Did you know aged-care Telehealth has two parts?

Telehealth brings expert care to regional, rural and remote Australians in their homes. 

Telehealth has two parts – monitoring important health signs, and making allied health services more accessible for all.

When you live in a regional, rural or remote area, accessing health screenings can be delayed or difficult due to a lack of services. Our Virtual Care Telehealth program is a vital sign-monitoring program that allows our clients to keep an eye on their health from the comfort of their own homes.

This sign-monitoring Telehealth service sits alongside our Allied Health Telehealth program which gives our clients access to important health services virtually in their homes, rather than in-person. This gives regional Australians greater access to nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, dietetics, speech pathology and other significant health services.

In this article, we look more closely at the benefits of nursing and occupational therapy via our Telehealth services.

Virtual Care Telehealth and Nursing

The sign-monitoring Virtual Care Telehealth program enables our team of nurses to promptly address many issues relating to each client’s health. It’s important to note, Telehealth is not an emergency service.

The goal is for clinicians to set our clients up for successful self-management, and to work with their General Practitioner (GP) and other health providers when necessary.

Registered Nurse Samantha is Senior Manager for Health Services at integratedliving and says clients love the sign-monitoring Virtual Care Telehealth program. “It is a great way to build health literacy and for people to understand their unique health concerns and manage them more proactively.

“Virtual Care Telehealth is supported by an app that we help clients download onto their phones,” Samantha said. “Our team also organise equipment such as blood pressure monitors, scales and oximeters. You take the readings yourself and put them into the app. Our team of registered nurses triages the results and make recommendations on the next steps if necessary.

“We look for trends,” Samantha said. “For example, if someone’s blood pressure is creeping up or if their pulse is spiking at different times of the day, we track these patterns. Often it’s also about educating our clients to adopt a healthier lifestyle to manage certain conditions. We use video conferencing, share videos and websites to assist in their understanding of what they’re dealing with.”

If a client has experienced a fall, the Virtual Care Telehealth team can work with them to eliminate risk factors such as poor sleep and blood pressure. “Diabetes management is also a big one,” Samantha said. “With the data entered in the app, our expert team can check to see if blood sugar is spiking at certain times of the day. Sometimes, it’s something as simple as advising the client to swap their morning orange juice for apple juice. We can also refer you to a GP or another health professional for further investigation if necessary.” 

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Allied Health Telehealth and Occupational Therapy

Meanwhile, sitting alongside our Virtual Care Telehealth service is our Allied Health Telehealth program. The Allied Health component of Telehealth can assess you in a timely manner, including for occupational therapy support.

“Accessing occupational therapy advice quickly is a major advantage, and we can handle many cases,” integratedliving Occupational Therapist Victor said. “If clients have challenges with safe access to bathrooms and other parts of the house, an occupational therapist can assess data from the app and make video calls to each client and their family,” Victor said. “Occupational therapists can then make recommendations on modifications to the home,” Victor said.

Occupational therapy and other allied health services can be minimal or non-existent in rural and remote areas. Our Telehealth program can help to fast-track these important processes.

Our Allied Health Telehealth team can assist you to fulfill equipment prescriptions that address issues such as mobility, arthritis and general safety. “We regularly arrange wheelchairs and cutlery aids for eating and meal preparation,” Victor said. “The team can also recommend alert systems that detect if a client has had a fall or medical episode so that they can get emergency help when they need it.”

With integratedliving’s mission to keep people living independently and well in their own homes, our Virtual Care Telehealth service and Allied Health Telehealth programs makes it easier to get help and can ensure the right environment and supports are in place.