Every Monday morning, Gloria walks into her Darwin physiotherapy clinic with a warm smile and a friendly greeting for each staff member. She’s been part of this place for more than 15 years. Today, she’s early for her group exercise class in the gym, as usual. She enjoys catching up with the team and helping Angela at reception with her footy tips.
At 71, Gloria is a testament to the power of community connection and preventive care in supporting healthy ageing in regional Australia. Her life story speaks to resilience, intergenerational strength, and the role of accessible and personalised healthcare. As healthcare workers we meet people at a specific point in their lives, and we don’t always have the chance to understand their personal context and how they arrived at our meeting point. With that in mind it was a privilege to hear about Gloria’s story.
Born in Darwin, Gloria grew up with her parents and 9 siblings. She has a rich and diverse heritage, with Aboriginal ancestry on her mother’s side, as well as Dutch, English, and Lithuanian. Her mum was multi-lingual and worked in the local college looking after boarding children. Gloria remembers her as a strong and intelligent woman, with the most beautiful handwriting. She instilled values of community and family connection, hard work, and resilience. Gloria leaned on those values during difficult points in her life, including being taken from her family as part of the Stolen Generation, and when dealing with the deaths of two of her four children. She talks about this honestly and says simply “I don’t get weak, I thrive on with my two kids, even when it’s very hard”.
Gloria has seen Darwin change a lot over the last 50 years, and she still loves it. Her family and friends are here, there’s not too much traffic, she feels that she has everything she needs. For her it’s a great place to live. I ask how she feels about growing older in Darwin, thinking she might have concerns about accessing health care or services.
“It’s quite easy actually…I can walk or get a taxi when I want…everyone is friendly”.
Like other rural and regional areas there is often a delay in Darwin getting a GP appointment, but Gloria says she can mostly get in when she needs to, and she works hard to keep herself healthy in the first place. Being healthy has been important for Gloria throughout her life. She worked in patient services at the hospital for more than 20 years, delivering meals to patients. She always encouraged eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, to the point that she had the nickname “Mrs. Fruitbat” in the hospital. These days as well as trying to eat healthily, Gloria focuses on staying active.
Gloria started coming to the physiotherapy clinic for rehabilitation after a total knee replacement in 2011. Since then, she has been coming most weeks for an exercise class in the gym, and to use the hydrotherapy pool. Gloria has osteoarthritis and occasionally sees a physio individually if she is experiencing a flare up, but mostly she has been able to manage in group settings. This is more affordable for her, and being a self-described chatterbox, she also enjoys the camaraderie. Over the years, she has built friendships with clients and staff and always feels supported in the clinic. “I depend on this place to give me a lot of help with my injuries and stuff”. Her neck and shoulder particularly can be quite painful, but she likes to work as hard as she can. She says ““If I challenge myself, I’m happy; if I don’t, I’m miserable.”
Gloria’s positive energy and attitude are infectious and help the staff and other clients around her as well.
Looking ahead, Gloria plans to keep working to stay healthy and active. She wants to help instil these habits in her family, and she is excitedly planning a trip to Cairns to visit her granddaughter. She will have to have a couple of weeks away from the gym, but she will take an exercise program and some equipment with her. Gloria knows what keeps her going, and she doesn’t plan on slowing down.
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