Over the past few months a cross departmental team from the Lourdes Hospital co-ordinated by Aoife O'Neill has been working with Autism Support Louth&Meath to raise awareness of autism in the hospital.

The aim is to develop an understanding of accommodations which would help support an autistic adult or a parent bring an autistic child to the hospital whether for a routine appointment or in an emergency.

By their very nature hospitals are an overwhelming situation for many people but particularly for autistic people.  There is a huge sensory overload in the lights and noise and numbers of people. 

Also, if you are sick or injured you are also scared and anxious.   For many autistic people navigating their way through this situation is really difficult and there are proven statistics that autistic people often do not attend appointments or get something seen to as the hospital environment is just too stressful to navigate.   

The staff in the Lourdes hospital are trying to do all they can to help improve this situation with initiatives like the sensory room which has been developed by staff on the Theatre floor.   Also, recently Primal Fitness have donated monies to the childrens’ floor to create a sensory room there also.  

As part of the work carried out over the past few months Ava Kavanagh from Autism Support Louth&Meath has developed StoryBoards (visual picture guides) for many areas in the hospital and more are in development. 

These allow a person to walk through an area to understand where they have to go and what the process is in advance. These are available on Autism Support Louth&Meath website (scroll to bottom of page) and will also be signposted by QR code in the hospital..

Ava has also developed a training pack for parents to help them teach their child how to have bloods taken.   This is a procedure most people have to have done from time to time and often this may be in an emergency.  

If you can teach and desensitise this process for a child over time in the comfort of your own home then, when the time comes it is much more likely to be a successful outcome.  

Each pack contains a visual teaching guide, token board, first and then board, sample equipment eg tourniquets (donated by hospital supplier Vygon), plasters, wipes etc so that parents can role play the process at home in a very relaxed gradual way. If any parent would like a training pack to be posted to them please email info@autismsupportlouth.com. The visual picture training guide is also available on our website on the above link.      

The Phlebotomy department also have some packs available there and would like to stress to parents they are most welcome to bring their child on a walk through in advance of any bloods being taken just to become accustomed to the space.

"The Lourdes Hospital staff have been incredibly helpful and so positive towards doing anything they can to help make it easier for an autistic person to receive treatment, coming up with really innovative and also simple suggestions which would make attending the hospital easier" said Jacinta Walsh from Autism Support Louth&Meath.  

“We had an awareness day last Tuesday in the hospital with an information stand and also a number of talks which were really well attended by hospital staff.   The Autism Awareness cross-departmental team in working with Autism Support Louth&Meath is an ongoing process.   This is only the start!"