The Australian polio epidemic of last century affected an entire generation of
Australians for approximately 4 decades. Many of our polio survivors are over 50 years old now and the legacy of polio lives on in their lives, even today. Polio survivors comprise the largest single disability group in the country. Today, polio survivors are facing a new health challenge after periods of health stability, many now battle new chronic symptoms known as the Late Effects of Polio (LEoP) or Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS)
AGEING WITH POLIO Normal ageing involves an increased risk of chronic diseases and a decrease in daily functionality, even in a healthy populous. Scientific studies now show that those with the Late Effects of Polio (LEoP) in our population are likely to have the highest incidence of chronic illness and disability due to the dramatic lifestyle, economic and environmental changes that have occurred in their time.
The financial cost of maintaining reasonable health and wellbeing for our ageing community is a significant burden on the Australian economy. Those who survived the Australian Polio epidemics are subject to an exponentially increased rate of physical, mental and emotional decline when compared with Australians who have not had polio. The natural ageing process in adults brings its own set of challenges, but for those with LEoP, ageing holds renewed trauma. Once active and 'recovered' from polio, these tenacious individuals are now faced with the reality of re-experiencing the fatigue, weakness, pain and increased disability they thought they had beaten. Their daily quality of life suffers again, decades after their initial polio infection; family members become carers, the dynamic within families is altered beyond recognition, and the emotional/mental stress of re-living the trauma of polio is once again a daily occurrence. For those with LEoP, polio is not an old, vanquished illness, it is a modern health concern its legacy lives on.
BUILDING A FUTURE, EASING THE BURDEN Via its commitment to standardising quality polio information and service provision, Polio Australia has devised a health care strategy that improves access to, and information about, appropriate polio health care for this large proportion of Australia's ageing demographic.
The plan educates and upskills health professionals on the best methods of care, treatment and preventative-based interventions, and simutaneously assists polio survivors with LEoP and PPS to self-manage their symptoms, improve quality of life and longevity, prevent costly acute hospitalisations, and implement effective
polio-specific chronic disease management plans to reduce the overall burden on the Australian economy, and the substantial personal cost of living with a chronic condition.
The Polio Australia strategic model is centred around easing the social and economic burden placed on polio individuals, their families and the larger community of which people experiencing LEoP or PPS are members. The intention is to relieve the daily stress and trauma associated with debilitating physical, mental and emotional decline in the polio populous using a 4-fold strategic plan that not only positively affects the individuals and families of polio survivors, but has a significant impact on easing the health care burden of the Australian ageing population as a whole.
Polio Australia's strategic priorities are as follows:
Priority One - Capacity Building: Securing a stable income stream to support Polio Australia and our key program areas into the future Priority Two - Education: Promoting enhanced knowledge and management of the Late Effects of Polio across the Health and Community sectors Priority Three - Health Service Promotion: Lobbying and advocating for recognition of and appropriate service provision for Australia's polio survivors Priority Four - Collaboration: Working with and supporting state-based Polio Networks by producing resources and standardising polio information for use by the Networks and their members
RAISING AWARENESS Many polio survivors experienced significant disability, both physically and mentally, as a result contracting polio. Having the tenacity to beat the virus and recover a good level of functionality throughout their lives, these individuals are now faced with a resurgence of symptoms, increased prevalence of chronic disease, disability and a re-living of the distress that comes with the significant loss of autonomy, ability, and quality of daily life as they age.
These people are disadvantaged in so many ways; from the lack of recognition from the Australian Government that polio remains a very real and current health issue for its sufferers, to the great need for polio-specific health care interventions.
As the 'baby boomer' workforce retires from the health industry, they are being replaced by a younger work-set that has no direct knowledge of the polio epidemic in Australia. The healthcare industry today is little aware of polio, having been led to believe that the 'crisis is over' and that it is no longer relevant to health care practice today. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
The elderly make up a significant proportion of General Practice and allied health clientele. The implications of an ill-informed health industry are that LEoP and PPS and the idiosyncrasies of diagnosis and treatment of the associated conditions, are seriously overlooked, misdiagnosed and under-diagnosed; all of which result in inadequate, and in many cases inappropriate, care for those ageing with polio.
Polio Australia directly influences both the health needs of this group, and the social and economic capacities of polio survivors via an approach in two key strategic areas.
1. Informing, educating and empowering people with LEoP/PPS:
2. Up-skilling health professionals via our health promotion & clinical training program:
Producing and offering best-practice resources and training that inform health professionals in these focus areas will create a greater awareness and competency around LEoP/PPS. This in turn will result in more timely diagnosis and effective treatment by primary care health providers, which in turn will allow clients greater social participation, quality of life, and longevity, as the effects of their condition are better managed.
REACHING CRITICAL MASS Polio survivors comprise the largest single group within the Australian disability sector. They are ageing and they need help immediately to not only reduce the ongoing impact of the physical disability caused by the poliomyelitis virus, but to enable them to age gracefully, healthily and with as much autonomy and dignity as we can help them to muster.
Reaching out and helping individuals with LEoP/PPS one by one is worthwhile, but is also an insufficient and slow method of initiating and achieving better health outcomes. To reach the large numbers of people who are potentially undiagnosed with LEoP/PPS in a timely manner, we need to reach a critical mass of health professional competency which in turn will flow on to clients.
A blanket health promotion approach that targets health professionals is a far more effective and efficient method to creating the health access that this group of Australian's requires. This approach will directly impact the life of polio survivors right now, when they need it most. Polio Australia needs so desperately to continue to operate and serve its polio survivor community. However, this takes money.
Up until this point, Polio Australia has received absolutely no government funding to support polio survivors. Whilst some younger migrants with LEoP may benefit from the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), it will fail to assist the majority of Australias polio survivors from last century due to the age cut off of 65 years old. Notwithstanding, the NDIS fails to provide a preventative, health-focused initiative and is not designed to serve those living with a chronic health condition.
We have a responsibility as a country to help our ageing polio community, to give back for all that they endured and sacrificed in their early lives, and for all they have achieved on our behalf since then. With appropriate government funding, and continued philanthropic support, we have the potential to preserve the wisdom, knowledge and experience of around 400,000 people within Australia and greatly change the nature of the legacy that lives on for the better.
For more information about the Late Effects of Polio and Post-Polio Syndrome, please visit www.polioaustralia.org.au.
Are you a polio survivor living in Australia? There is strength in numbers! Join our National Polio Register and add your voice to the good fight for funding from Australias government.
Please donate to Polio Australia and help us create a better future for polio survivors.
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