Echuca Regional Health is celebrating their own hard-working staff for Allied Health Professionals Day on Wednesday, October 14.
“Allied health is really important in assisting people to maintain their quality of life,” ERH executive director of community services Cynthia Opie said.
“Our health service vision is to support everyone to be healthy and live well, and allied health plays a significant role in that.”
Early on in COVID-19, Ms Opie said there was a considerable impact on people seeking health care, including allied health.
“We saw a significant reduction in presentations to the emergency department and therefore in admissions to our acute care,” Ms Opie said.
“People were cancelling appointments and I think there was a lot of fear and people just stayed home.”
Ms Opie said the hospital rapidly moved to telehealth, initially by talking with people on the phone.
“Once we were able to get an increase in our IT infrastructure, we were able to shift to video consults,” she said.
“We’ve been able to maintain a consistent level of care and we are on the road to recovery.
“It’s been really important to encourage the community to continue to access care because we know the impacts on their wellbeing.”
Kevin Pang is a physiotherapist at ERH and works with people of all ages in rehabilitation on the sub-acute ward.
“We treat fractures, hip replacements, strokes and neurological disorders like muscular dystrophy,” Mr Pang said.
“A lot of people think of physios as sport and massage, but we are more exercise-based.”
Mr Pang said one of the best parts of working in allied health was the amount of time they have with patients which allows them to build a rapport.
“It’s also very goal-based so we get them back to what they functionally want to do and it’s really good to see when people actually drive it themselves and get to a point where they achieve their goals,” he said.
Sarah McKee is a part of the hospital’s team of eight speech pathologists working to help people who have difficulty communicating and has a particular passion for working with communication technology.
“This month is actually Alternative and Augmentative Communication month so that's any kind of technology or paper-based items you use to support someone that has difficulty communicating as an extra tool to help them to express themselves,” she said.
During COVID-19, Ms Mckee said she had to increase her telehealth skills to continue to consult with her clients.
“I have a lot of clients, especially in the disability field, who are medically vulnerable and were wanting to be really careful,” she said.
“COVID-19 put an emphasis on thinking outside the box and I think for some clients a lot of benefits came from that and I think some of those things will stick.”
As a pharmacist at ERH, Sheridan Cooknell’s role involves reviewing patient medication on admission and advising on prescribing and administering medications in hospital.
Once a patient is discharged, they’re also educated on how to use their medicines and be informed of any changes to what they’re taking.
“The main thing is helping optimise the best use of medications in hospital,” she said.
It’s the first time ERH has celebrated Allied Health Professionals Day, which was established in 2018 and brings awareness to the sector globally.
“It’s a good day to celebrate all the allied health professionals, what their role is and how they’re important in the hospital with helping patients,” Ms Cooknell said.
More local news
On the frontline during COVID-19 at Echuca Regional Health
Echuca-Moama facing rental property crisis
Echuca Turkish Bazaar scrapped for 2020
23°C