HoHA was founded when Melbourne Chiropractor Dr Dein Vindigni studied with Community Aid Abroad in India in 1987. He met Moira Kelly at one of the world’s busiest, most crowded railway station, Howrah Station in Calcutta. Howrah is home to thousands of homeless people including children. Moira had spent time with Mother Teresa in Calcutta in the 1980s working with the ‘poorest of the poor’ in that city of teeming millions. Moira’s mission has been to rescue and physical, mental and emotional recovery of children orphaned, maimed or traumatised by war, neglect, abuse, poverty or political turmoil especially in the combat zones of Asia and Europe.
From this experience, Dr Vindigni found his inspiration to start a clinic caring for the needy in Melbourne. On Dein’s return to Melbourne he spoke to Father Ernie Smith a parish priest at Sacred Heart in St Kilda and founder of the Sacred Heart Mission. Father Ernie was receptive to Dein’s idea and in 1989 the first official HoHA clinic was set up in a small room beneath the stairs in the Mission headquarters building. Here Dr Vindigni began offering chiropractic treatment to those who visited the Mission. From these beginnings came the birth of the organisation now known as HoHA.
Hands on Health Australia: History Sideshow
