Outbreak fuels shortage of disability carers

Matt McCracken relies on experienced support workers just to get out of bed in the morning, but sourcing carers has become a dire problem for many people with disabilities as COVID-19 spreads through the community.

The 59-year-old tetraplegic, who requires a machine to help him breathe and has no use of his arms or legs after breaking his neck more than two decades ago, is left extremely vulnerable if his disability carer fails to arrive.

His wife Wendy, who is a nurse, has had to take time off work during the Omicron wave of COVID-19 to care for him after a support worker contracted COVID-19.

Omicron peak still to come

A shortage of disability carers and nursing home workers is already an issue, with the Omicron peak still to come.

Cases where asymptomatic disability support workers have gone to work in personal protective equipment (PPE) after testing positive to COVID-19 on a rapid antigen test (RAT) rather than leaving a client without care. Workforce shortages in the disability care sector are particularly acute in regional areas.

The McCrackens live at Morayfield, north of Brisbane. “We’re so under-supported with support workers,” Mr McCracken said.

“We have one of the largest geographics of people with disability in this local region in Queensland, but we don’t have the workers here to do it — COVID has made it even worse.

‘Left with very few other options’

Disability advocate Dr Dinesh Palipana said some people with disabilities were at risk of having to be cared for in over-stretched hospitals, even if they were not infected with the virus themselves, if too many of their carers caught COVID-19 and had to isolate.

“If a small care team is taken out of circulation, and they’re unable to access any other emergency care, they would be left with very few other options,” Dr Palipana said, Queensland’s first quadriplegic medical graduate.

“There’s a really diverse group of people within the community of people with disabilities that will face some really unique challenges and significant risk through this coming time.

“Worldwide, disasters and emergencies often disproportionately impact the disability community, and this pandemic is no exception.

“Gandhi said that the true measure of a society is seen by how it treats its most vulnerable and now is the time for us to demonstrate who we are as a nation.”

‘Time for action is now

Queenslanders with Disability Network chair Des Ryan, who is based in Rockhampton in central Queensland, said challenges such as accessing COVID-19 testing, booster vaccines and support workers had become a chorus across the sector.

He called on the federal government to prioritise rapid antigen tests for people with disabilities and their support workers.

More RATs for disability sector needed

Queensland Disability Services Minister Craig Crawford has written to his federal counterpart Linda Reynolds with concerns about the shortage of RATs in the sector.

“I have heard from many Queenslanders with disability who have health conditions which make them much more vulnerable to serious illness or death if they have COVID-19,” Mr Crawford said.

He said some National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants had cancelled essential support services due to worries about contracting the virus from carers. Mr Crawford said guaranteeing a supply of RATs to the disability care sector would help protect Queenslanders with disabilities.

‘I had to be alone overnight’

Karin Swift, who has cerebral palsy, lives alone at Eight Mile Plains, an outer southern suburb of Brisbane, with help from a support team funded by the NDIS.

The 49-year-old has had four of her workers test positive to COVID-19 during the pandemic.

“I had a bit of a time of it when COVID started getting out of control here in Queensland,” Ms Swift said. “Last week, I had to actually miss a support worker shift. My team did the very best they could do, but unfortunately it meant I had to be alone overnight — it’s not the ideal scenario.

“It’s important the federal government has a strategy for people with disabilities. “If there is a strategy, people with disabilities don’t know what it is and feel like no-one is really looking out for them.”

Ms Swift said sourcing RATs was vital to keeping those with disabilities — and their workers — protected. “I can’t run the risk of a person coming into my environment with COVID-19,” she said.