Medical services
The medical services required by children with disabilities are a specialised area of paediatrics. Novita provides acess to a range of such services via an agreement with the Adelaide Women's and Children's Hospital. Services include special clinics held at Novita regional offices, and specialist clinics and treatment services at hospitals (including the Women's & Children's Hospital). Strong links are encouraged and maintained between families, paediatricians, paediatric rehabilitation physicians, community agencies and the Novita therapy team working with each child.
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Meet the Director, Paediatric Rehabilitation
Dr Ray Russo
MBBS, FRACP, FAFRM(RACP)
Ray Russo is the Director, Paediatric Rehabilitation for the partnership between the Women's and Children's Hospital and Novita that provides this service to clients. Ray is a paediatric rehabilitation physician, who works at the Women's and Children's Hospital, Novita Children's Services, and the Repatriation General Hospital.
Read Ray's full profile
What does a paediatric rehabilitation physician do?
These medical doctors have a great deal of experience managing children with disabilities and their rehabilitation. They are also experts at managing some of the conditions associated with disability, such as spasticity, musculoskeletal issues, nutrition, growth and epilepsy. They are often involved with the family from the time of registration with Novita and this may continue for many years. The service that they can offer includes:
- confirming the medical or developmental diagnosis
- explaining (where this is known) why a child has a particular disability, for example, cerebral palsy due to a brain condition or muscular dystrophy due to muscle disease
- talking over any concerns held by many parents about walking or mobility, talking or communication, care needs, and future life of their child
- discussing accurately the importance of the child’s disability for the child and the family
- providing an explanation of what is likely to happen for each disorder - this is important to make sure that any ongoing medical problems are regularly checked by way of procedures, such as x-rays, blood tests and being seen by other specialists
- providing up to date information about new treatments and research
- carrying out regular medical examinations to search, and where appropriate, put into practice the best interventions that will help the child to develop and function at their full potential and to do as much as they can in day-to-day life
- making sure that medical problems associated with their disability, such as vision or hearing problems, are diagnosed and treated.
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Rehabilitation clinics
These are clinics where:
- the child, parents and carers meet together with the child's therapists, the paediatrician and the paediatric rehabilitation physician
- issues, such as how the child walks and how they use their arms and hands, are discussed
- particular concerns of parents involving aspects of their child’s disability, treatment or long term outlook are also frequently discussed.
Rehabilitation/orthopaedic clinics
Visiting orthopaedic surgeons have a special interest and expertise in children with disabilities, especially those having spinal deformities and problem with feet and hips. Orthopaedic clinics held at Novita and hospital locations provide:
- an opportunity for the surgeon, the paediatric rehabilitation physician and/or the Novita paediatrician and the therapists to meet with the child and the parents
- the opportunity to see if the child may possibly benefit from surgery or other interventions at some time in their lives.
Rural paediatric rehabilitation clinics
Clinics are regularly conducted to the following areas:
- Alice Springs (by special arrangement with the Northern Territory Government)
- Mount Gambier
- Naracoorte
- Port Lincoln
- Riverland
- Whyalla
Clinics at the Women's and Children's Hospital at which Novita clients may be seen include:
Limb deficiency clinic
- Clinics are held once a school term (4 times per year) on a Tuesday morning.
- The clinic is for children who have a congenital or acquired limb deficiency and are likely to benefit from the services offered by the Women's and Children's Hospital.
- Prosthetic services are provided off-site.
- Only those children with a limb deficiency who need a community-based therapy service or the services of the NovitaTech are Novita clients.
- The clinics at the Women's and Children's Hospital are run by Dr Russo, Dr Rice and Dr Tidemann (Rehabilitation Physicians) and Mr Phillip Brook (Orthopaedic Surgeon) and the Rehabilitation Registrar and Fellow.
- Children seen at the clinic include Novita and children with complex problems who are not necessarily Novita clients but who have been referred by the Women's and Children's Hospital.
- Clinics are conducted two to three times each school term.
- Regional and Rehabilitation/Orthopaedic Clinics are also conducted by other rehabilitation physicians (Drs Russo, Rice and Tidemann) and orthopaedic surgeons (Mr Brook and Mr Foster) at least once per school term at the:
Rehabilitation clinics at the Women's and Children's Hospital
- The clinics are run by a rehabilitation physician and the Rehabilitation Registrar
- The clinics take place every Tuesday morning
- Clinics are mainly for:
- Short term follow up after acute inpatient care (for example, following an injury)
- Follow up of medical, surgical and nursing matters for children with spinal cord injury or spina bifida
- Monitoring of boys with muscular dystrophy
- Any child requiring a rehabilitation physician opinion who is not a client of Novita.
Cerebral palsy upper limb clinic
- The clinic is run by Dr Russo and Dr Brook.
- Clinics occur every few months on a Tuesday morning.
- Careful selection of Novita clients to attend the clinic is undertaken by Novita senior occupational therapists.
- Specialist rehabilitation and surgical solutions are considered for children with upper limb difficulties.
Botulinum toxin A treatment clinic
- Clinics are usually held Wednesday afternoons.
- Strict procedures apply for selection, timing and use of Botulinum toxin A. Careful follow-up is also required, involving the physiotherapist, occupational therapist or orthotist, to improve the outcomes of this treatment.
- More recently, treatment clinics are operational through the Flinders Medical Centre.
- Botulinum toxin is produced by two manufacturers and goes by the name of Dysport (manufactured by IPSEN), and the more recognised product Botox (manufactured by Allergan). The potency of the products is very different and units are not interchangeable. Your paediatric rehabilitation specialist will be familiar with the differences and this can be discussed with them if required.
Read the following factsheets about Botulinum Toxin:
Botulinum Toxin Type A - General Information For Parents (PDF - 49Kb)
Botulinum Toxin Type A - Upper Limb Use for Children with CP (PDF - 44Kb)
View a video clip in which Dr Ray, a physiotherapist and two parents talk about Botulinum Toxin Type A (this link loads a page that commences streaming of a 7.8Mb MOV file of 2 minutes, 20 seconds length - a text description and transcript of the video is provided).
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Connections with other hospitals
Novita doctors work closely with their colleagues at:
Connections with other general and specialist paediatricians
Many children registered with Novita have their own general paediatricians, and families are always encouraged to continue with this relationship. This can be especially important if the child is admitted to hospital for acute problems, such as convulsions or chest complaints.
Families and children are also encouraged to have their own General Practitioner for their day to day health needs such as immunisations and minor illnesses.