Replacement of aids and equipment like calipers, walking frames and power chairs happens all too often. Then there is the need to modify our homes to accommodate increasing physical problems. The maze of documents put out by NDIS, My Aged Care and all the government departments which appear to be involved in our lives, is difficult to get through. We need to know who can assist us financially with what we need as these aids and equipment are quite expensive.
Finding the therapist who understands polio and will write a prescription for what we want and need is not easy either. Imagine how difficult it is for older people, who haven’t lived with disability, who acquire a condition like arthritis, and now need to find aids and equipment, but who have little or no experience in negotiating the maze.
Post Polio Victoria has two representatives, Peter Willcocks and Margaret Cooper, who are involved in some promising discussions about a possible national Aids and Equipment Strategy. Peter is a member of the Policy Council advising the Council on the Ageing Victoria. COTAVIC has chaired two meetings to talk about the whole area. Representatives from the National Council on the Ageing, MS Australia, Motor Neurone Disease, Blind Citizens Australia, National Disability Services, Polio Australia, and National Ageing Research Institute are among the participants. Of course our friend Natasha Layton is involved too. We’ll let you know what happens next.