Awhi: Teacher aides, flu jabs, and overcoming trauma
The Awhi Ngā Mātua newsletter
Kia ora! Welcome to Awhi the newsletter.
In the community this week we are asking parents to share their experiences of applying for funding for a teacher aide. We are looking at doing advocacy in this area and we want to hear more about waiting times and hours approved for teacher aides and support.
Join the community and share your experience.
Shara shared the inspiring words of Twitter activist and educator Kristin Flanary:
“Those of us who have survived trauma need our healthcare providers to meet us in our Quiet Place. We need them to find their way into that dark chamber, light a candle, and fill it with the words that build a bridge for us to walk out.”
On Instagram we shared tiles breaking down the symptoms some parents suffer that might indicate trauma. We appreciate everyone who shared them!
Elizabeth also shared information on how to find a great carer or support worker. Her lived experience organising a rotation of amazing carers for her daughter Jessie was really helpful for our community.
The Budget was of course last week. The government provided $735m for disability support services, $100m to roll out the Enabling Good Lives (EGL) approach to delivering services and $108m to establish the Ministry for Disabled People. It also gave an increase to Pharmac of $191 million.
Unfortunately the child disability allowance was again not increased. Emily talked about this in her post: What can families like ours hope for in the budget.
Disability advocate Chris Ford wrote about the budget for RNZ and it’s definitely worth a read: Budget 2022: Disabled people get mixed bag in Budget.
We want to remind everyone that flu vaccines are available free to children aged between six months and five years who have a history of significant respiratory illness. Please talk to your GP or paediatrician about availability.
Free flu jabs are available for people aged six months and over with any of the following conditions: Cerebrovascular disease, chronic heart problems, excluding high cholesterol or high blood pressure, if they haven’t caused problems with other organs, chronic breathing or lung problems, including asthma where regular preventative medicine has been prescribed, diabetes, chronic kidney disease
Cancer that’s not in remission, autoimmune disease, immune suppression, immune deficiency, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), transplant recipients, neuromuscular and central nervous system diseases, cochlear implant, error of metabolism at risk of major metabolic decompensation, pre- or post-splenectomy, Down syndrome, haemoglobinopathies and children on long term aspirin.
Getting a flu jab is a great way to keep our whole community safe. Thank you for getting your flu jab.
We need only to look to Sydney to see how serious this winter will be for flu for our tamariki. Sydney’s Royal Children’s Hospital chief of medicine Tom Connell said that in the last fortnight 120 cases of influenza had been detected at the health service, a “400 to 500” per cent increase on the previous weeks and up from just 16 cases for the entire month of March.
‘Surge will continue’: Children’s hospital on alert amid 500 per cent jump in influenza cases
From the same article: Anthea Rhodes said very young children were particularly susceptible to the flu this year because the immune systems of many never been exposed to the virus before.
Others had not had the natural booster we get from being exposed to the virus every year. Vaccination rates among children were also down on previous years.
Before the COVID pandemic, influenza was the leading cause of hospital admission for children under five, Rhodes said. She urged parents to get their kids aged six months or older vaccinated.
Up to 10 per cent of children who end up in hospital with the flu can have neurological problems, such as memory loss, seizures and learning and speech difficulties.
In the community we are also discussing The Budget, special interests (including Dancing with the Stars), and our experiences with our mental health after diagnosis.
Reminder: Family Planning has a zoom course on Sexuality and Intellectual Disability: For Whānau and Caregivers.
Finally, our inspiring quote for the week: Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow. – Mary Anne Radmacher
