POLIO SURVIVORS: THE LEGACY LIVES ON

The Australian polio epidemic of last century affected an entire generation of

Australians for approximately 4 decades. Many of our polio survivors are over
50 years old now and the legacy of polio lives on in their lives, even today. Polio
survivors comprise the largest single disability group in the country. Today,
polio survivors are facing a new health challenge after periods of health
stability, many now battle new chronic symptoms known as the Late Effects of
Polio (LEoP) or Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS)

AGEING WITH POLIO
Normal ageing involves an increased risk of chronic diseases and a decrease in
daily functionality, even in a healthy populous. Scientific studies now show that
those with the Late Effects of Polio (LEoP) in our population are likely to have the
highest incidence of chronic illness and disability due to the dramatic lifestyle,
economic and environmental changes that have occurred in their time.

The financial cost of maintaining reasonable health and wellbeing for our ageing
community is a significant burden on the Australian economy. Those who
survived the Australian Polio epidemics are subject to an exponentially increased
rate of physical, mental and emotional decline when compared with Australians
who have not had polio. The natural ageing process in adults brings its own set
of challenges, but for those with LEoP, ageing holds renewed trauma. Once
active and 'recovered' from polio, these tenacious individuals are now faced with
the reality of re-experiencing the fatigue, weakness, pain and increased
disability they thought they had beaten. Their daily quality of life suffers again,
decades after their initial polio infection; family members become carers, the
dynamic within families is altered beyond recognition, and the emotional/mental
stress of re-living the trauma of polio is once again a daily occurrence. For those
with LEoP, polio is not an old, vanquished illness, it is a modern health concern
its legacy lives on.

BUILDING A FUTURE, EASING THE BURDEN
Via its commitment to standardising quality polio information and service
provision, Polio Australia has devised a health care strategy that improves
access to, and information about, appropriate polio health care for this large
proportion of Australia's ageing demographic.

The plan educates and upskills health professionals on the best methods of care,
treatment and preventative-based interventions, and simutaneously assists polio
survivors with LEoP and PPS to self-manage their symptoms, improve quality of
life and longevity, prevent costly acute hospitalisations, and implement effective


polio-specific chronic disease management plans to reduce the overall burden on
the Australian economy, and the substantial personal cost of living with a chronic
condition.

The Polio Australia strategic model is centred around easing the social and
economic burden placed on polio individuals, their families and the larger
community of which people experiencing LEoP or PPS are members. The
intention is to relieve the daily stress and trauma associated with debilitating
physical, mental and emotional decline in the polio populous using a 4-fold
strategic plan that not only positively affects the individuals and families of polio
survivors, but has a significant impact on easing the health care burden of the
Australian ageing population as a whole.

Polio Australia's strategic priorities are as follows:

Priority One - Capacity Building: Securing a stable income stream to support
Polio Australia and our key program areas into the future
Priority Two - Education: Promoting enhanced knowledge and management of
the Late Effects of Polio across the Health and Community sectors
Priority Three - Health Service Promotion: Lobbying and advocating for
recognition of and appropriate service provision for Australia's polio survivors
Priority Four - Collaboration: Working with and supporting state-based Polio
Networks by producing resources and standardising polio information for use by
the Networks and their members

RAISING AWARENESS
Many polio survivors experienced significant disability, both physically and
mentally, as a result contracting polio. Having the tenacity to beat the virus and
recover a good level of functionality throughout their lives, these individuals are
now faced with a resurgence of symptoms, increased prevalence of chronic
disease, disability and a re-living of the distress that comes with the significant
loss of autonomy, ability, and quality of daily life as they age.

These people are disadvantaged in so many ways; from the lack of recognition
from the Australian Government that polio remains a very real and current
health issue for its sufferers, to the great need for polio-specific health care
interventions.

As the 'baby boomer' workforce retires from the health industry, they are being
replaced by a younger work-set that has no direct knowledge of the polio
epidemic in Australia. The healthcare industry today is little aware of polio,
having been led to believe that the 'crisis is over' and that it is no longer
relevant to health care practice today. Nothing could be farther from the truth.


The elderly make up a significant proportion of General Practice and allied health
clientele. The implications of an ill-informed health industry are that LEoP and
PPS and the idiosyncrasies of diagnosis and treatment of the associated
conditions, are seriously overlooked, misdiagnosed and under-diagnosed; all of
which result in inadequate, and in many cases inappropriate, care for those
ageing with polio.

Polio Australia directly influences both the health needs of this group, and the
social and economic capacities of polio survivors via an approach in two key
strategic areas.

1. Informing, educating and empowering people with LEoP/PPS:


2. Up-skilling health professionals via our health promotion & clinical
training program:

Producing and offering best-practice resources and training that inform health
professionals in these focus areas will create a greater awareness and
competency around LEoP/PPS. This in turn will result in more timely diagnosis
and effective treatment by primary care health providers, which in turn will allow
clients greater social participation, quality of life, and longevity, as the effects of
their condition are better managed.

REACHING CRITICAL MASS
Polio survivors comprise the largest single group within the Australian disability
sector. They are ageing and they need help immediately to not only reduce the
ongoing impact of the physical disability caused by the poliomyelitis virus, but to
enable them to age gracefully, healthily and with as much autonomy and dignity
as we can help them to muster.

Reaching out and helping individuals with LEoP/PPS one by one is worthwhile,
but is also an insufficient and slow method of initiating and achieving better
health outcomes. To reach the large numbers of people who are potentially
undiagnosed with LEoP/PPS in a timely manner, we need to reach a critical mass
of health professional competency which in turn will flow on to clients.

A blanket health promotion approach that targets health professionals is a far
more effective and efficient method to creating the health access that this group
of Australian's requires. This approach will directly impact the life of polio
survivors right now, when they need it most. Polio Australia needs so
desperately to continue to operate and serve its polio survivor community.
However, this takes money.


Up until this point, Polio Australia has received absolutely no government
funding to support polio survivors. Whilst some younger migrants with LEoP
may benefit from the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), it will fail to
assist the majority of Australias polio survivors from last century due to the age
cut off of 65 years old. Notwithstanding, the NDIS fails to provide a
preventative, health-focused initiative and is not designed to serve those living
with a chronic health condition.

We have a responsibility as a country to help our ageing polio community, to
give back for all that they endured and sacrificed in their early lives, and for all
they have achieved on our behalf since then. With appropriate government
funding, and continued philanthropic support, we have the potential to preserve
the wisdom, knowledge and experience of around 400,000 people within
Australia and greatly change the nature of the legacy that lives on for the better.

For more information about the Late Effects of Polio and Post-Polio Syndrome,
please visit www.polioaustralia.org.au.

Are you a polio survivor living in Australia? There is strength in numbers! Join
our National Polio Register and add your voice to the good fight for funding from
Australias government.

Please donate to Polio Australia and help us create a better future for polio
survivors.