Stuckey, Joan

Summary

Joan Stuckey was inventor of three separate award-winning air cushions designed for pressure relief. These are now used around the world by hospitals and by people in wheelchairs. The first was the Push Cush which was designed in 1980 to reduce the incidence of deep vein thrombosis for air travellers. Next came the C'AireCush seat used by the wheelchair-bound to reduce the incidence of pressure sores and improve balance and comfort. These cushions have since discovered a wider market which includes people suffering from haemorrhoids or by women after childbirth. In response to numerous requests Stuckey later came up with the C'AireCushPressure Distributed Mattress Overlay which was used to improve the comfort of the bedridden. The latter two inventions one gold Medals at the Exhibition of Inventions.

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• McCarthy, Gavan; Morgan, Helen; Smith, Ailie; van den Bosch, Alan, Where are the Women in Australian Science?, Exhibition of the Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, First published 2003 with lists updated regulary edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, 2003, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/wisa/wisa.html. Details

Newspaper Articles

• Delforce, Rebecka, 'My Life: Dear to dream - great Australian inventions', Australian Good Taste (1999), 30-34. Details

Resources

• 'Stuckey, Joan', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1476454. Details