Pulmonary and Cardiac Rehab continuing through COVID-19 restrictions
3 September 2020
The Pulmonary and Cardiac Education and Exercise (PACE) program has had to overcome some challenges this year, from bushfires to COVID-19. The team has worked hard behind the scenes to continue to deliver an important service to the local community and has been agile in adapting to meet these challenges.
Maree Jenkin, PACE Coordinator from Alpine Health said “We know that for heart and lung conditions, a comprehensive rehabilitation program such as PACE, can reduce the likelihood of a secondary event or exacerbations and improve a person’s quality of life. Because of this, it has been important that we look at a more flexible delivery of the program, so our local community can continue to access our service during challenging times”.
The PACE program has adapted by running web based individual and group sessions to deliver both the education and exercise sessions since April this year and they have been well received. One participant commented “the sessions were informative and also provided a valuable forum for the group to share their respective experiences and insights”. New and emerging research regarding telehealth, suggest that telehealth for rehabilitation programs is as effective as centre-based services.
The PACE team offer extensive support for clients not familiar with the technology and overwhelming receive positive feedback about this mode of delivery.
The PACE program runs on Monday in Mount Beauty, Wednesday in Bright and Thursday in Myrtleford. If you would like more information on how you can access the service, please contact Maree Jenkin on 0438 384 762.
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- Photo - Maree Jenkin (Alpine Health PACE Coordinator) delivering the PACE program through telehealth.