Council gets hot flush

By Paul Pickering
CAMPAIGNERS for the provision of a hydrotherapy pool in Knox were last week buoyed by the council’s plan to investigate the municipality’s need for warm water facilities.
Ferntree Gully resident Ken Oaten, whose family has led the push for consideration, was present at the last Tuesday’s council meeting to hear Knox flag its intentions.
Knox mayor Jim Penna endorsed a two-stage process in which a needs analysis would be followed by site assessments and concept designs for the facility.
For Mr Oaten, the announcement was vindication of a campaign which has attracted the support of local health professionals, retirement villages and community groups.
It is their belief that Knox residents should not have to visit facilities in the neighbouring municipalities of Maroondah and Greater Dandenong to reap the benefits of hydrotherapy.
Of the council’s announcement, Mr Oaten said: “I was encouraged by the earnestness of contributions to the debate and delighted to see there’s progress being made.”
He was unfazed by the semantic discussions about the difference between a hydrotherapy pool and a ‘warm water facility’ – whereby the council decided a warm water facility would not necessarily be run and supervised by medical practitioners.
“If it looks, smells, tastes and functions like a hydrotherapy pool, I don’t care what it’s called,” Mr Oaten said.
A sticking point for the council, though, has always been the issue of whose responsibility it is to provide such a facility.
Knox’s community services director Gerard Jose has previously stated that “it is the responsibility of State and Federal Governments to determine and provide health services within Knox, including the provision of community hydrotherapy facilities.”
Mr Oaten is hoping that the prospect of a comparable warm water pool might be easier for the council to justify.
“I would hate to think it got bogged down in the issue about who should be doing what,” he said.
“I’d be disappointed if it became a blame game and I don’t think that is going to happen.”
Cr Penna said the council would see a full report in April 2008.