[Chris Rae]
I had head on motorcyclist accident with another motorcyclist, and I was smashed to bits. I was a couple of weeks in a coma first, and then intensive care for a few more weeks after that, and then to the wards. The next three months up at Orange Hospital in the rehab section learning to walk, and walk and yeah, used my limbs because I'd been on my back for three months, so.
[Lynne Peterson]
He was sort of very fatigued and quite weak when he first came home. But then he had such a great team around him with occupational therapists, physios.
[Nicola Melino]
The main challenges in delivering a service to somebody in a rural area is the distance to specialist services. So, a lot of specialist services are not available in those smaller rural sites. Therefore, a client may have to travel lengthy periods to access that service. We normally use a combination of face-to-face and telehealth. In Chris's case, he discharged home not long before COVID, so there was an increased use of telehealth in his case.
[Chris Rae]
These days, especially with a COVID situation, it's definitely preferable. But being in Granville 350 odd K's from Sydney, it's a pretty major thing to get down for consultations.
[Nicola Melino]
Luckily, he did live only a very short walk up to his local MPS, where he had a fantastic team of community health nurses who were involved in his care to help him to log on to the telehealth system.
[Chris Rae]
I've been consulting with doctors in Orange, Sydney mainly, [inaudible 00:02:08], and because of the fact that you can break the screen up, everybody can converse at the same time.
[Lynne Peterson]
We can have other people involved as well, who are the main carers of these people. And sometimes Rob, who is Chris's carer, had something to contribute. So, he was welcome to sit on those meetings as well. And it's all about inclusiveness in care, it's not just one person delivering care, it's very much a team.
[Chris Rae]
You can hold up your particular injury or have a qualified nurse there to describe the injury to the doctor at the other end. You'll save time. I think it's the best thing out.
[Nicola Melino]
Yes, I would recommend virtual care to other health professionals. Why? To enable equitable access for our clients no matter where they live across the district.
[Chris Rae]
Ah, it's a major thing. It's truly a wonderful service.
