Flexible and inspiring leader
MANY of today’s Otagotrained physiotherapists owe their education to the building blocks Billie McLeod helped to lay.
Ms McLeod enrolled in the school in 1949, the year the Physiotherapy Act came into force. Her lengthy association with the School of
Physiotherapy meant she played an active part as it moved from under the auspices of the Hospital Board to become part of Otago Polytechnic, and then part of the University of Otago.
Billie McLeod was born in 1929 and raised in Dunedin by her mother, Irene Hancock (later McLeod). After graduating as a qualified physiotherapist in 1951, Ms McLeod’s first clinical position was at Cook Hospital in Gisborne.
From there she moved to Invercargill, where she was charge physiotherapist at Southland Hospital, before returning to Dunedin in 1958.
The school, at the time, was under the auspices of the then Otago Hospital Board and Ms McLeod became a physiotherapy student supervisor. This sparked her interest in teaching, so at the end of 1959 she headed to Kings College Hospital, London, to undertake a teaching diploma. She returned to Dunedin and the School of Physiotherapy in 1962.
From 1953 to 1965 she was a lieutenant in the Royal New Zealand Nursing Corporation and attended camps at Burnham with other health professional colleagues.
On the retirement of the School of Physiotherapy’s principal, Enid Anderson (nee Gotts), at the end of 1964, Ms McLeod — by now her deputy — was appointed principal, a position she was to hold for 25 years until her own retirement in 1990.
During her 25 years as principal, the school continued to retain its high international standing, but it was a period of major change in terms of funding, physiotherapist entry level qualifications and postgraduate opportunities.
At the government level in the 1960s there was a move for funding of health professional programmes, such as nursing and physiotherapy, to come under the umbrella of the Department of Education rather than Health.
However, the profession and teaching staff at the school were keen for it to move back to the University of Otago, where it was first established as the School of Massage in 1913.
In 1966 the Alldred Report recommended full support for the School of Physiotherapy to have university status under the Faculty of Medicine, but the university grants committee declined the additional funding required and the university itself was not in a financial position to proceed.
In the early 1970s the Departments of Education and Health were authorised to approach the Otago Hospital Board and Otago Polytechnic with regard to a transfer of physiotherapy education.
Although Ms McLeod saw the benefits for staff and teaching in an educational environment, she fought to maintain the school as a separate teaching department within Otago Polytechnic.
After three years of negotiations, the transfer finally occurred at the beginning of 1976. Ms McLeod and staff were invited to apply for and were duly appointed to positions within the polytechnic.
While Otago Polytechnic took over the responsibility for the School of Physiotherapy in good faith and graduates from the programme were awarded a diploma, Ms McLeod and the wider physiotherapy profession still had aspirations for education and research opportunities that the university could offer.
Over the next decade potential opportunities were explored and in 1986 Ms McLeod, as head of school, was involved with representatives from the profession, medical school and polytechnic in informal talks to explore the possibility of a conjoint degree with the university.
The bachelor of physiotherapy degree was finally rolled out in 1991, the year after her retirement.
During her career in physiotherapy, Ms McLeod took an active role in the wider profession. She was a member of the Physiotherapy Board from 1965 to 1990, president of the professional association (known at the time as the New Zealand Society of Physiotherapists) from 1972 to 1974 and in recognition of her contribution to the profession was appointed a life member of the society.
Besides advocating for the profession of physiotherapy to be degreebased, she furthered her own academic study and was awarded a bachelor of arts from the University of Otago in 1989.
During her retirement, Ms McLeod remained active academically.
In her dissertation for her postgraduate diploma in arts she explored the work of the sisters at St Vincent’s in Dunedin within the context of the work of its order. She was awarded a master of arts in 1996.
After a stint lifestyle farming in Alexandra, latterly Ms McLeod was an active member of a ukulele group at Chatsford Retirement Village and a constructive voice on the residents’ committee.
Billie McLeod died on September 9, aged 93. She is remembered by many former students as a great teacher and someone who created paths for others to step on to so they could continue their journey in the physiotherapy profession. — Supplied