If the shoe fits…the Toowoomba Post Polio Support Group want your spare one!

Quarantined with polio during the 1950s epidemic, Toowoomba residents like Reverend Brian Sparksman face an ongoing dilemma. Buying four shoes to be able to use two is a costly exercise, but the Toowoomba Post Polio Support Group is taking a light-hearted approach to their situation.

This Thursday (12 JUNE) the group will hold their monthly meeting, to further discuss their idea for a shoe exchange program.

Members will bring along dozens of shoes which have been relegated to the bottom of the cupboard, in a bid to demonstrate the vast amount of footwear which goes unworn by people living with polio.

Rev Sparksman said because people with polio often had odd-sized feet, or were amputees, their homes were filled with spare shoes that never leave the shoebox.

A border at Downlands College in the 1950s, Rev Sparksman spent six weeks quarantined at the age of 14, as polio ravaged the community.

As convenor of the group, Rev Sparksman said up to 20 residents attend the monthly meetings to discuss health issues, or listen to professionals such as hydrotherapists or orthopedists.

“A lot of us experience similar problems and even though some people are not noticeably in pain, they’re still suffering,” he said.

“One of our other main aims is to try and make people aware of being vaccinated against polio.”

Rev Sparksman said there were about 60 people in the Darling Downs district living with polio and he encouraged them to attend their next meeting on 12 June.

Six Post Polio Support Groups regularly hold meetings throughout Queensland and are co-ordinated as a service of the Spinal Injuries Association.

Issued 10 June 2008