Chance to live better
A TOWNSVILLE defence force veteran and a war widow have encouraged others to consider taking a free program for better physical and mental health and for building friendships.
Army veteran Ben Grundeman and war widow Gail Stevens have undertaken the Heart Health program funded by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and provided in Townsville through allied health practice Achieve Exercise Physiologists.
The practice has assisted more than 700 veterans and war widows so far but says this is only a drop in the ocean compared with what the program could achieve.
Mr Grundeman, 46, said he joined after being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in 2020.
“I served in East Timor in September 1999 and discharged in September 2004, so I went a lot of years not knowing (about the program),” Mr Grundeman said.
“Being put in touch with the DVA rehab program has been awesome. There is a group of us ex-army, navy and air force and the camaraderie is unreal.”
Ms Stevens, 72, whose Vietnam veteran husband Robert died in 2009, said the program had provided her with support to continue leading an active lifestyle.
“I’ve always been an active person but as I got older I learned I have inherited an auto-immune disease. Stress doesn’t help and when my husband was very ill I ended up with thyroid cancer,” Ms Stevens said.
“(The program) is a very supportive community and being together in a group with other war widows does help.”
Exercise physiologist Troy Burgess founded Achieve Exercise Physiologists in Townsville in 2012 and has opened two studios in Kirwan and Hyde Park to support the program.
Mr Burgess said helping veterans with their physical and mental wellbeing had been his passion and he could not speak more highly about the benefits of the program.
Often it was a first step for veterans to return to the lifestyle they enjoyed before they were injured, he said.
“Most veterans don’t know each other. After taking part in the program they are friends and they have created new networks,” Mr Burgess said.
More information about the program can be found at www.dva.gov.au or contact Achieve Exercise Physiologists at www.achieveexercise.com.au.