Narrogin’s Earl St Physiotherapy six-week challenge raises more than $10k for Fiona Wood Foundation burns care

A Wheatbelt physio’s six-week challenge has raised thousands of dollars for world-leading burns care research, rallying local schools and nationwide participants to support the cause.

Earl St Physiotherapy in Narrogin has donated more than $10,000 to the Fiona Wood Foundation, collected from its six-week challenge in which participants logged their weekly step count from October 27-December 7.

The WA-based foundation is a not-for-profit charity known for its innovative burns research, dedicated to scarless healing in patients’ bodies and minds, and promoting accessible burns care in rural areas through education, awareness and resources.

Earl St practice principal Melissa Tinker said it had been a tremendous fundraising effort.

“Regardless of what charity, people in the country are so giving,” she said.

Nearly 500 participants stepped out for the cause, including primary and senior students from Kulin District High School, St Matthew’s School, WA College of Agriculture — Narrogin, and Pingelly Primary School, who re-interpreted the task to fit into their curriculum.

Ms Tinker said entrants set their own personal goals as the challenge aimed to encourage movement, mental well-being, and community connection while supporting charities.

KDHS hosted a lap-a-thon on September 12, in which all 119 students completed a collective 2515 laps in 40 minutes, contributing $4046.50 to the foundation.

Ms Tinker said the school collaboration was a co-fundraiser in which the schools, except KDHS, donated 20 per cent of the money raised to their parents and citizens associations.

Earl St Physiotherapy has held a fundraising challenge every two years dedicated to a different charity.

Ms Tinker said physio staff member Francis Lange suggested the Fiona Wood Foundation because her father, Tim Haslam, was an ambassador for the charity after it saved his life when he suffered critical burns in a harvest fire in 2023.

She said the foundation held a special place for her staff, and its research was vital to evolve treatment and safety for rural residents.

Ms Tinker said the cause acted as a timely reminder in the midst of bushfire season and Earl St Physiotherapy was motivated to promote Mr Haslam’s message to the community.

“Fiona’s philosophy is that even us who are really far away from a hospital can have the same access to burn and emergency care as somebody who’s in the city, because time is everything in a burn case,” she said.

“It gives that little bit of equality to us in rural areas.

“And obviously prevention — that awareness of ‘it won’t happen to me’, but it does happen.

“(Mr Haslam’s) message is to stop and think, take that extra minute to think rather than act out of panic, so just us supporting him in that journey of awareness is really important.”

Donations to the Earl Street Physiotherapy FWF fundraiser will close on December 19.