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Hi it’s Patrik Hutzel from www.intensivecareathome.com.au where we provide tailor made solutions for long-term ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomy by improving their Quality of life and where we also provide tailor made solutions to hospitals and Intensive Care Units to save money and resources, whilst providing Quality Care!

In last week’s blog I talked about

“From and with HIGH TECH medicine to HIGH TOUCH intensive home care services!”

You can check out last week’s BLOG and last week’s article here!

In this week’s BLOG I want to talk about another real world story that was in the public eye a couple of weeks ago.

“My two year old son could die at any moment!”

Sarah Walton, a mother of four urged the SA prime minister to not cut help for her 2 year old son Zackary who is at home with a Tracheostomy.

Here is the petition Sarah put up on www.change.org.au you can sign the petition there.

You can read and see for yourself how the system is still failing either long-term ventilated adults& children with tracheostomies and you can also see how current service providers can’t keep up with the skills and the knowledge that is required to keep long-term ventilated adults& children with tracheostomies out of hospitals!

It’s also rather cynical to see that the government and the health system is failing people in need of specialised Intensive home care services!

Here is Sarah’s petition!

 Premier Weatherill: don’t cut help for our son – and urgently fix the neglect of tracheostomy patients in rural areas

 

1. Petition by Sarah Walton Mannum, Australia

My 2 year old son could die at any moment. That’s the reality we live 24 hours, 7 days a week with his disabilities and fragile airway – but now the government has suddenly cancelled the one day in trained nursing support for our family.

My son lives with a tracheostomy. It means his airway is compromised, and could be obstructed at any moment. We have to monitor him around the clock. It’s already highly stressful and exhausting, and the one day of respite care allowed us to get by.

My husband has to work long hours so we can make ends meet while I care for Zackary and our four other children. This one day of trained help meant we could run errands. It’s also the only time we could take him to the doctor. I can’t drive alone with him because someone has to be making sure he’s breathing – without this help, he could die in the backseat of the car as I drive him to the doctor.

It’s devastating to lose this help. We feel trapped, isolated, extremely sleep deprived, stressed. We have no choice, no voice, or support. And now the government seem to be walking away from helping us. Even more terrifying – living rurally, our hospital isn’t trained to deal with emergencies for people with a tracheostomy like our son.

We’ve found out many rural hospitals aren’t. It’s a scary weight to carry around, knowing that it’s up to me to know what to do and keep my son alive. It’s a weight parents of children with tracheostomies shouldn’t have to bear just because they live in a rural area. That’s not right. We can’t easily just move. We own our home, we’d need to uproot our other children, we have family here, we have hopes and dreams and aspirations for our future in this town. We just want to safely be able to include our son in that future.

I really need your help to change this decision to cut help to our family. All our doctors agree we need it, we’ve submitted all the forms and been patient, but I think they’re just looking to save a few dollars by cutting support like this.

This is my son’s life at stake. It’s also the lives of many other children with tracheostomy who are being ignored and neglected. Right now it seems likeonly a matter of time before the unthinkable happens, and someone like my son dies because of the lack of training and help the government is giving to rural tracheostomy patients.

I beg you to consider our situation and help by signing my petition asking Premier Weatherill to step in and restore the nursing help for our son, and urgently fix the lack of training for rural hospitals in keeping tracheostomy patients alive.

Kind Regards,

The Walton Family

Zackary Walton, Treacher Collins Syndrome. Tracheostomy, G-Tube, BAHA, dependent 2 year old little boy

 

What are your thoughts?

Do you think that state or federal governments and the health system is doing enough to get and then keep long-term ventilated adults& children with tracheostomies out of hospitals? Do you alos think that there is strong advocacy for Patients and their families who are in need of long-term ventilation?

Leave your thoughts and experiences on the blog!

Please also note that INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME has been selected as a preferred provider for Queensland Health Services as part of the recent “Hospital in the Home” tender.

We are also currently hiring for a Client in Melbourne! Please send me your resume if you are a Division 1 RN with a Critical Care Certificate with a minimum of 2 years ICU experience!

You can contact me on 041 094 2230 or email [email protected] if you want to know more about how we can help you, your Intensive Care Unit and your Patients and Families.

Thank you for tuning into this week’s blog.

This is Patrik Hutzel from www.intensivecareathome.com.au  and I’ll see you again in another update next week.