064 Chapter 5 Impact of the age awareness workshop Case study: Changing work practices Gemma, physiotherapist Gemma works at a physiotherapy clinic with a significant number of clients aged over 65. Like many other appointment-based health services, this clinic has the option of sending people SMS reminders for their appointments. The workshop prompted Gemma to reflect on personal assumptions and expectations about older adults, and question whether any processes and decisions in the workplace had been influenced by stereotypical thinking. Gemma realised that the clinic did not offer SMS reminders as an option to their clients based on the assumption that the use of a mobile phone and text messaging would be low among older clients. She felt sad about taking away choices from these clients, feeling that they made ‘that call’ on other people’s behalf, rather than asking and listening to their individual preferences. Reflecting on this decision, it’s pretty sad that we made that call on other people’s behalf rather than actually asking them, but I’m glad we’ve changed it now.