"Non Canine Assistance Animal, fantastic treatment at KEMH"

I was taken to ER at King Eddie's, King Edward Memorial Hospital, Subiaco, Perth, WA, and what makes me different and often treated very differently, is not my being very disabled in a powerchair with a complex set of conditions, but that I rely on a Non-Canine Assistance Animal to keep me alive. A macaw parrot, a trained Medical BioMonitor commonly called a Seizure Alert Parrot, is actually providing preemptive medic alerts warning of a variety of different types of collapses, from a range of conditions. The Disability Discrimination Act protects him under Federal law as an Assistance Animal, but I feel people, places and hospitals in particular, can be rude, nasty and unwelcoming, and even withhold help completely because of, I believe, his presence.

I had to be rushed into ER, stay in KEMH for a week, then come back for another stay and follow up surgery, and they were quite frankly put, amazing.

I was treated like a normal patient, at no point discriminated against due to my Assistance Animal, which was to the hospital's real credit, and a rarity.

My Assistance Animal stayed beside me in the ER, and in the ward at my bedside, in various scanning departments, everywhere I went, just like in every other aspect of my life. At no point did the staff have to interact with him unless they wanted to. My Carer was present and managing his care with me, and I feel the hospital administrators obviously worked hard when presented, for the first time I'm told, with the issue "Assistance Animal, Avian", to create a fair and equitable policy. I believe this kept me safe and my Assistance Animal safe and able to do his job (thus keeping me alive), keeping us in sensory range at all times during the operation, while he BioMonitored from outside the doors during the operation. The nursing staff I dealt with were a real credit, compassionate, kind, caring, and professional, and the surgeons and specialists were all a positive experience too.

I train Non-Canine Assistance Animals and hear of too many negative experiences in hospitals. It is wonderful to be able to share a fantastically positive one, and say that if you are in WA with an Assistance Animal, in an ambulance and are not sure where it is safe to be taken, you can ask, insist in my opinion, on being taken to King Edward Memorial Hospital and know that, based on my experience, they will understand.

Legally we have equal rights, in reality, I believe not all Assistance Animals are treated equally in WA hospitals. Thank you KEMH for bucking the discriminatory trend and being the positive, fair, future-focussed team we need!