The Child and Adolescent Virtual Urgent Care Service, from the Women’s and Children’s Hospital does just that, connecting families with highly skilled emergency doctors and nurses in their own home.
The team can assess children with non-life-threatening conditions through an online video call, similar to Facetime and Messenger.
Here’s how it worked for Adelaide mum, Mia.
Mia’s story
Mia and her two sons, Mattias and Aidan are among the thousands of children in SA who have had COVID-19.
“Mattias was distressed and was wheezing… I started to really worry about his breathing”.
The Child and Adolescent Virtual Urgent Care Service assessed Mattias and organised for him to be brought into the Women’s and Children’s Hospital by an ambulance.
At the hospital, Mattias was given treatment to help his breathing and was discharged a few hours later.
Over the next few days, the Virtual Urgent Care Service team kept in touch with Mia to see how Mattias was feeling. It was during a follow up call with the nurse, that Mia mentioned how her eldest son, Aidan had also become quite unwell.
“My 9-year-old, Aidan, was COVID-19 positive and very sick. He was dry retching, not eating and drinking, and I was worried he was dehydrated,” Mia said.
The nurse immediately transferred Mia to one of the paediatric doctors within the virtual urgent care service and Aidan was assessed and given a prescription for anti-nausea medication which was conveniently sent to the family’s local pharmacy for collection.
We felt so incredibly supported throughout the whole thing. Never, ever, at any point did we feel like we were on our own. We never felt scared because we knew we had this service.” Mia said.
How to access the Virtual Urgent Care Service
Parents can access the service by visiting the WCH website, or googling WCH Virtual Urgent Care.
You will be asked a series of questions, and placed in a virtual waiting room, before speaking directly with a nurse and doctor via a video link.
The Child and Adolescent Virtual Urgent Care Service is available 7 days a week from 9am to 9pm and is accessible to any child from 6 months up to 18 years of age.
