15 days to go – come and join us in Canberra for the “We’re Still Here!” campaign!

So far, 30 Campaign Heroes are joining us on Wednesday the 26th of June in Canberra to prove that “We’re Still Here!” and continue to need services and support to help us manage the late effects of polio.

Add yourself to our list of Campaign Heroes and/or see why others are going to Canberra here.

Of course, Polio Australia is delighted that the Australian Government is committing $80 million over the next four year to help with the eradication of the vicious poliovirus that robbed so many of us of our own childhood.

And yet . . . there is still no commitment to funding any support or information services for our country’s polio survivors who are now trying to cope with its cruel legacy.

So why do we keep asking? And what good will it do? Well, there has actually been some progress from all this ‘profile raising’:

• Polio Australia’s lobbying resulted in the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health and Ageing holding a Roundtable Forum on the Late Effects of Polio / Post-Polio Syndrome in March 2012.
• Polio Australia was invited to give both written and verbal evidence to the Senate Inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill 2012 – in our submissions we deplored the injustice for polio survivors of the age 65 cut off.
• Polio Australia’s publication The Late Effects of Polio: Introduction to Clinical Practice was launched by the Hon Catherine King, one of our Parliamentary Patrons, who also accepted a Petition addressed to the Minister for Health (Please fund services for polio survivors, who form the largest single physical disability group in the country. Funding is urgently required to ensure that polio survivors are provided with the support and specialised services they need to be diagnosed, treated, and assisted to manage the complex and debilitating symptoms they are now experiencing. Polio Australia also requires funding to continue providing support, information and education to polio survivors, health professionals and the community.).
• There are now numerous references in Hansard and the media regarding Australian polio survivors and the lack of appropriate services.

It’s clear that Polio Australia is the ONLY organisation that can progress and achieve all the support and information services we know are vital to make a positive contribution to the health and well-being of Australia’s post-polio community.

We now need all Australian polio survivors to ask their Federal Parliamentary representative to support turning the above recommendations into action, and to ensure that the work being done by Polio Australia receives long-overdue recognition and funding.

Together, and with the persistence that the polio community is renowned for, we can make a difference!

Please be sure to read other pages on this “We’re Still Here!” website to see ways that you and your family can contribute to the campaign.

Contact [email href=”office@polioaustralia.org.au”]Mary-ann[/email] for more information and/or to add your name to the list of campaign heroes heading to Canberra!