EdHealth takes its responsibility to keep our vulnerable clients as safe as possible in the ever changing world since the COVID19 pandemic began.

The COVID19 pandemic changed the way we go about our lives. Businesses and individuals continue to be impacted in different ways, with much uncertainty continuing with the rise and fall of infection numbers, spread of new variants, hospital admissions and deaths in our community.

To do this we:

  • Stay up-to-date with daily announcements from the South Australian government about the recommendations made for businesses to maintain the safety of their clients.
  • Read the NDIS Quality and Safety Commission communiques about recommendations being made to maintain the safety of people with a disability in Australia.

We have also:

  • Ensure all EdHealth staff are fully immunised, and undertake to maintain our immunisation status according to ATAGI’s recommendations into the future
  • Commit to providing our services online as much as possible, while the COVID threat continues.
  • Wear masks in all face-to-face appointments
  • Will cancel or move to online sessions, if a staff member shows any COVID 19 symptoms.
  • Added COVID19 Management Plans and information in the Diabetes Management Plans we create for NDIS participants so the staff have more information on what to do and how their diabetes can potentially be impacted if they do catch the corona virus infection.
  • Provided the Department of Health in Canberra with information about the issues from the frontline in teleconferences conducted with appointed health professionals and advocates advising the Department on the needs of people with intellectual disability related to the coronavirus.

Impact of COVID19 on our Health System

There have been some additional impacts disability support organisations need to be aware of in planning for their support and care of people with a disability at this time. Due to the increased number of people in hospital this winter due to both Corona virus and influenza related health impacts we are encouraging organisations to consider.

Ambulance response times are longer. It is important to review your clients with diabetes to see if there are any extra strategies you need to put in place to keep a client safe at this time. For example, if you life in the country and support a client with diabetes who is on insulin we would encourage you to consider training your staff to administer the GlucaGen HypoKit in the event of a serious hypoglycaemia event in which the person is unable to swallow. If staff can do this the client is a lot less likely to experience the more serious consequences of these incidents, which can include an acquired brain injury.

General Practitioner (GP) waiting times for appointments have increased. We encourage people with a disability to see their GP regularly to prevent having health issues left for longer than they should be. People will have varying time spans between appointments to suit their needs so staff can be encouraged when supporting people to go to the GP, to ask at the end of the appointment when the doctor would suggest your client should return for another appointment. Make sure the appointment is made at the end of the current appointment so they don’t get caught by lengthy wait times for new appointments, (this is frequently 1-3 weeks, depending on the general practice/GP. This is especially important for those who have very high or very low readings and their diabetes medication / dosing is changing to manage the situation.

Thinking ahead and creating new routines to address the health needs of people with a disability and diabetes will set them up to be more resilient in the face of these changing times.

Find out more about COVID and people with intellectual disability:

Contact us

We can help you to find the right strategies to benefit your clients with diabetes.

Email: office@edhealth.com.au

Phone: 0412 102 048