I returned last night from a conference in Sydney and thanks to the coronavirus (COVID-19), the world is certainly a different place compared to when I left Mackay on Wednesday last week. We will all get through this pandemic but just like any of the typical natural disasters that we used to dealing with up here, we need to be prepared, have an action plan, work together and support each other as a community. 

The health and wellbeing of our clients, staff and community is very important to us so we need your help with implementing the following strategies:

  • If you or your child is experiencing a cough, fever, sore throat, vomiting or shortness of breath, please do not attend your appointment
  • If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, please contact our office as soon as possible to cancel or reschedule your appointment as our normal cancellation fees will still apply. If you have not used your cancellation fee waiver voucher this year, you can apply it to a late notice cancellation fee.
  • Consider switching your therapy appointment to a video call therapy session or a parent phone consultation if you or your child are up to it but need to stay isolated at home. At this stage, we have opted to use Zoom for video calls as it is more secure than Skype.
  • If you attend your appointment and display upper respiratory tract symptoms, our team may ask you to leave and seek medical attention.
  • Please use the hand sanitizer provided when you enter our building and when you leave your therapy room.
  • Keep checking the federal government’s COVID-19 resource page for important updates and fact sheets about how to deal with the virus.
  • A good tip to get children to wash their hands for the recommended 20 seconds is to sing the happy birthday song while they do it.

So what was the conference about that I went to in Sydeny? Online business, funnily enough!

For about the last 8 years, it has been a goal of mine to get our services online, however, life gets busy and I never seem to get time to get things up and running. That is about to all change. We will be launching our online membership in the coming weeks where you will be able to get online coaching with therapists, a community forum with other parents and online courses. If this is something that you would be interested in or would like more information about, hit reply and let me know. I would also be interested to know what courses or short trainings you would like to see in the membership first.

Thanks in advance for your help to keep this virus at bay and we will be in touch again soon.


Natalie Brown
Natalie Brown

Natalie is an Occupational Therapist & Director at Occumax. She specialises in helping children to maximise their potential to live, learn and play.