12 Reasons to speak to a respiratory health educator even though they can’t do Spirometry right now

As you may be aware, since early January 2022, the Asthma foundation NT has not been able to perform spirometry due to the rise in COVID 19 numbers via community transmission.

We stopped this service in accordance with National guidelines and in the safety interest of both staff and clients.

We have been continuing our services to the public via telehealth, offering phone and Zoom consults for education and support.

When changing or booking appointments we have surprisingly met some resistance. Many people have said to us “If you can’t offer Spirometry right now what’s the point of having an appointment”.

So, we put our heads together and came up with:

12 Reasons to speak to a respiratory health educator even though they can’t do Spirometry right now:

• Your asthma/COPD is not well controlled, and you are not sure what to try next.
• You have been on the same puffers for a very long time and you’re not sure if they are still working.
• You have hay fever that you are not treating, and you feel like it’s making your asthma worse (spoiler alert…it is!)
• You don’t use a spacer for your puffer, and you are not sure if you should. (Spacers are only for kids, aren’t they? – No! They are not! Please call us!).
• You have been given puffers for Asthma or COPD but you’re not really clear on how or when to use them, or you’re not sure if you are using them correctly (jump on a Zoom call with us and we will take a look).
• You have never spoken to an respiratory health educator before about your respiratory condition (try us you will be amazed at what we know 😊)
• Your doctor has diagnosed you with COPD or Asthma, and you are not really sure what that means or how it will affect your life, (Yes you can Google it, but Google will only tell you about the general conditions and treatments our educators will be able to talk to you about your specific circumstances).
• You don’t have specific questions; you just feel like you need some support to manage your condition (we are here for you).
• You struggle with exercise. Yes, you could just be unfit OR you might be experiencing asthma symptoms, (let us help you work it out).
• Your child is coughing at night or gets short of breath when exercising or playing.
• You care for someone with asthma, and you are not sure what to do if they have a severe flare up (asthma attack). We can teach you Asthma first aid.
• You are not on a preventer, but you are needing to use a reliever (blue/grey) puffer more than 2 x per week.

Of course, these are not the only reasons why you should contact us, but they are the top 12 we came up with.

If you have a referral to us from your GP and Jill (our office manager) calls you to make a phone appointment, please book in we would love to speak to you.

If you don’t already have a referral but some of our reasons resonated with you…give us a call.

If you have a GP referral great! If you don’t, that’s fine you can still book with us.

Give us a call on 1800 ASTHMA (1800 278462) or email Jill on [email protected] and she will call you to arrange an appointment.