Polio Australia is committed to supporting younger polio survivors, and are eager to build a community of ‘Next Generation’ Polio Survivors.
Polio Australia commenced 10 years ago to provide a national focus with supporting polio survivors. They want to standardise quality polio information and services across Australia for all polio survivors. Most are now ageing as they contracted polio during the western-world epidemics of the first half of the 20th century. As such, most of the information on the Late Effects of Polio (LEoP) has been developed with older Australian or European polio survivors in mind.
However, Australia has become home to younger, migrant polio survivors. They are currently not connecting with either Polio Australia or state Polio Networks. This means information on the LEoP, and how best to manage the condition into the future is not reaching them. Younger migrant and/or refugee polio survivors have different needs and challenges with healthcare and rehabilitation. There are also commitments in education, social integration and economic self-sufficiency, which make it difficult to have time to engage with Polio Australia. Polio Australia have been working with a focus group to address some of these issues and are developing resources, Facebook pages and other services to support specific needs that have been identified. However, they recognise that they need more knowledge on who and where our younger polio survivors are to develop comprehensive strategies and plans. Polio Australia is seeking the assistance of Refugee Health Nurses to help their organisation to provide further support and appreciate any information you can provide.
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