assessments used on TPD claims. These have included defining Employability Assessments in the context of TPD, recommendations on expertise required by consultants conducting these assessments, and the methodology and content of Employability Assessments.
ALUCA Medical Subgroup
On 7th December the ALUCA Medical Subgroup held its first Melbourne presentation/dinner for the year at The Smith, 213 High Street, Prahran.
We were lucky enough to have two outstanding speakers, Sofia Papachristos – Special Counsel at Moray & Agnew and Chris Hanson – Senior Barrister, to talk on an interesting topic on the night:
“Help I’ve been summoned to give evidence.
The doctor’s survivor guide for preparing for and attending court”
It was a very interactive session with a lot of questions to each of them, answers, fun and laughter.
We as ALUCA Medical Subgroup have put ourselves on the map. So our challenge now is to address subgroup’s objectives and to assist life insurance companies restore consumer trust and confidence.
If you would like a copy of the presentations, please contact Goran Lazic on goran_lazic@amp.com.au.
ALUCA CMG
We would like to welcome our two newest ALUCA CMG committee members as follows:
- Paul Bennell – AIA
- Kirsty Rowan – TA
We are happy to report that we now have a full committee in both NSW and VIC.
Our upcoming events for next year are:
- February/ March 2017 – Claims legal sessions to be held in NSW, VIC and potentially QLD
- May 2017 – Claims Financial Practical Workshops for NSW and VIC
- August 2017 – Claims Managers Annual Dinner for NSW and VIC
- Participation in mini-ALUCA
- December 2017 – participation in End of Year event
SOUTH AUSTRALIA SUB-GROUP
ALUCA SA held its last seminar for 2016 on the 1st December where Nattalie Bottroff, Return To Work Consultant, presented on ‘On The Front Foot’ covering the important stages of rehabilitation and empowering individuals to return to normal activities and back into the workplace.
This was followed by the SA ALUCA AGM where a new committee was voted in and all ready to go for 2017!
WESTERN AUSTRALIA SUB-GROUP
To finish off 2016 with a bang the WA community headed to our favourite end of year venue. This year our guests were supplemented by Jim Welsh who came to support us again – he’d better watch out or we’ll start expecting him at every event! Jim filled us in with a comprehensive round up of all the ALUCA board activities.
We were also honoured to be joined by one of the ALUCA Conferences keynote speakers – Gihan Perera. Gihan is a futurist and prolific author and the feedback from his ALUCA conference session was exceptional. WA was lucky enough to get to quiz him one on one on what is going to impact our world.
The committee would also like to say thank you for the participation of all out community members over the course of the year to make ALUCA WA as good as it is. A survey was sent out to WA members and there was a great response with real quality insights that will help shape ALUCA next year.
And finally, the WA Chairperson would like to thank the hard working committee who ensure that every event is a success – Gary Pellant, Mark Birbeck, David Oliver, Katherine Matterson and Steve Colliver.
VICTORIA SUB-GROUP
To say that 2016 has been an interesting year feels like an understatement….
We saw events globally such as Brexit, U.S. election, Zika Virus outbreak, the Olympics, Earthquakes in Ecuador/Italy/New Zealand and recently India demonetising banknotes that represented 86% of their currency in circulation. Locally this year we also had/saw our Election, the Census debacle, the Four Corners Insurance scandal, Bulldogs winning its first premiership in 62 years and Sharks winning their first ever premiership …. Editor’s Note : What about Trump!!!
ALUCA Victoria also had a remarkable year with every event held being free for members, starting our year with an insightful session regarding Mental health, followed by our first joint Legal Insights session with ALUCA CMG, followed by a fantastic collaborative event with ALUCA Rehab Sub group around Successful Rehab practices and finally our Christmas event at Vue de Monde which included a presentation on leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) for risk management.
ALUCA also had its conference in Adelaide this year and those fortunate enough to attend got to see a fantastic array of presentations that not only provided specialist insights in to topics but also highlighted our need to change and showed a glimpse of changes that we can expect to see in the near future and around products, Underwriting/Claims processes with technological advances such as AI and big data just around the corner.
Sadly this year ALUCA Vic also says good bye to three fantastic and dedicated committee members. Amanda Stow, Michelle Reyes and Orpheus Polioudakis brought and an amazing amount of passion, dedication and effort to this team and their presences will be dearly missed by the team next year.
Finally, with the festive season upon us, we would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a safe and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Thank you for your support in 2016 and stay tuned for upcoming events including Victoria’s Mini ALUCA in 2017!
NEW SOUTH WALES SUB-GROUP
2016 was a year of CHALLENGE and 2017 will be the year of COURAGE and CLARITY.
ALUCA NSW embarked the year with a fresh team and we have been allowed to test and learn and even fail in order to deliver true thought leadership and education that relevant.
I want to thank the wonderful team and people that make everything happen and that I am privileged to chair:
- Dominique Autard- AMP- Vice Chair/Shadow Treasurer
- Lisa-Marie Mckechnie- Mills Oakley- Secretary/Chair
- Bindu George- Gen Re- Event Co-ordinator
- Tania Du Plessis- TAL- Snr Committee Member
- Nilava Sengupta- CommInsure- Member Engagement/Research lead
- Doron Samuell- CMO- Snr Committee Member
- Lana Collaris- William Roberts Lawyers– End of Year Event Lead
- Rhiannon Wilson- BT FinancialGroup– TripleShot session Lead
- George Vrontas- Munich Re– Snr Committee Member
We had a brilliant year and line up with Professor Brand and Aging in digital world. Our second session a huge success with Dr Antony Lau, Interventional Cardiologist, that send a buzz through the Industry on how brilliant he was in providing a fresh perspective on how we look at heart attack. It really provided an insight on the divide between medical and insurance context and reinforced us looking and everything through a different lens. Our third session being the “Triple Shot” session that covered medical predictive data, function and movement analysis through whole person impairment and biomechanical assessments. A stand out in this session was Anjelo Ratnachandra who inspired us with his story on “Purpose and Resilience”. Anjelo was hit by a firebomb whilst being at home on a Friday, and then suffering third degrees burns. He laughs at himself and quips you shouldn’t be at home on a Friday night. His story was truly inspiring and to have purpose he says you need something or someone to love, something to do and something to look forward to. That in our life triad we need to have 6 goals with 2 in each of our personal, social and work life.
Finally, the ALUCA Conference in Adelaide was amazing and the panel session we held on how we wish to increase member engagement and get the most out of the learnings of the conference is truly amazing. The standout for me was Turia Pitt– really when after listening to her story what possible excuse could you provide to not get our bed in the morning and go for that half hour cycle, run or walk?
See you all at our amazing EOY event and I thank Lana Collaris for her endless enthusiasm and boundless energy in making this event truly come alive. Finally a big thank you to Amanda, Jim Chantelle, Devi and Pat for providing the most tremendous support to allow us to have a voice, a chair at the table and deliver passionately great sessions and diverse viewpoints for members and the Industry as a whole.
Have a wonderful Christmas and an insightful new year
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