The leaflet ‘Support for rehabilitation self-management after COVID-19-related illness’ provides basic exercises and advice for adults who have been severely unwell and admitted to the hospital with COVID-19. The information collected is intended to support an independent recovery to full functioning, as well as to alert to disturbing, recurring symptoms. The leaflet provides information on the following topics:
- Managing breathlessness
- Exercising after leaving hospital
- Managing problems with your voice
- Managing eating, drinking, and swallowing
- Managing problems with attention, memory, and thinking clearly
- Managing activities of daily living
- Managing stress and problems with mood
- When to contact a healthcare professional
The Polish Chamber of Physiotherapists printed 10,000 copies and began sending them to hospitals and outpatient clinics for distribution aimed at patients. The first packages have already been sent to two entities.
‘I am asking you to pass it [the leaflet] to patients who leave the hospital. Although the most severe stage of the disease has passed, for many of them the struggle with the disease and its negative effects is not over” – emphasizes Minister Józefa Szczurek-Żelazko in the cover letter.
Several language versions of the leaflet are available on the WHO website: https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/Life-stages/disability-and-rehabilitation/publications/support-for-rehabilitation-self-management-after-covid-19-related-illness-2020-produced-by-whoeurope and in Polish also on the Chamber’s website.
The exercises and advice in this leaflet should not replace any individualised exercise programme or advice you may have been given by healthcare professionals when you left the hospital.
We encourage you to widely distribute this free guide so that it reaches the largest possible group of people in need.
Minister’s cover letter: