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Asthma & COPD Telehealth Service
AFWA is now just a (video) call away.
People living in the Wheatbelt, Great Southern
and the Goldfields can now speak to AFWA’s
Educators about their asthma, chronic bronchitis
or emphysema without leaving town, thanks to
the new innovative telehealth service launched in
September 2016.
The Asthma and COPD telehealth service uses
phone and video conferencing technology to
connect rural people who have problems breathing
or are feeling breathless with AFWA’s experienced
Educators. People can either visit their GP, Health
Centre or Hospital to be connected to the service,
or they can simply use their home computer.
Colin Easther, 74, resides in Northam and suffers
from moderate emphysema. The benefit of using
this service has allowed Colin to simply visit his
local Hospital to speak to one of our educators
instead of travelling over an hour away to Sir
Charles Gairdner Hospital located in Perth.
“It’s very convenient, I just walk into a room and
talk to her on a television set,” he said. “Last time,
my educator gave me a demonstration of how
to use the new equipment using a mannequin. It
was very easy to see and I could ask her questions
straight away, it’s a good system.”
Colin also highlighted the ease of the Telehealth
technology, stating “…you don’t need to be tech
savvy, all you need to do is adjust the volume
knob.”
This service is not a replacement for existing
asthma and COPD services within these regions.
It has been designed to work in collaboration with
local doctors to help support their patients.
It will help to increase and improve AFWA’s reach
to regions of WA that were previously inaccessible
to our Perth metropolitan based Health Services
Team. By ensuring all people residing in rural and
regional Western Australia receive the support
and care they need at the right place and time,
we are one step closer to achieving our mission
of reducing the burden of asthma and related
respiratory conditions on the West Australian
Community.
The Asthma & COPD Telehealth Service is the
result of a partnership between the WA Country
Health Service (WACHS) and the WA Primary
Health Alliance, the Country WA Primary Health
Network and the Asthma Foundation WA (AFWA).
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