A few years ago we created a hospital passport with my son. This is a really handy document to have if you need to go
to hospital, if you have disability and might have
difficulty communicating with hospital staff.
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The hospital passport includes lots of important information about
his health care needs, medications and his daily life. It also outlines
how he is when he is well, what he enjoys doing, important relationships
and that many people love and care about him. Each time my son is
admitted to hospital the staff are given the passport and straight away
they know how they can best take care of him.
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With COVID it is even more important to prepare and plan and I
strongly recommend that everyone with disability has a passport to
convey important information to hospital staff. This can include
important things like how to help a person stay calm and minimise
distress and a reminder that people with disability have the right to
receive the same level of healthcare as other persons.
There are a number of templates available and I would encourage you
to ensure people with disability get the assistance they need to
complete a hospital passport that includes the information they think is
important for hospital teams to know.
Have a look at these templates and see which one works best for you or the person you assist:
Since we recorded this podcast rapid antigen tests
(RAT) for self testing have become readily available. And in the past
week there has been a significant resurgence of COVID with the new
variant – omicron. RAT are just like PPE and the COVID vaccine –
another layer of protection for people with disability who require close
contact to have their support needs met. I encourage providers to hand
out RAT to your support workers to ensure they are not inadvertently
spreading COVID. As borders open and restrictions ease, I do believe
RAT will save lives.
The
Coming out of Lockdown resources for support coordinators is a comprehensive set of resources created by a volunteer team of NDIS support coordinators. Also check out:
