"OT services"

I am an elderly Aboriginal person living in Carnarvon and was worried about falling, so my Dr referred me to the OT department at Carnarvon Hospital for assistance with a falls alarm late 2023 - no response.

With a second referral I went to Outpatients a few months ago and was told by the receptionist that I would have to go out of the building and phone the OT, which I did a little while later and was told by the OT receptionist that I couldn't see the therapist because they were in a meeting and that the 2nd receptionist, couldn't make an appointment for me.

I had an appointment in Geraldton with Hearing Australia last month so I again telephoned the OT department in Carnarvon to see if an appointment had been made for me. The receptionist responded that they haven't had time to check if any referrals have come through and I'd have to go to another area to find out!

So I went to Geraldton and did in fact fall on the cement floor in the laundry a few days later. I suffer from osteo-arthritis and sometimes breathing  issues, so it took me some time to pull myself up by sliding along to the laundry trough. I had been practising getting up from falls, which is difficult when you are in pain and have weak ankles, and because I've had a cartilage removed from one knee, I find it too painful to kneel.

Just under 2 weeks later, 2 OT students came to my home to do an assessment and arranged for me to get a shower chair, which they delivered the next day. 

One of the students left me a message to call them and that they were leaving Carnarvon the next day. I had appointments all day and didn't get their message until the evening.

I eventually spoke to the Occ. Therapist some days later who informed me that the student hadn't left much information about my assessment.  From what they could see:

1. I did not qualify for an alarm because I have been practising at home to get up by myself and being elderly didn't alter that fact. 

2. That I wasn't suffering from dizzy spells any more! (How would they know?)

3. When I told them about having physio at a private clinic they seemed disinterested.  (The only reason I went to a private clinic is because the services supplied at the hospital was closed down due to Covid 19).

4. The OT also said that my fall was 1 year ago, this was an outright lie. I did not fall a year ago, as stated above I fell in Geraldton last month.

When I explained that I suffer from weak ankles, the OT wanted to come back with a physiotherapist and do another assessment.

I felt the OT was being very condescending in their attitude and did not appear to be listening to anything I had to say and it is for that reason I did not agree to this second assessment. 

I mean how many assessments do health professionals need to do before they get it right and where was the supervisor of the young trainees who visited me?

I had also been referred to Silver Chain in 2022 and again last month to get help with some cleaning - still no response from that department as well.

Finally I have found that some of the service providers at the Carnarvon Hospital seem to be in dire need of cross-cultural communication training or maybe they should just simply learn how to communicate properly with people.

I worked in the health industry until my retirement and am appalled at the way I have been treated. I am not someone who is ignorant of health issues and services and neither, I believe, are most mature Aboriginal Australians. Therefore I am not surprised when, based on my experience, they react violently to some front line workers attitudes. 

Where do vulnerable community members go to qualify for health care services that I believe wider community members accept as a foregone conclusion in Carnarvon?